Good on you abstar9511 for choosing to Renovate! I've personally gone through a renovation in the last 18 months and it is worth it. From the pictures the house looks to be in fairly decent nick for a Perth original, especially one by the beach with our salt and winds. If you choose to update the gardens at a later date, Planted Passion is happy to quote on a resilient garden design and installation for your properties' weather/soil/aspect conditions. Personally, I can see a Cottage Garden vibe which would like stunning, especially with the inclusion of some Hedges for beach wind protection. Good luck with the reno!

Decide on a budget that you can afford. I'd suggest to engage a local designer - architect, building designer or a design focused draftsman. They'll know local council requirements and can come up with a design to suit both budget, council and your brief. They would also know the builders in the local area. I'd keep it simple (KISS) and avoid moving to many existing walls. Good design will make it look like a simple layout! You'll get lots of information from Houzz. Use this a starting point for your journey. The curvy entry area looks cool, got any pictures?

Hi All, apologies for the delay in responding and thanks again for all your suggestions. Siriuskey - the sunroom is currently used by myself as a study/make-up room (a computer, desk and printer at one end the other end a dressing table). I don't think it would be suitable as an ensuite as I believe it was an old verandah that has been enclosed and the front is all window, which face the street. We live in Northern NSW, near Lismore. I had a new split system air conditioner installed mid-winter last year and it seems to be helping with the heating and cooling, but of course it would be great if we didn't have to use it too often (even though we have a fair few solar panels), oklouise - if we were to enclose part of the patio to make extra room I, think I would 'roughly' leave the kitchen were it is but widen doorways and have a bigger island bench. I would then use the 'new' room as a dining room and the old dining room would be like a sitting room with the potential to perhaps move the loft bedroom stairs in there in the future (which would gain full use of bedroom 3 back). These are just rough ideas at the moment though, we are still open to ideas. Kate - we could potentially move the bathroom into bedroom 3 but I don't know if it would gain us anything... unless I'm misunderstanding your suggestion. siriuskey - I have attached 2 photos; one shows part of our patio looking back to the family room door and you can see the pool fence for where it is situated with the house. The second one is an aerial photo of our block showing the house and pool. I hope these are useful. The patio has a room and ceiling and concreted floor, so I don't think it would be too hard to enclose part of it in. I love all the feedback and suggestions so far, so please don't hold back!! Thank you.

Extensions are expensive. I can understand why you would be considering one if you had an existing house and needed more space, but it is poor economy to buy a house to then spend an extra $300K+ on an extension. Put your $300,000 into buying a more expensive and larger property that provides the accommodation you need will give you better bang for your buck, and you can see what you are getting. I regularly do pre-purchase design inspections to assess the viability of renovations and extensions for clients prior to them deciding to buy a property. This service is like a mini-feasibility study, and includes local government planning issues as part of my Dr Retro House Call service. For instance I had an engagement last week to inspect a heritage-listed 1960's ambulance station in suburban Melbourne to see if it was viable to renovate and subdivide into two residences. I managed to cover a lot of complex planning, design and regulation issues in a two-hour consultation to help the potential buyer make a decision. While it was my first ambulance station, I have completed similar pre-purchase design inspections for lots of more traditional houses. Best of luck with your considerations, and please contact me if you would like to book in a Dr Retro pre-purchase design consultation. Regards Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls