Hi Amanda My renovation work has ranged from $1,500/m2 to $4,000/m2 (and more). What varies is the standard of finish, the amount the existing home is disrupted, and the structural gymnastics being performed. I would concur with the above advice that finding the right design professional and briefing them well will help you deliver a renovation in alignment with your goals for it. What also is important is starting your reno with a great overall strategy. There are a few ideas involved in this, but one that has worked for my projects (both my own and my clients') is to capitalise on the economy of building 'new' when extending. New work is less expensive to build than renovating (on a square meterage rate), so consider whether you can bolt on your extension and not disrupt the existing too significantly. Below is a photo of the type of thing I mean - this was a reno I did of one of our own homes, and we added a living/kitchen/dining pavilion on the rear of an old Queenslander home. This home is another example - the entire extension was built for a similar price to the refurbishing of the existing home - and yet provided significantly greater returns in space and design. "Before" shot from rear "After" shot from rear You may not be seeking something of this aesthetic (and your council may limit your aesthetic too), but the general intent of these extensions is that they 'bolted' onto the existing home. The roof of the new extension is separate to the existing, with a transitional built element that tucks under the existing roofs to bridge between the two. Best wishes with your plans - getting ready upfront will also help you manage your costs. Time = money so when you brief your team well, everyone works efficiently, and construction can flow seamlessly without unnecessary delays, then that also assists in keeping on budget. I wrote a blog about how projects go over budget, and how to minimise this risk on your project. Click here to read >> Regards Amelia Lee, UA www.undercoverarchitect.com amelia@undercoverarchitect.com

Hi Roger, With the pleached trees, I think your underplanting amps up the tropical look especially if you go with a magnolia that have the dark green upper leave and the bronze underside. You could just go for banana or palms - personally I think you might be right about the clumping bamboo becoming a bit dense. Regarding your 400mm retaining wall - citrus are shallow rooted and tend to have a root system that goes out to their drip line. Maybe if you put it in a corner you can use the corner to espalier it in conjunction with staking it to get upper stablility but I'm not sure how it'd go with the roots - but give it a go at $30-50 depending upon size it's not an huge amount if it doesn't do well - just dig it up (just watch the thorns) and give it to a friend - check out Daileys for varieties and maybe get in touch and see what they think, they might do them on a dwarf root stock - I've found them to be helpful in the past. i'd be reluctant to underplant any kind of citrus though - as they are shallow feeders.

When I first wrote in August 2017 we got a lot of great suggestions and comments. At the time we had accepted the limitations of the block (easements, tree, solar access etc). It is now one year later and I can tell you we found a way to move the garage to the south-west corner. This allowed us to move Beds 2 and 3 and the bathroom to the northern side. Pantry and laundry between garage and kitchen/living/dining. I think it was all of the comments and suggestions that encouraged us to look at it again from different angles, rather than just accepting the limitations. Thanks to everyone for their generosity! The solution involved working around a lovely tree (it is nice, just in the wrong spot). It is still in the way (council said we couldn't remove it) but we've opted for a long, curving driveway that starts on the other side of the block and weaves its way around the treeline to the garage entry. Not ideal, because a large portion of the front setback will now be a hard surface, instead of a garden. But if there is one thing that designing teaches you - its all about compromises. Thanks everyone. MB Design & Drafting Shara C Nik Star girlguides oklouise siriuskey genkii saragraham76 Andy Pat brizcs Mel N 3D Home Concepts suancol Caro

Thanks for your feedback everyone. OKL thanks for your feedback, and I hope you enjoyed the exercise we had played with the placement of the stairs from garage but I didn’t want to walk directly into kitchen, next to the fridge we had 120cm place for two wine fridges and cabinetry above (sort of a bar area). Our dining table is 3.2m so the dining room is deliberately long to fit it. i don’t mind your mud room set up, and it’s one thing I’ll consider. our bedroom area is a tricky one, we have a BAL ruling that we are trying to conform too, hence the layout as it is, I’m happy to move it around(but have become fond of the bath in front of the window), also a must have was a true double shower (more than 2m), we had a full walk in shower in our last house which was 4m wall to wall (walk in either side), which we loved and was used regularly, this has always been a non negotiable with this house. We have looked at making the entry smaller (And making beds bigger) but we just feel that it needs a nice entry as it’s not very long. SK in regards to the main bathroom, our last home had the toilet in the main bath (and it was bigger than this home!) and we didn’t really have any issues, so happy for that to be a compromise in order to have equal size bedrooms. Like I said I weve made decisions based on our options and chosen the ones that we felt worked for us, balancing everything out, this is the end result that we are happy with. Again thanks for your help, I’ll post photos if and when it’s ever finished!