I'm hopeful that a pro will provide you with some great ideas. Yours looks like some of the "befores" that they do brilliant changes to on the TV reno shows. Most architects will come up with excellent solutions within the space if that's what's required, but nothing worthwhile is likely to be done cheaply though.

Daniel, can imagine you don't deal with a lot of fire places in QLD but South of that we do. It's like any beautiful old building we need to respect and conserve what is already there, a new addition can allow for more sleek and modern design. I had been very fortunate to own a beautiful federation house which was simply white inside with polished floor boards, fire places mostly timber, when we sold the new owners striped all beautiful arch ways and all exterior Fret work. I have recently seen an Architect show his work on this forum where the Bull Nose verandah's and metal posts were removed "they weren't original", even though they would have been a 100 yrs, and were replaced with more modern square posts. Look at what is happening on the North Shore Pacific Highway, the past government (Labor) has approved multi story apartment blocks along this highway destroying beautiful heritage houses and gardens to do this and losing any historic charm a big lose for Sydney and Australia , and while not doing anything to update ANY transport to support .this Conserve what we have as is done in other countries for future generations cheers

Appreciate the thoughts and this may be a solid option elsewhere in the country but in my circumstances I don't plan to be moving from this property any time before the kids are 18. It is located in Sydney's inner west, and in a specific high school catchment I plan to take advantage of when the kids are older. Stamp duty to buy the property was close to $100k and if moving out even in ten years to a larger property; that averages $10k a year spent on stamp duty. I know 115m2 internal is tight, as is the fixed layout due to existing bedroom walls, ceiling heights, wet areas, and the like - but there has to be a way to make this work... I have read that 4 bedroom apartments should be 102m2 or bigger. I am willing to make compromises where possible but I really want to create that extra separate room "Multi-purpose room" which can double as a study/work area/kids play area/media room/ad-hoc sleeping accommodation". Paul Di Stefano: I don't think these changes essentially equate to 'rearranging a sock drawer' - this is my PPOR so I am not too concerned what other buyers want or resale value if I plan to hold the property for 10-20 years +... (any trends we design for now may well be outdated by then anyway). Many buyers highly value indoor-outdoor integration. By moving the kitchen to centre, it opens up the rear and creates indoor living->outdoor living link. If I get IKEA flatpack kitchen and DIY as much as possible - have a friend reroute the water/drainage/+his licenced electrical friend...hopefully this work would cost sub-$20k. Adding the sliding door to rear is $2.5k. Ensuite, bathroom and laundry I believe I can fitout for $10-15k all up- let's say 15k (again, tiling, raise flooring, showers/fixtures/flat pack laudnry cabinetry install all done in-house without tradies). The only thing I really need professionals for is to move the gas line in kitchen, BIR installs, stone benchtop, and maybe a few adhoc wall demo/construction/doorway moving - lets call that 10k. All up ballpark that is 47.5k? Sirius- If I go with your style plan then I lose the potential 4th bed space and have no where for relatives to stay, babysitter, nanny; etc :( Maybe it is a possibility that the main living space be used for lounge room and kitchen, we can always put dining table in the Multi-purpose room, then when that room is needed for sleeping accommodation, the dining table be moved to the side and kids can eat dinner on island bench bar; lounge or outside table... ? those doors to each side of the fireplace as you suggest - this space is very cramped outside (2.45m width) and potentially would be used to store trailer or garden shed, there is an old terrace built on zero-boundary there and they have a DA to go 2 storeys; which will shadow the whole area. This is why I planned to make the rear south corner a raised deck and try to channel house activity leading out the existing glass french door to that deck, or the rear sliding door. See photo-(my house is on the left, terrace zero boundary on right, and front on is a wooden dividing fence which on the opposite side is the driveway/1 car park and front street.

I was just thinking of making more of a substantial open living space, in terms of the extra floor space to the east, as I can see it being the part of the house that we would be in all the time. In terms of the north side, we are on a corner block and so there is a 4 metre setback on that side, which we are already at. I don't know much about these things, but I assume that wouldn't be able to be changed. I am planning a nice garden on that side of the house anyway, which I am excited about, and we like to have the space all around the house (i.e. no fences close to any of our windows, giving the feeling of privacy and space in a modest suburban block). The other thing I think of a lot is regarding passive solar design principles, and having our house oriented the way it is (West facing), I am reluctant to do anything too major unless we can really capitalise on this. Having the bedrooms on the northern side does work really well for us at the moment, as we use them a lot - with small children napping and my husbands office being on that side. Although that will change when the kids grow up... I'm hoping we can at least add some skylights or something like that into the extension area/kitchen in order to bring in more light. Our kitchen is quite dark and cold in winter.