Thanks Robandlyn.

I dont think the hinges were super cheap but I'll have to find out just what the full specs were, to know for sure. I'll definitely check on that. I was thinking it was so cheap because the design is really basic and it is really small too (by today's standards) but this is adequate and fine for us.

see what you mean about waiting. That is something I'm weighing up.

The reason I'm keen to start now is that our bathroom is somewhat unsound - the subfloor needs replacing due to past water leaks so it all needs gutting. the floor bows a bit when you stand on it, and the grout crackles.

And all our carpets are just truly hideous, wrecked by the dogs of past renters, not to mention by our own kids (who have probably done the worst damage TBH!). And they smell mouldy and awful. Yuk.

I got a quote to replace them and it was pretty high as you can imagine. And if we are intending to change the floor plan it just seemed silly to spend anything on them now.

But I guess it will be matter of starting with quotes for everything, then seeing how they stack up - and talking it all through with the builder too.

Because if the money isn't there to do it well we would just have to wait wouldn't we. Really though I hope we don't have to. Those carpets... that bathroom... nooo!

Bigreader thanks for that idea. It's one I've thought of before - moving the front door to the front living area. I was pretty amped about it, as our front hallway is wasted space really.

But then I talked it over with our builder mate. Unfortunately he said it would be difficult & costly to do, due to the roofline (its gabled over the porch & not elsewhere, so there would be lots of issues with attempting to create a roof for a new porch & entry).

Also the front of our house right now is super cute.... from the road you go down a curving rock stairway through an archway cut from tall bushy grevillea trees, into a sort of secret sunken garden, then there are paving stones leading to our front door (red, newly painted, yay).

it seems like the person who had the house built had more of an idea of what was nice on the outside, than they did on the inside.

Bigreader a PS - If we could separate out kitchen & bathroom changes, that would be fantastic, but I dont think we can. Well- we dont want to. Because we really want to change our flooring (the existing is horrible & smells) but we can't till the floor plan is changed.

Thanks for the tips! I've got no interest in flouting rules or making the house unsellable :) so will talk to council to check on all that. we've had recent electric & plumbing work done & no comment made to us re any issues with either (or issues with moving plumbing) but I'll check on that too so I'm sure. our only cooling is a ceiling fan which we'd have to move; heating we would also have to move (1 gas outlet to LPG bottles; and a wood heater which requires ducting to the outside).

Hello again everyone - just wanted to say a big thank you for everyone's comments so far. Our budget is obviously a major issue that needs a lot of consideration, and some solutions need to be found there.

But aside from that - I'm super keen to know how these planned changes look - from the standpoint of how much they would improve the house.

Most importantly - I am wondering if you think anything I'm planning to do is just plain unworkable.... from a practicality point of view (apart from money that is)??

To know that you guys think it's looking okay, would give me confidence to forge ahead - with getting all my quotes, & planning out the stages the work can be done in (and also doing a savings plan to ensure we have all the budget we need, before we start).

I do try to thrash it out with my husband, but hearing all the details drives him completely mad, he can't bear it. And as I've mentioned, neither of us have any expertise or much experience in renovating.

If anyone has any thoughts on that I'd love to hear them. thank you again - heaps & heaps

I think what you're wanting to do is pretty good.

I'd try and 'find' some more money to spend or as suggested previously stage it as you can afford it. An extra $50k (just pulled out of thin air!) would be awesome.....

I'm guessing sorting the bathroom would be a priority so that would be Stage 1.

Stage 2 shuffle a few wall's and new kitchen.

Stage 3 would be paint, floor covering's and remaining loose end's.

Just a few quick before & after photos to show you work we've done so far, on the exterior

Hi Bigreader thanks for your kind comments about the house - we've been chipping away at a lot of jobs over the last 3 years. But the biggest lift so far has been from getting it painted a few weeks ago, it was so amazing to say goodbye to the brown (& the grey sections, where we'd tested sample pots). And then today, we swapped the rusty, wobbly old green colourbond rollerdoor for a fancy remote panel lift one, can't believe how awesome it is.

Thanks for the great idea re the separate toilet - that's something we'll be losing with our changes! It could go where i'd planned to just have an ensuite (our existing study ... which is a pretty big room for an ensuite on its own). then it would be off a hall - which I like for privacy

MB Design & Drafting I'd love to pull $50k out of the air :) :) glad you think the plans look okay too & ta for the thoughts re staging

Hi Liz Here's a few ideas.

Relocate the master to the SE corner & convert the old one to the study and ensuite to family bath / powder room.

Make the lounge to a enclosed kids activity room or theatre room (for resale).

As per your plan, move kitchen to the dining room with possible servery to old lounge.

If budget permits, extend house over half of the decking for the dining.

I fear the north walls of the bedrooms are load supporting? & will prevent making the bedrooms bigger.

https://www.floorplanner.com/

All the best in making your home perfect.

Thanks Brixnmorta. Interesting ideas ...

Do you mean move the master bedroom to where bedroom 3 is now & then the existing master bathroom could be an ensuite - involving fewer changes to plumbing and walls?

That would then leave us with one other larger bedroom (the old master) - which is one of our goals.

would we then make the existing study into the main bathroom - with the toilet adjoining (in the old ensuite?) again not moving plumbing quite so much?

Is that right?

If yes - can you think of a way for the 'new master' and the old bedroom 2 to have a hall somehow or not come off a living area?

I guess we could turn the area we'd planned for 'Bedroom 4' into a media room (maybe it could then stay having no window... which is a good thing for media rooms isn't it? although on the other hand, its a quite horrible thing for a room where you're just sitting having a quiet chat, so probably a window would still be needed)

Then we could also have a bedroom where we had planned to have our 2nd enclosed living area - tucked behind the kitchen.... could have its own mini hallway too.

Except .... that room where I'd thought to put the 2nd living area has a great view - it would have sightlines to front garden & tree views to the back & get both west and north/east light, which is a lovely thing for a living area......

Also - my renovation plans have separated the house into zones... public kept as separate as possible from private & making the most of our views & aspect; kitchen & main bathroom central so both are easy to get to from anywhere; master separate from the rest for peace & privacy.

I still do like my zones .... and I have to say, in agonising so much over all of this for so long - I am literally obssessed and think about it day and night, every single day and every single night - there is not a lot that I haven't already thought off, then thought nah because it doesn't adhere to my idea of zoning.... or maybe I'm being too restrictive there & pushing up costs along with that?

Re load bearing walls - Actually none of the internal walls are load bearing (the external walls are). There are 2 big beams running internally but they do not have walls underneath.

How were you thinking the northern bedroom walls might be moved?

About building over the deck - have asked our builder friend about this & he said it would be really expensive because the roof would have to be redesigned and redone.

Also it would block off light & views into the inside of the house. Our deck is an incredible sun trap in winter - the deck roof has a high pitch that lets in only winter sun (summer sun is shaded out), and it floods into the house all day warming it up

Another thought I've had (but dismissed) was adding a large extension at the back of the house as we have the backyard space for it - double story. Estimated cost of that though (again, according to our builder mate) is around $100k on its own. This of course would be really wonderful & you'd think it would add value to the house's resale too.

BUT we're planning to live here as long as we can - until we're forced to move, whenever that is - and we're not keen on having a much-bigger house - we both like small and cosy better because to us that feels more homely. It's also cheaper to cool and heat, easier to clean.

And we just don't want to spend that much money on our house, there are other financial priorities that are also very important to us. We'd rather just do a modest reno that makes a lot better use of the existing interior space... but obviously we can't be quite as modest in budget as what we had hoped! :)

thanks also brixnmorta for that link - looking now, it looks fab! think I may have found my new obsession

my initial suggestions show a dotted line where old walls have been removed but retain as much of the original walls and plumbing as possible, the extra bedroom fits better within the old laundry, the laundry is in the garage. where an extra guest toilet would be very useful, the living room has the doorway to the old dining blocked off and the single access from the front entry so that the space can be used as a quiet work room, occasional sleeping for guests, movie room, separate kids living when there's a crowd of adults in the family living areas. The childrens' bedrooms are much bigger, share a full bathroom and can be segregated from all the living areas by the short hall and extra doors to shut off the living room and entry hall from the dining areas..although the master bedroom is slightly smaller it has ensuite and wiw and the view ...btw original posted plan was missing some l detail and have added an extra copy without teh removed walls to give a clearer picture of the proposed new spaces

Your questions on my Master bed idea etc has been "answered" by oklouises plan. But I add an L shaped wall outside the bedroom entry to give you the hallway.

I thought of shifting the bedrooms north walls northwards to make them bigger, but oklouise has solved that along with the long and narrow passage.

However you may want to pinch 600mm off each bedroom to create a seperate wc & basin.

If you don't need a seperate study, there should be room for a desk in each bedroom, that'll give your Goal 1 of living area vistas, and a straight through breezeway, often missing in todays houses.

For your increase of guests, you may want to furnish the old lounge with sofa beds.

If at the end there's no money to re carpet, vinyl is cheaper, however noisier.

Thanks oklouise for adding a 2nd plan - that's very helpful! I was just wondering if you could tell me the dimensions of the family bathroom? I can't quite make them out on the plan.

Brixnmorta thanks heaps for your comment too.... could you explain where you were thinking of having an L shaped wall outside the master bedroom on oklouise's plan?

Also what do you guys think of having a master bedroom (and study/guest bedroom) coming off a living area? I love the neatness of your suggestions oklouise.

But I can't help thinking that having those rooms off the living area would be ok now while our kids are little & they go to bed at 7pm. but once they get a lot bigger and 'take over' more (and go to bed after we do and have friends over all the time), that we would feel overrun & like our room was too much in the centre of things.

Or is there any other way (aside from adding the l shaped wall) that might help create a small 'hall' for the master bedroom too? It would be ok for the bedrooms to be a bit smaller if this could be achieved. Although I do realise this would involve more changes too - and hence more cost.

Also we had really hoped to get a view from our eastern windows in our living area. It's a view of lovely tall trees in a reserve, and it's one of our house's selling points. Is there any way to still achieve this but not lose a bedroom?

I'm thinking that we could possibly introduce glass into the wall that separated the study from the living area to see the view in both of the rooms - what do you think of that idea? or is there somewhere else for a 4th bedroom perhaps that wouldn't mean making too many extra changes?

I hope you don't mind me drilling down into more detail - I'm intrigued by these suggestions, lets just say I didn't get much sleep last night for thinking about it & trying to work things out!!!

TIA for any additional thoughts you may have!

I see the L shape fitting into next to the 3 seater and single chair, and possiby putting an extra door on it.

Perhaps use your plan of using some of the old lounge for a new bedroom (windows can be added) and remove the study (now laundry) to give you the views.

the main bathroom is 2400mm x 2000mm...the challenge is to do as much as possible within the spaces available but there must be compromises or more money or more space??...I see the family, dining kitchen as the every day family area that becomes the adult space when you have a crowd, the old living room with extra doors to the entry is for mum and dad movie nights (or add a wall hung tv to the master bed?) and the old living is the kids' retreat when you have a crowd, visiting adults' bedroom and all the kids share kids rooms..all visitors and kids use the family bathroom. I can't make an L shape wall to screen the master bed or a separate toilet within the space available but the only people who should be in the master bedrooms are you and your husband after every one else has gone to bed or left the house? consider solid core doors and automatic closers for extra privacy and shallow full height bookshelves against the kid's bedroom walls will do dual duty as storage and extra sound proofing and, long term consider a guest toilet and rumpus room in the garage or what about downstairs? Using the old bathroom for ens and wiw is the most efficient use of space, plumbing and existing windows (optional bigger windows add more $) replace the east windows in old laundry/new study and open the study to some view from the new family room with a wide internal sliding door or leave out the wall and omit the study/extra bedroom..the old living room is not big enough to add a bedroom...the old study window has to go but no other windows need to be changed...overnight i've moved the woodfire, rearranged the kitchen and dining area to add a "window" from kitchen into old living with view through to the front garden, a door from new dining to old living room and a tiny cupboard laundry in the old kitchen

hi oklouise thanks heaps for this - can't tell you how grateful i am for all your thought & consideration & time, and its really helpful.

I can see how segregating the kids off would help to give them their separate zone and would mean that the main family room etc could become more of an adult space. which would solve the issues of night noise waking them (or their noise waking us in the mornings say, as they get a little bit older)

there are certainly limits of space & money so i think its a matter of compromising for us - and us needing to decide what are our absolute top priorities and what is less important, from that very long list of hopes in my original post.

Re your questions about where our house sits on the block.... the section of the house closest to the road is about 1 m (on the south wall) and 1.5 m (north wall) from the fenceline. The whole block is 18 m wide.

I'd have to go and do some measurements to work out the distances for the top section of the L.

Clothesline is in middle of backyard but could move, there are other places it could go.

underneath the house - the section that sits under where the bathroom and laundry is, has headroom of about 2m - i think it is just shy of regulation height for habitable space so would require some excavating to build under there but it could be done.

I guess though, on the whole we were not looking to go bigger. Just better inside. But I do understand your concern - whats the point in all those fiddly changes inside, if they end up being nearly as expensive as making bigger, more effective and ultimately valuable changes?

I think I'll have to chat this over with the builder & get his take on possibilities for extensions and the relative costs. Also, as I said before, we need to have a very hard think if we intend to try to go forward on our existing budget - to decide on absolute priorities & come to terms with which of those changes would be nice-to-have versus which are must-have.

BTW we'd planned to move existing windows into different places not buy new (our house is timber & the windows are in timber frames so I've been told that is doable, that they just lift out). However I dont know if this is too much cheaper as there is work to remove the old window and then more work to reset in the new spot. Again a question for our (hopefully very patient) builder :)

does that mean that the back fence facing the gorgeous view is more than 4-5m from the house but is how many steps down??? i was't suggesting making the house bigger just wondering how you could take more advantage of the view eg space on the east might make it more worthwhile to rearrange the master suite... If windows work OK in the old position, don't move them (you'll pay to take out the old, pay to move them, pay to fix up the external walls pay to fix up the internal walls all without any guarantee that the old window can be saved, if you want a bigger window that's a job that can be done by itself one at a time (including double glazing etc) and doesn't need to be included in the BIG RENO ..a much better result can be achieved if you work out a whole house plan, identify stages and work on one area at a time ie if the urgent issue is the old bathroom. start there by gutting the wet rooms (keep old toilet as long as possible) strip the wardrobes from bed 3 and create your new master bed suite and when that's finished move into your new bedroom, take a breath and do the family bathroom and then the kitchen etc let the kids stay overnight with granny or ask can you use the washer or can they share a meal but living with others for many months is not ideal and you tend to make expensive decisions just to get it finished, In the meantime if the old carpets stink pull them up (one room at a time) scrub the floors and (while you have an empty room wash and prep the walls and architraves etc for new paint)...you don't have to wait for the reno, no expense, just horrible hard dirty work (cut carpet in pieces makes it easier to carry outside) and live with the (clean) bare floors until you're ready for the next step...all this nagging reminds me of my mum when we were starting out and she knew from her experience...i'll have a think about seeing more of your view..

we are 12m from back fence (eastern border of our plot) and there are 8 steps from our deck to the side path. ground then slopes down more to flat backyard which is about 2.4m below the end of the deck. fyi the laundry also doesn't have the door to the outside anymore that is on our old plan, we got it replaced with glazing. essentially it is now a door-size inoperable window. here is a picture. it still needs proper finishing on the inside.

i agree with your M-I-L if you're not attempting to rebuild the whole house without enough money while attempting to look after a marriage and small children with two working parents: staggering the work can spread the financial burden and protect your family from unreasonable stress and a better result can be achieved by taking more time but, responding to your concerns about accessing the view and wanting the extra small bedroom i've rearranged the master, reduced the size of the kids bedrooms and found the 2m wide space that can be a study or wiw or a tiny bedroom BUT these changes will mean that most of the windows would have to be changed on the south side, you'll need to remove and build more walls, probably replace most of the ceilings,, find money for wardrobes, new doors architraves and skirting boards as well as building two new bathrooms, a laundry and kitchen...i have serious concerns about your budget and repeat my suggestion to divide the reno into manageable stages and do a little at a time

I was thinking you could keep the study, now I see oklouise has scrubbed it, ha ha. You could a install folding wall or sliding doors and open them up for the views, when it's not in use and when it's required for a bedroom, have the desk against a wall and a sofa bed on the other.

However, oklouises new plan does give the master those views now, perfect!

https://goo.gl/images/VHXfTq

https://goo.gl/images/shRvAh

https://goo.gl/images/BVNLd6

https://goo.gl/images/uKFP5S

https://goo.gl/images/5I9h08

good to hear you so positive, my antique CAD program is called 3D home Architect and has taken years for me to manage but would probably be so much easier for a younger person to pick up if you could find a copy but i'm quite happy to draw up any other ideas for you just let me know what you would like to try

Thanks oklouise! that's great to have the name of your program, i'll check it out. I expect it would take me a fair while to get the hang of it (I'm not that young! sadly :) ) so I may need to just be more patient with it and spend more time on it than I've done with the other programs i've looked at.

you are very kind to offer to draw up any other ideas!!! I have about 20 with multiple different combinations of changes, but maybe I will just tell you one of them - for your consideration .... :)

this plan doesn't demolish anything except the internal & northern walls of the old main bathroom, the WC & linen cupboard & the western laundry wall.

It keeps the existing windows & wet areas but would require adding 1 new window initially - and maybe 2 others later down the track when budget allowed. It adds a fair few walls

The changes would be:

1. Putting a U shape kitchen where the main bathroom is currently - existing windows could remain for now until budget allowed a change

2. dining room in the existing laundry/wc/linen cupboard area - fireplace would sit in the north-east corner (the photo I added yesterday with the long window and the tiny window). A new window could be added to the eastern wall but this could happen down the track

3. this is a bit radical, but the new main bathroom could go where the kitchen is now, 2m x 2.4m as your plans suggested. The existing doorway (to the kitchen now) could be retained along with 2m of the hallway wall (so the bottlenecky hall would at least be shorter which would be good)

4. The doorway between the old dining room and old main lounge would be closed but a gap left for a new doorway. Which would lead to a tiny hall opening into a new much larger bedroom for the kids to share (where the old lounge is) and another new 2m x 4m bedroom (this is where the new window would be required).

5. Old dining room would become a small multipurpose room - new office-cum-quiet reading room. kids playroom etc

6. Old Bed 3 becomes a new living room with 4 walls & a door - but the doorway would be moved to the northern wall

7. Old Bed 2 remains a bedroom but picks up 60 extra centimetres (taking what was the built-in space, from Old Bed 3). 120 extra centimetres really - as the built-in from Bed 2 could also be removed & incorporated into room area. It also opens from a doorway in the northern wall. This could be the official guest bedroom for now.

8. Family lounge goes in the area between the new dining room and the new main bathroom wall - lounges could face each other & float across the narrow-ish room (not sure where TV would go but hopefully there would be a spot somewhere)

9. the doorway to the left of the entry hall (as you are walking in) would be closed in

10. In another phase of changes down the track - the study could be turned into a new ensuite (not moving plumbing very far and moving no walls). It could have 2 doors - one to hallway for use as 2nd WC OR the study could simply be created into a WC and ensuite. Meanwhile the old ensuite could become a compact WIW

So as you can see - that's still a huge amount of changes, but they are more about changing the use of rooms, building new walls and altering doorways - as opposed to moving windows & wholesale demolition...... Wet rooms stay wet rooms.

I'd love to know what you think even if you dont get time to do any plans

My concern is that it may be a rabbit warren. But I think with the open area for kitchen/living/family dining - this would be alleviated - plus we have a lot of glass going out to deck which adds to a feeling of space & width & light

here's your floorplan, as requested...i'll do another variation of this plan to show how it could be improved and why

LOVE the kitchen up the east but it's a long way from the garage door so will you bring groceries in the front or could you find a way to come from the garage across the deck to the kitchen? (think about how access to the house from the garage could change the way you think about uses for the old dining room?) removing the wardrobes and retaining the dividing wall in bed 3 and 4 and the two rooms can be equal or did you want the new lounge to be the same size as the current small bedrooms and the guest room the same as the old master? combining the old ens and study and rotating the spaces allows for ens, more generous wiw and a separate dual access toilet, retaining access to the new study from the entry allows more flexible use of the space and avoids the need for the tiny hall to access the new kids' room (although i think you'll find that very quickly the kids will want/need their own rooms and you will be using the new kids room for guests and the kids bedrooms will be the same as before but without the wardrobes and opening off the family room and there will only be the old playroom walkway for a lounge...these two plans are the same, one shows where the old walls and wardrobes have been removed

looking forward to your other ideas until your favourite appears!!

THANKS SO MUCH oklouise! that looks good to me - I like the changes to the ensuite & WIW. Now I see it, I totally agree that Bed 4 doors need to come off the entry hallway. thank you :)

I'm sure you're right about the girls not wanting to share a room for much longer. and the time goes so quickly. so that would be good then, to keep old Bed 2 and 3 the same size - then they won't fight too much over who goes where.

Do you know (you probably do :) ) - with my original plan & all of the proposed changes on it, these bedrooms still only ended up this exact same size with no built-ins - 300 x 340cm? Having a hall took up the other space that was gained. Its certainly a lot more simple (as was illustrated by your very first plan) to move the doors so they come off the living area

It's true - the new kitchen would be an awfully long way from the garage. Also not in the centre of the house - as kitchens are meant to be. But perhaps this is one of those compromises that might be worthwhile since the eastern aspect is lovely for a kitchen, and it allows a nice sized kitchen, sink at a window, all a little separate but still part of the action.

I also think I could find a good second hand kitchen on gumtree - benchtops, sinks, taps and all - because this layout is far more standard . I've found a guy who delivers 2nd hand kitchens to country NSW from Sydney where lots of people are ripping out newish kitchens. Then we'd just need a local joiner to install. This would certainly do for us & should end up cheaper/better value than brand new.

With the main bathroom i was wondering if maybe it could have no WC since there would be a separate one sharing the ensuite area? Which would then allow for the main bathroom to be less squishy. Although this would mean we'd have to do all the changes at once - rather than in stages - since otherwise we'd have no WC. It would just involve waiting to do it and saving up some more $.

I also like your idea of keeping the old lounge as a lounge still - its a really beautiful room actually, one of our nicest. Which makes me wonder if - for flexibility - it might be better to have a double sliding door closing off the existing archway - instead of a closed-in wall & new door. To help avoid any feeling of 'rabbit warren' in the layout....

a PS - if we kept the old lounge as a lounge with sliding doors - then I think we could also consider leaving the fireplace where it is now. at least for a while. it could still heat the whole house because already we were intending to duct the fireplace to the other rooms (air conditioning people do it for you, and they've told me its not pricey - they just stick ducting in the roof and switches on the walls) .

Sorry to keep messaging.

But I another thought (yes I am obsessed).

I was thinking that the floor plan could be kept a bit more open (although I think the plan you've just done is already ok & good) if the study stayed as a study (although then the ensuite would have to stay tiny... but perhaps I could talk to the builder about other ways to make it just that bit bigger without having to knock the wall down).

In that plan option, the main bathroom could go in the spot for new Bed4. again no windows would be needed - it could have a skylight & a vent. It could be bigger then. The door could either be in the back of the old kitchen. Or remain in the entry hall.

In that plan option, the wall could be retained between the old dining room & the old kitchen. Or it, too, could be a sliding door (if thats not too many sliding doors in the picture)

we're all obsessed that's why we need HOUZZ to help us connect from all over the country (i'm also in country NSW) and you could never send too many messages as it allows for other people to observe and make suggestions that we don't see...i'll work on these last ideas and reply later tonight

you are super-patient!!! :) :) thank you :)

I'm so sorry but I do actually have a couple MORE thoughts!! argh! there are just so many different options.... and this is a bit of an all consuming puzzle to try to solve.

here they are:

1) study could become main bathroom - leaving new Bed 4 as per plan since it is bigger & a better size for guests. in this option, some area could be stolen from the study to boost ensuite size - even if it just made the ensuite 1 full metre. Ideally not requiring study window to change.

2) WC could potentially be separate either within this space OR at the back of the old kitchen (allowing for the remaining, longish hall wall to be shorter again)

oklouise you may think some of these ideas are not very workable & I'd be so glad for your feedback & comment (and anyone else's comments as well), it's really so incredibly helpful - unbelievably helpful - to have everyone's input.

i'd love recommendations on which ideas & options might work best for that balance between function & budget

That's such good advice. I'll try to keep that question in my head! I do definitely overthink everything not just this. and need to step back & get perspective

bigreader is right that there are so many possibilities but the ideal will be the best combination of dream and compromise so here's some more options!! the family bath with an ensuite and separate toilet (nb it costs the same to move the ensuite wall a little or a lot) you were correct to realise that removing the walls and changing the doors in the two small bedrooms doesn't make the bedrooms bigger and you lose the storage..that's why i'd be keen to retain the small bedrooms but you could add a sliding door to increase privacy from the family room, keep the original living room as a combination quiet room and occasional adult guest room and you mentioned that there's 2400 headroom beneath the old laundry...what about a new laundry downstairs (access from outside) with an extra toilet and shower (not habitable so headroom is a little more lenient) and a backyard tent for visiting kids to enjoy??

sorry Liz, i noticed an error and edited and reloaded there's should be only one plan

Hi Liz, here is a plan of what I would do to make the most of the eastern views and separate the kids zone from the main living area, as well as opening up the narrow hall and other spaces. I have reduced the laundry to a hidden area in the lounge behind bifold doors, near the deck for drying.

The garage needs to be used for a couple of bedrooms and the bath, but these days local authorities will usually allow an open carport within the 6m setback. Not sure where you are, but that's worth a discussion with the council.

You did a great job opening up the existing deck and making it brighter. I would also think in terms of wrapping the deck around the east end of the house some time down the track. The suspect floor in the existing bath room makes that area the first priority, so doing the new bath in the garage will allow you to gut the old wet zone and replace rotten joists etc.

The budget will have to be stretched, but you definitely need to tackle that dodgy floor soon! Contact me if you would like help drawing this up.

Thanks again oklouise for your extra plan and your thoughts as well, & thanks Daniel. Well I now have a tonne of ideas and options to move forward with. Time to go away & reflect on everything, weigh up possibilities and decide on priorities and budget. I really appreciate everyone's help with these plans SO MUCH! :) :)

Thanks for the suggestion - great idea to onsell things we remove!