Hi, Just a few quick tips to take or leave: -The nook will need some form of natural light & ventilation such as a skylight (you may already be aware). -You mentioned you wanted a slab on ground for thermal reasons. You would actually lose a lot of heat with an uninsulated slab on ground in Ballarat. Insulated underneath it and the thermal mass would be of benefit, but the general advice that a slab on ground will allow thermal mass to couple with the earth for a constant temperature would not work in Ballarat (unless you want it to be constantly cold) -Otherwise your plan has a lot of positives and you've put your thermal mass wall & fire to the north so you could also use it to store the heat from the sun via windows. I think there is a little wasted space which could be improved between the kitchen and N/E living area caused by the 'long & skinny' shaped living and island bench... Something which could be tweaked when you have your working drawings done? Or you could even take a metre out and push the kitchen/dining up to save some floor area (dollars) or add to other rooms.

Blue Gum floorboards how could it not look beautiful!! and yes wheelchair friendly although if we were in a wheelchair I guess we would have to move closer to town and transport and shops as this house was going to be in the country talking of moving... husband has caved and said we can move to the Bay of Islands whoop whoop! he still wants to go to France for 2 years but he said we could build or buy before we go so that changes the type of house now because we were building near a school and families this will be more a beach house that we can leave for the kids to enjoy and various friends who want it while away so I have swapped the master over to be away from the laundry garage door and hot water heat pump which is quite noisy and the guest rooms now have a Jack and Jill bathroom I haven't changed the footprints at all it's still the same size just changed the layout a little bit The bunk room would have a sliding door outside which means you could access that part of the house privately without coming through the front door or the bunk room could be a small kitchenette /come dining room / come lounge room (very small ) and rent it out as a 1 bedroom self contained apartment Once we live there full time ... will upload a photo in the next Post

Oh this project grows. I’m thinking the kitchen/laundry access is probably worthwhile (light, access, etc). I’m liking the more contemporary layouts, compared to the u version that I liked at an earlier date. Siriuskey your comments about that version being too wide were important. (I eventually remembered design issues with my mum’s last kitchen which was a u and too wide and while it felt spacious, it was a bit ‘not quite right’). oklouises’ wed 5.26pm (2nd option) is probably my preferred option at this stage. I think that would be functional and satisfies my wish list pretty well. Layout and furnishing the greater space is still on the go. I must say, I’ve found everyone’s input with this project so creative and helpful.

Last piece of advice simonsays - never "assume" anything - more often than not people sorting through this stuff on their own misjudge, either in under or over estimating what's involved, incorrectly thinking that it will be either easier or harder than it actually will be to achieve whatever it is......you need to define your various project requirements/details etc as a starting point, and have clarity on what aspects are more or less important for you. This also must include your budget BEFORE you put pen to paper working through the design solution...so if you want a 2-way fireplace, consider it now, and factor it in within the process of working through the costs (which should be occurring simultaneously.........also, remember that "design" is a process, working towards an outcome, which as always is about resolving project requirements to budget within a particular context/conditions.......the project outcome, whatever that is, will be very much determined by the design process and the extent it is invested in and executed....hope this all helps and best of luck with it all :) PD