I'm sure there's plenty of confusion about the why's and wherefore's of house orientation. The reality, as I have recently discovered, is that if want to live in an area that is older, developed, close to facilities, you take whatever orientation the block actually happens to be and do the best you can with it. Unless you're out in the country, or buying something in a new estate, you may not get a choice of orientation: we certainly didn't. And yes, our garage does have the best aspect - because there was nowhere else to put it - it had to face the street - but we live walking distance to shops (think of the petrol saved on not having to get into the car), we've got clerestory windows on the west side so no afternoon sun issues, and we're assembling a collection of sails for the south side, where the deck is, to provide shade from the late afternoon sun. Oh, and skylights for the kitchen. No, not ideal. But the location is, and the designers have worked around the constraints of orientation. And that's reality for a lot of us.

Hi AndrewJason, Again! :) Depending how many people in your home. Do you have other linen store somewhere else in the home? If so I would consider going with the linen hall cupboard in the laundry for tall things, then using the full length of the wall for the bench, units under at the outside door end, and put the sink nearer to hall door: think about the order in which you would usually use these things. Dirties in from the kids rooms and the bathroom, rinse, soak, hand wash, WM, TD if you need to, out the door to the "rotary or linear, unit for air movement and solar assisted moisture removal with appendages and wiring" ! When it has achieved its optimal, goods are brought in and bench is used for folding and stacking. The shirt rail under the overhead cupboards are brilliant! As are rails along the other walls for towels in use or pool towels, airing, finish drying etc. My preference would be to move the hall and outside doors to the center of their walls so you have two sides of "U" with walkway between down the center of the room, for cupboards, benches etc between the full length of the room. Go on knock out those bricks!!! Even with the loo door on the right hand wall the space would be very helpful. Hope this is helpful. Cheers, Margot

keep in mind that my plan has single external walls and all the inside and outside walls are 10cm thick to make drawing easier and the depth of the verandahs includes the eaves, adding a brick veneer would use more space and given the choice it would be lovely to plan for a covered walkway and raked ceilings in the living areas and this is a very basic gable roof but there are lots of more exciting/expensive roof options to consider

my suggestions include a front courtyard to screen the driveway, parking and carport, a direct line of sight from the front door through the family rooms to the view, glass doors at the end of wide hallways, the entry and hallways can be closed off to help zone AC, changing the shape (not size) of the family dining room so that sitting and dining areas are closer to the views and there's easy access out of doors..the mudroom gives access from carport to kitchen but keeps traffic out of the separate pantry and kitchen work spaces..the minor bedrooms are generous enough for queen beds and i've rearranged the spaces so the bedrooms doors open off the hallway and there's generous storage ..there's a spacious family bathroom, separate toilet with external window and a bigger laundry and the outside glass door opens off the wide hallway to a small porch...as you're likely to have long stay overseas guests i've added a small sitting area, desk and TV space to the guest bedroom..i've left out the wiw in the office in favour of BIW as this makes the room more flexible and convenient for a babies' room and there's small changes to the master suite to allow the toilet to have an external window with a view, more wardrobe walls and there's external access from the bedroom...using simple gable and skillion roof shapes there could be a raked ceiling in the main living areas with skylights and/or clerestory windows to brighten the rumpus room, workshop and main living areas and i've used windows across corners to enhance the views but windows should be sized and located to suit the outlook from each room...