Hi there Nick, looking at your photos you look like a modern hamptons family which is lovely, do you live in a warm climate. I did like the photo you posted of the open plan living and think that you are on the right track with interior colours I have marked out how I would like the first floor, I have moved the kitchen to the end wall to line up with BBQ outdoor kitchen, plumbing for this would have easy access via the garage below. The white tiles look lovely and hard wearing for the entrance foyer and Rumpus room, the stairs in timber due to the amount of traffic even continuing in up stairs foyer kitchen dining living, Carpet in bedrooms and downstairs theater. Kitchen in white but possibly Shaker style white doors these are very popular. Using existing sliding exterior doors if possible from kitchen.Dining to verandah, I think this ceiling would be best kept white to help reflect light back indoors, the tiles appear to be in good order but you might consider changing these along with new upstairs flooring Some where for a laundry shute would be handy, actually a Dumb Waiter so you could move the laundry with ease both up and down! The roof painted a soft colour, grey/white or off white, the verandah railing could be the same colour or you could do glass. The builder had a very different style of house to what I think you are wanting. Your photo

Hi siriuskey, In answer to your previous question, no we are not having as big of an oven/cooktop shown in the design. Ours will be a 60cm induction cook top, with a 60cm built in oven underneath. I'm guessing this is just the picture they have in their design software. It seems a bit distorted anyway. At this stage we are not sure if we will be repainting the kitchen & dining space. I guess it depends on what colours we go for, as it was only recently repainted. It is really only the one wall in the lounge room that is still natural wood, the remainder of the house has been painted in the light grey. The previous owners had already started to organise the reno, just before we bought the house. So we have a 'custom' flat pack that they order, to replicate the current kitchen layout. They choose StyleLite for the doors in either Frost or Arctic (http://stylelite.net/product_info.html) and it is a high gloss. One of the kitchen companies is happy to take away our flat pack and modify it to suit our new design. This would save us money on cabinet costs and get it out of our way. So, for these reasons we are keen to stay with the white cabinetry. Originally we were thinking of a black stone top with a little metallic flick in it (http://www.caesarstone.com.au/colour/6100-night-sky) but we are now considering a less stark colour like a grey (https://www.silestoneusa.com/color/marengo/) which would be perhaps more of an industrial style look? All of the poles in the lounge room, dining and kitchen are the blue colour, which we are keen to keep if possible so that the entire space has some continuity. Plus with cream coloured carpet, we don't want to repaint the lounge room ones! They are different colours in the other rooms. Having said all this, we are open to ideas and plan to take our time getting the design and colour scheme right, so we don't make it too modern and detract from the feel of the house.

Thank you for your great ideas and photos. I love the concept and have been thinking about this idea also even a basic series of large timber frames to line the path. I really do need the shelter though so I pretty much want exactly what you suggest. A raised, almost floating verandah roof starting from the inside cutout of the roofline (to get height) and angled down to match the garage/stone wall but yes 600mm or so gap and say timber lined with nice chunky timber post or even stone based posts. My worry was would this look out of place in what is a simple country home and the best way to finish it off and "ground" the structure so it looks like it belongs to the original building. It is doable I'm sure but I don't want it to look odd either. The devil is in the detail so they so. Thanks again for your thoughts and ideas.

Well, I had a structural engineer come to the house yesterday at a cost of $600. I thought I would get drawings or something for that price but this is what he said.....(oh, before his visit, I cute into some of the plaster of the dividing wall between kitchen and lounge and the brick wall goes all the way along the wall). Structural engineer said that the wall is load bearing because he think that it provids support the support rafters (or what the horizontal beams that are at the bottom of the cathedral ceiling). Those horizontal beams that go across the house (each one from back to front of house) and partly supported by the brick dviding wall. He said that if I totally removed the overhead walkway, I would still need to leave a post or some of the brick on either side of the current dividing wall , as well as a support beam between them. He said I could cut out a window into the wall, but the bigger the window the bigger the horizontal support beam would be required. He said he didnt like working with brick because it was not like timber etc, where you can calculate what load it takes. He said there can be a lot of variation in a brick wall. He said that I should contact a building designer (someone who can give an idea of design whilst also consdiering loads and being able to draw plans...he said normally, those people will ask his advice on something). I hate tryin to do renos, because you can spend a lot of money and not really get much from it, and also go in circles about knowing who is the best person to contact. I know I do need someone to help give me an idea of design, but someone who also takes into consideration comparative costs including structural elements/loads etc. When I said to him ..so I shouldnt see an architect, he said that he often sees things from architects with no technical drawings...just design only. I really would like to be able to see the view at the back from anyway in the house, but I am a little bit reluctant to move plumbing, as I imagine with a concrete floor, the costs will start to rise significantly if plumbing has to be moved. I tend to spend most of my sitting outside time, at the back of the house, looking at the lake...even though there is only 1.5metres from the back of my property to public land (and that I have to put fencing up there to keep my dogs in). It is only me and my dogs at the place, but I do want to make sure that any changes that i make are family friendly and AirBnB friendly. The exisitng laundry seems to have heaps of wasted space in it and because the current windown is so high in it, it seems to be very segregated from the outside pool and not in the best place. I dont know what to do with this place.