@alissat @olldroo @lorrainecrawford @laura @elskerdesign Those are excellent leads, thanks! @looleyjule Nick Scali stuff is gorgeous, but a little outside my budget and quite large for my space. @pazz I absolutely love the unit you’ve posted. I prefer distressed timber and metal but most true blue industrial units were too large for my space. The one I finally bought is a bit of a mix with distressed timber and metal, but also white and clean... and it matches everything beautifully!

I know someone from Clarendon Homes and they talked about homes costing about $350k which was about $3000/m2. I know extensions in the city cost about $4000 with the high cost of tradies at the moment.

living in regional NSW i'm sorry to say that the cost for building "in the country" seems much more expensive than on the coast.... plans i've done for several friends on the coast have been about 20-30% cheaper to build than locally (transport costs. less competition and volume discounts?)...i suggest you check some of the building companies like Gardner, Beechwood, Rawson homes etc building in your area for a comparison price

HU-624382943's comment about speaker placement is important. As far as quality listening goes (whether you like listening to music seriously or want to enjoy fantastic sound when watching movies, you want the speakers on the narrow wall (pointing towards the set of paned windows), not on a long wall. The challenge, of course, will be to get them sufficiently spaced, since you have the bookcase on the right and the cupboard (with or without doors) on the left, as well as the door to the room itself. (That door looks uncomfortably close to the cupboard doors, incidentally.) Unless you choose to suspend your directional speakers from the ceiling – which could be an option – you'll probably be limited to the width of that central section of wall, i.e. immediately to each side of the TV.