@gramps,I get it now what you're after, I quite like all the pictures you provided.Here goes for your answers:1.8m veranda's were based on the existing 1.5m veranda's that we have in the little home we're living in at present that can't protect the entry when we get the occasional weather from the east and it is occasional.The entire veranda and door are wet and all shoes or other items must be moved into shelter, so 1.8m should be better and we thought that 2m might make the house too dark in winter, so we comprimized but we made no mathematical calculations just observed the problem we experienced in this tiny little home we're living in whilst we build.I still think that you might be dissapointed with the heat coming into your home with anything shy of a normal veranda, especially if you intend to built with iron like all the photo's you posted, you will be in an oven I think, unless you have very high insulation factor in your walls and roof, like 7 instead of the usual 3.5 and probably double glazed windows, and high sun factor blinds.Kids room facing south:When it's cold or winter, you will have the kids and their rooms trussed up like bugs in a rug I expect, with curtains drawn and heater on, so I doubt it will have any sort of effect overall, as it's the summer you have to get your kids through not the winter.I wouldn't expect that your kids will be living in their rooms during winter anyway, you would have them all in the lounge with fireplace a blazing, all in one place to SAVE on heating. The Entry:As I suggested in my earlier post, an entry is best facing either east or north as most bad weather comes from the west, here anyway, not sure about the Wimmera, and the least bad weather comes from the east, again here.I expect that the only difference between my weather here and yours will be the higher temperatures you will experience.You need to remember that it won't matter didly squat about the position of your entry during the summer but when you have freezing winds followed by sleet and rain, you are going to be trying to get into this door and if you intend to be coming and going through the laundry door, more appropriate anyway, with gum boots and mud and there will be MUD!!!!..... your laundry at present, facing west, is going to be horrible too if your prevailing winds come mostly from the west like they do here and if it's raining too, that will follow you into the home.Not sure what else I can say except, just be sure you have everything in the right place so that you can be happy with the home at the end of the day.You seem to be extremely passionate about trying to get it looking beautiful as your layout is beautiful, you just need to make sure that the position of the home for all the different rooms and entries etc... are also right!!!Veranda's can be very forgiving of internal mistakes like a front door facing the wrong direction so you can have your cake and eat it to that way.As I said again in my earlier post, if you could flip the home around, everything would be in the right place from my point of view but I know you said this design suits the driveway and that has to work properly too.Bottom line is be sure and don't be overly concerned about extending your eaves and turning them into veranda's, as I think any one of the photo's you posted would still look fabulous with them, in fact I think it would make everyone of those homes look more finished except for the third photo by Nick Deaver, that does show a veranda/alfresco area.Best of luck.PS: Remember too, you will never have all your doors and windows open like these beautiful homes seem to lead people to believe by the photo's, unless you like living with flies and blowflies during the day amd billions of midges at night like I have and I can assure you the Wimmera will have it's fair share, especially if you or your neighbours have sheep!!! Cheers Barbara

@ Luke Buckle yep that’s the one. Has 1000w/200w switchable. I just put an oil heater in there 2 days ago to trial and room was toasty in under 5mibs WITH A non instant oil heater so a fan type wouldn’t take long. Also consider the heat lamps are 250w so 1000w total if all 4 are on. They feel like they are frying your head off from above when blazing all 4 lamps so depends on what “feel” you want also. As someone mentioned, let alone the cost of lamp replacement. Having been in lighting industry they wouldn’t last super long either (perhaps newer ultra violet do but their also pricier again)... I’m no better either!

You never mentioned your budget that you're willing to spend. You could add a thicker fill backed insulation blanket - 50mm, 75mm or 100mm are the common thicknesses. Steep roof pitch so would need scaffolding, harnesses, etc.. which adds up quickly. Probably still not enough insulation though but probably cheapest option. Insulation under existing timber linings then reline over the top of that as some have suggested. Working at height though so would need scaffold set up again and working overhead is not fun nor easy. You could replace the roof with a sandwich panel roof. Try Versiclad or Kingspan or comparable. They have a polystyrene type of insulation between an outer metal roof sheet and a metal inner sheet. These are heat laminated together. Again different thickness available from 50mm up to 180mm is common. The 180mm has a R rating of 4.7 which is quite good. Again steep pitch, etc., probably need new ridge capping, etc.. Probably most expensive option...... Keep us all posted on your decision though!

We are looking at installing a fireplace in a corner. Looking to heat around 25 squares. Was set on the Blaze 900 but have since read some bad reviews. Looking for something that sits pretty high due to the position. Thanks heaps!