@ EMILY! Thanks so much for showing us all that you've accomplished...what a big...ongoing job and its not cheap undertaking something like that. Thanks for the tip about the star jasmine...I have a beautiful planting of that.....or rather 'had'...I got a chap in to trim it for me who advertised himself as experienced....Oh Dear! He killed most of the vine by cutting it at ground level! Now its a brown horrible mess up a tall trellis and no privacy. I'm devastated. To make it worse the neighbour sits out on her back deck and calls out to me when I'm out there when before she couldn't see me.....I'm putting up atemporary reed screen...I think....would rather my star jasmine with the blackbirds nesting in it....I know the feeling of not jumping in in case one makes a regrettable mistake. I also had gardenias but once they get sick its not worth all the trouble. I've had to learn heaps about what plants are appropriate for my place and I've made some really silly mistakes too. I've never seen those cut laser panels before and am a bit intrigued. What are they used for,,outdoor lighting? That colourbond fence works really well as a privacy screen! You've done so much and have invested not only your hard-earned money but also your ideas! Hope you have some lovely times in your space.

@ deanli14...the problem is that the neighbours don't want the tennis court fence as it is..more they want it lowered...thus depriving johnmcintyre of his privacy and the local Council is dictating what can and cannot be done....its not about planting for privacy...quite the reverse, the neighbours want the view! I've had an idea that might help. It is my understanding that today anyone wanting to build or alter any structure can employ a private building surveyor/inspector to approve the plans and then the final structure...and I understand that this applies everywhere in Australia. So there is a way to by-pass all the nonsense. The Council does not have to know about or approve anything. You are employing (paying) a private building surveyor/inspector to help you get what you want on your own property. I think its all got beyond a joke. Just by-pass all the red tape and the neighbours! I've extended my house to incorporate a very large semi enclosed veranda, I've had a large water tank erected on a tall stand so it gravity feeds into my house..and have erected several 3m tall greenery covered screens along my fenceline adjoining the neighbours.. for reasons of privacy.....all without the local Council even knowing about it because I employed a private building surveyor for it all from start to finish. You would be paying him to be on your side and get you what you want and he does not have to submit to Council, he is his own boss and your client. You'd need to get a draftsman to draw up the plans to start with...then it should be smooth sailing.

Yeah oklouise that opens it up ...I'd Keep pool/poolhouse as is, but flip the kitchen back over so the island doesn't interrupt the vista down the passage to the pool, powder room could be worked in somewhere b/w MPR & Laundry. The adjusted stair however of course will change the upper level layout. Just a thought/question considering such a tight site, arguably a lot of unused side area that I understand is there to maintain rear access via garage, but as I see ripe for the design picking/opportunity should you concede rear access happens through the house. Considering your coming through the garage anyway you could possibly set the laundry up so that it runs lengthways down with the block and you essentially take over the external area with the flow of the laundry and when need be you access the external through the garage, into the laundry and then out - better use of the land IMO but as siriuskey said previously ultimately your home and your decisions/priorities :)

Hi Anne, there are some good suggestions above, in addition the question I always ask is "where is north"!! This should be a consideration too, and it's a little hard to tell how this open plan room connects to the rest of the house - is it the door at the end of the lounge, and are those solid walls at that end? (You might want to consider taking the windows further into the corner of the lounge, to ensure you can see the view from your couch/lounge chairs etc). I am quite curious about what "view" it is! Ocean? Mountain? Although a kitchen-sink window is always great, because you tend to spend more time socialising and meal-prepping around the large island, we would suggest trying to have the island face the view, or if side-on to the view, that it isn't obstructed by other benches. With your room only 6.5m wide, if you rotated through 90degrees and placed the kitchen on the long wall and leaving the pantry/wet room 'behind' the kitchen as in the current arrangement this might potentially block the flow of circulation through to the rest of the house. You could consider leaving the kitchen as-is but moving the kitchen sink bench to the other side and making this a 'tall things' zone (fridges etc) and moving the sink to where the fridge was, and moving pantry entry to the same side as wet-entry. The reason I suggest this is because when you are cooking intensely, you want to minimise circulation routes through a kitchen, so people can come and go and access the fridge (and the wine!) without interrupting the cooking. Of course it is only access to the pantry, so this might be fine too however if you did move the pantry entry to the other end this would create a protected cooking zone at the 'view' end. Ultimately, there is the opportunity to fully glaze the view whether the island is side-on or facing the view - exactly like the kitchen image posted above! (But insert your view into the picture!) As a side note, some builders only complain about sliding doors because they are harder to install and problematic to fix if the architraves need to be removed and replastering done (compared with simply rehanging a swing door!) For a good builder it should simply not be an issue and will significantly improve your access to the space, we always do sliding doors into pantries! Also ditto about the width of the pantry, 1.8m would allow a 600mm bench space on one side for appliances to be kept out, normal depth drawers under and shelves over, and a wall of 300mm wide shelves the other side, this will genuinely feel like a 'big' pantry. And finally - a suggestion to NOT put an oven in the pantry if 4doz bottles of wine are in there! Even if you are not cellaring long term wine likes a nice stable (and cool) temperature for storage. Good Luck Anne!