Could you push the new addition & deck forward toward the north by about 1200 - 1500 mm? New kitchen - (in back of new room) Better for tall kitchen units (south side) plus you gain visual connection, better flow with dining/family/decks, island bench or return from east to west. Laundry - continue shower wall right across toward stairs & move laundry entry to stair side, laundry is bigger? The flow to and from is less restricted & could you use under stairs as storage in here? Dining room - benefits from this longer wall to display art piece etc. & less disruptive flow of foot traffic. Change/remove the nib wall at the bottom of the stairs. Consider the path through this room is to your kitchen which has the most traffic plus laundry/bathroom access through to deck & spa. WC/bathroom placed further away from dining room is better. This option could also enable you to leave the bathroom window as is (cost cut). I know you have already had the plans drawn up but I hope without confusing you I have helped you to see that a couple of changes can maybe improve it a little more. When you spend serious money you have to get the best value from this long term investment in your quality of life. What is your existing house & land like?

Hi Suzanne, Think of it in the context of smaller pools/plunge pools are just slightly shrunken down full pools but they take just as much work (sometimes more depending upon site access, site conditions, set up requirements etc) as bigger pools - they also usually require just as much planning, engineering and site prep as bigger pools and it's not unusual for clients to have a bigger expectation of finish because of the smaller size. The only things that is less are the quantities of the various materials and less water - everything else is on par or more than bigger pools.

Lose the mirror ball. I think the hanging chairs are even a bit too much... perhaps two would be enough. It would be lovely to get out of the pool and lounge around in one of those to dry off.

Thanks everyone for your comments so far. Bowmandrum , I definitely agree you need to tick as many boxes as possible for potential buyers. In answer to a few of your questions, we are in Sunny Brisbane, so the weather is not really an issue. However, our dilemma between a pool and spa is the very difficult access, the size of machinery dictates what we can actually accomplish. Hence, from our point of view it very much is a case of asking the question, if we can only manage a spa - will people appreciate it/want it or is it not worth it. Based on feedback with the poll it looks the spa will be worth the investment.