both options have challenges...next to the pencilled in North sign the wall of the house kicks in and restricts the space for either kitchen or dining area and the position of the stairs and doorways create problems for furniture in the lounge ...can you make any changes to the external walls? please post a plan of the whole house including upstairs to give a better understanding of the dilemma

Thankyou - yes it is possible to move the external wall in living space or move the kitchen wall length etc. The stairs are more or less fixed as they provide access to the entrance on the ground floor. Our plan is for all living upstairs, and large workshop space and home office downstairs for business. The site slopes upwards from the street so we can access the backyard on the level opening from the living alfresco area which is good. Here is the full floor plan.

I prefer option 2. could you make the access to the Master through the far end of the lounge wall? which I think could almost be a parents retreat. This would mean that you have space to move the access to the other bedrooms to the left hence no bedrooms opening into the kitchen dining.

unable to read all the measurements but this kitchen position allows for a bigger pantry, private access to the bedrooms and bathroom, a view from all living areas and kitchen and, subject to climate and available wall space, wider windows (above desk height to allow for furniture?) on the north wall would also have better solar gain...this arrangements also allows for the living,dining and lounge to rearranged to suit the season and occasion

thank you very much, these are really good suggestions from both of you. with the kitchen on the internal wall as you have drawn, I am considering furniture placement, perhaps the tv along the northern wall, and as you say window arrangement to enable furniture pieces, cabinets etc. we were also considering a fireplace so that may work well centred on the mid wall. we could add a master bedroom access door from the study nook as a second door.

Thanks so much for all your insights, I found this really helpful. Never having built a home before we are novices and every bit of helpful experienced advice goes a long way. Regards

Kavh, As I previously mentioned a door from the master opening into the lounge via the Nook will really add to the master suite and by having a window that when you open the door you see the view is a great way to go, we have similar and I never get tired of this experience.

I have been considering being able to close off the lounge from behind the stair well with large sliding doors to make this a parents retreat at night or whenever needed, you won't have a bush view at night, but will still give you the day time view that you want.

I am still pondering your kitchen, as I loved the pantry layout in Op 2, your plans are not that clear so difficult to work with. Possibly the kitchen could work better for access to alfresco and furniture layout with the kitchen being along the wall in Op 1.

What do you look at from that side and the other sides?

The passage way for the bedrooms is much better than them opening directly into the family living space but it all look now looks a bit too closed off and would be quite dark.

cheers

Yes i agree the access to master bedroom via the nook to take advantage of easier access and the views is a good one, and creates that separation from the rest of the house. I was also thinking of diving doors to the front lounge as i prefer to have a separate space that you can go into, eg watch a different tv or do some quiet reading etc, whereas all 1 big open plan has that negative. Was thinking that could be done later to see what we think after move in, however I think if sliding in behind wall that would best be built in during the build. This also ensures open during day and not looking through glass doors which would still obstruct the view somewhat i feel. The front could be more of an evening room or as needed for separation.

Our challenge is the bushland views are all to the front of house and to completely separate off the front room would not do credit to the view. There are no houses on the other side of the front street, just bush looking into tree tops. The north and south sides of house however have neighbours, we don't yet know their home design as it is a new subdivision. Block is fairly wide at 16-17 metres so house at 13m provides some space between.

I've attached another photo if that reads easier.

Many thanks

1. the narrowing towards the front of the side deck may be necessary to suit building regs but double check to see if you can have the deck made wider all along and make more room for a chair or two 2. i've included Siriuskey's sliding door to close off the lounge and create a parents' retreat and included the two way access to the small study and to the deck and 3. (depending on the climate) you might consider enclosing the stairs to minimise the draught from downstairs and 4. careful placement of all the doors and windows in the hallway will help reduce the enclosed feeling eg there's about 8 m of storage that could be broken up with different sized doors, drawer and display shelves and there's 7 doors and the sliding wall into the sunroom that can all contribute to reducing the closed off feeling and small solar skylights along the ceiling will also help brighten the space

Thankyou for updated plan. Yes i meant to add that to lighten the hallway was proposed via the window in the tv room to provide some light through. I will check on the reasoning for the deck dimensions. The small cupboard to the left of stair could be a coat or hall cupboard too.

Actually my thoughts on enclosing the lounge for a parents retreat at night was to enclose the stair case, so that the sliding full height Pocket doors were pulled across on the other side of where the stairs open up into the room other wise the parents retreat would not be private.

To keep this wall as open as possible it would be best to have Pocket doors that slide back to both sides of the opening You could still have a cupboard next to the stairs

I also don't think that you need a door from the study Nook to the deck as this would infringe on the available study desk and chair space,

I was thinking a window seeing that there are already large doors accessing the deck. But up to you, it's your house.

How many people and ages of any children will be living in the house cheers

with clearer measurements i notice that the front lounge is longer and this means there's more space for the stairs and makes it possible to make the kitchen and pantry bigger and better (which is what you first asked about!) with a doorway between lounge and dining as there's no available wall for any cavity doors to separate the lounge

I suggest that the stairs be closed in and that either sliding doors glass or other are placed as per my drawing in red. This will control downstairs and up stairs noise so that the lounge can become a parents retreat off the master.

A lovely way to do this would be to use steel and glass fixed panels and doors, these could also be added to the Media/Sun room to allow light into the passage way. You could also go very glam with full height semi sheer curtains for both Media and parents retreat

I would change the kitchen in that position

That's another good idea - thanks Need to weigh up size of pantry as we did want a large one for lots of storage.

Hi Kavh. some rough ideas using Ok's floor plan.

Kitchen with pantry similar to photo. And opening up the sun room space into living.

Ideal for closing off parents retreat http://byvincenzo.com/projects/steel-windows-doors/

thanks again - we looked over the different kitchen options you've both drawn and think the Ok drawing of the long pantry and oven/fridge on side wall works best for us. Not a huge fan of the mini kitchen within the butlers but its personal choice of course (we're ok with our cooking mess on show!) It's hubby and I and older parent and 1 spaniel (hence the tv room opening to alfresco) for pup to stay during day when we are out.

i'm wondering if the bedroom for the older parent could have a more pleasant north easterly aspect and more space by swopping the bedroom and laundry (with external access through the TV room or at the side) and creating a bedsitting area for them and i've added an idea for the family bathroom with separate toilet

Sorry I should have explained my suggestion more clearly, after you mentioned you needed a BIG pantry, like myself, I thought that this pantry could offer you more space but not to include the appliances as that would be annoying . I agree with moving the laundry next to the Family bathroom, this would mean plumbing for laundry/bathroom/kitchen would basically be in the same place which would save money. This also puts the laundry in a better position to the kitchen. Are you planning on the 4th bedroom for your parent or is the kitchenette for the Media room cheers

adding some furniture helps identify traffic patterns and there's a direct line of sight to the view from kitchen, dining, living and lounge with a great northern aspect and plenty of wall space for furniture and artwork...the glass doors between the lounge and kitchen could be made a cavity slider inside the wall behind the fridge although the combined hinged and stacking doors as shown would be much easier to use...also consider having a single door opening between the living and TV room to have some wall space for furniture on both sides and create a sitting area for your parent (ie two retreats at either end of the combined kitchen family area)

Wow thanks! You've really thought it through thoroughly. I originally wanted the laundry with good access to the backyard. It's almost a 950m2 block landscaping plans next on list! We do a lot of gardening and I like the concept of a quasi mud room with the gumboots and garden things and not having to walk through the main living area. On the earlier design the laundry needed to be right at rear for ground level access so will check if the laundry reposition is still at ground given our block slopes upward from Street.

there's always a compromise and the laundry mudroom is always better next to where you want to come inside but i suspect you may find yourself coming in through the alfesco and your parent may appreciate having a bedroom in such a prime location with a view of the new garden... whatever you decide it's already a gorgeous home and all our suggestions should help you make considered decisions about what is most important to you and your family

One thing I wondered - with all the living spaces open to each other can you separate together and away spaces, or noisy and quiet ones.? Do you want or need to? I too like large pantries, but new fashion for "butlers'' pantries is a bit overkill, unless you live on a large country property and need to put all the preserves and jam for the coming year. I mean you're more likely to use it for a store rather than a working area.

Yes we were discussing this earlier and the sliding doors into the front lounge area was the concept to get away to that quiet place. Agree completely on the butlers full function being too much and why would one want to enclose themself in a confined area when you have that whole room and lovely view as a feature. I would spent the entire dinner party in the cupboard prepping meals! . Ha ha. Each to their own I suppose.