Ive had a really busy 4 days & have been totally warn out, sorry for the lack of communication. We are changing the plan to have the roofline open up at the back like the latest pic posted by dreamer, but to also open up at the front for a patio entrance. Doing things this way gives us the high/raked ceilings in the kitchen/living/dining rather than stepping the whole area down. As for the design of the ensuite, kids bathroom, laundry, pantry, spare toilet & mudroom..... We've had a chat about it & have made a few changes. We have spoken with the 'architect' & he is drawing it up with the changes that we are happy with😊 Thank you all so much for you opinions & help, its been very much appreciated & has helped us get to a point that we are very happy with the design now, couldnt have done it without you guys💚💙 When the shed gets built we will have a granny flat setup in one end of it for the older kids or visitors so that will work out for us now too.

i was wondering about a downstairs front door but then how would you use the upstairs entry and what about potential loss of the grandparents' bedroom and space taken away from the garage and storage... different internal stairs meant enlarging the whole downstairs floor area (and changing the roof) and sacrificing space needed for the new upstairs deck and future pool (and extending further into the yard encroaches on the neighbours' views) but the old front stairs can be lengthened to maintain the original look of the house and you'll find that friends and family will more likely come in through the garage or rumpus room and the old front stairs will be used for only very enthusiastic sales people and photo ops but you do need to confirm all the dimensions on the original floor plan as the room sizes are inconsistent and an accurate original floor plan (including exact location of doors and windows) will help ensure that my suggestions could fit with the least amount of alteration to the existing structure and may also invite different suggestions from other HOUZZERS and happy to redraw your plans if you can correct this copy

I have a relatively small but very well designed house of 160M2 on a block of 1000M2. We get lots of northern light in all the right places. Garden views and connection from every room and plenty of borrowed views. Outdoors we have space for produce gardens, fruit trees, outdoor patio and BBQ area, a fire pit, play space and a native garden. We also have a large, private courtyard off the master bedroom and a small one off the en-suite bathroom. And utility spaces to the south (washing line, hot water, outdoor compressors for air con, garden sheds etc). Internally we have 3 bedrooms, a study and open plan kitchen/dining/kitchen plus small activity area for the kids. None of the rooms, other than the activity area are poky. Because it is well designed there is no wasted space, and it flows really well, accomodating two adults and 2 teens while providing a good balance between connection and privacy. Ample ceiling heights, 2.4m high windows and sight lines that connect with the outdoors means it feels spacious despite its relatively compact size. It’s such a joy to live in this house. It feels like the goldilocks house. Not too big, not too small. Just right.

You won't knock out walls for that budget. That is kitchen refit only. Don't brick up the sliding door, it will make the space impossibly dark and depressing. Better to just lock it and pretend it's a window. The real problem in that kitchen is that corner wall that eats into the available bench space. Is that hiding a water heater or something as it doesn't appear to make sense from the photo's you have. If Ii'm reading that correctly you could possibly move that wall outwards to free up extra bench space in that corner and enable a corner top cabinet. Toaster, kettle will fit there nicely. If that's within your budget I'd do it because it will fix most of the problems with your kitchen. When you have a small kitchen like this an easy way to increase bench space without structual changes is a nice kitchen trolley that increases bench space when you need it and can be parked over near the dining area when you don't. I'd replace the current stove with one that has an induction or ceramic cooktop. Because it's flush you can use the stove top as extra bench space when you're not cooking. Makes the space more flexible. Preferably put in a cooktop on the bench and separate built in oven rather than a freestanding unit. The integration will make your kitchen appear more spacious. With the small space you really do need top cabinets but solid doors are a bit claustrophobic so I'd go with a glass fronted upper cabinets so it doesn't swallow your space but still gives you storage. Also install under cabinet lighting this will help out with visibility when cooking at night. And if possible recess the kickboards to reduce their visibility or change them to brushed aluminium this will make the footprint appear more spacious.