my suggestions for downstairs include keeping the old rumpus room with wider opening to create a flexible family room, big and/or little kids' retreat away from general work areas and traffic, new kitchen with 3m breakfast bar, sink and dw on the outside wall to minimise cost (although the relatively small cost of the new plumbing will be far outweighed by the benefit of the generous new kitchen and open plan dining area) stealing space off the original dining area or rumpus room for the pantry, rearranging the study and keeping it closed off from the entry as a private study nook and do you need and use the external door in the study and waht is teh purpose of the space marked "garden" old kitchen plumbing could be moved to the outside wall for an ideal space for alfresco kitchen...

thinking about moving plumbing, i'm wondering if there is some potential for moving the laundry into the giant pantry with direct access to the garden and considering the old laundry and study as a guest room with shower and toilet and reconsidering access from the garages into the house?

Wow, that's amazing. I love how you have made use of the space in the first plan for the Master ensuite. I think I will update my renovation plans to take that into account.

I like the idea of the outdoor kitchen you have created. The only issue I see with the new L-shaped Kitchen is that access to the pantry next to the living room is not very convenient. Good idea with placing the dishwasher and sink on the outside wall to minimise plumbing, perhaps, I will place the dishwasher in the butlers pantry and have a little sink there.

"thinking about moving plumbing, i'm wondering if there is some potential for moving the laundry into the giant pantry with direct access to the garden and considering the old laundry and study as a guest room with shower and toilet and reconsidering access from the garages into the house?"

Although I would love to have a guest room, but I work from home on some days, which is why I need to have a study in the house to help me focus.

keeping the study as a quiet work space is more reason for not removing the old study wall and keeping the rumpus room more separate..the idea for the downstairs shower could be useful for the whole family and the pantry taken off the old dining area would have direct access to the kitchen..here's the extra floor plan omitted from my late night suggestions

I am impressed, that looks good, it creates so much space. What do you think or rotating that island bench by -90 degrees? Do you think it will be too small or will be in traffic areas?

keeping the island in this direction allows for a 3m island (or more!!) with plenty of space all around, room for about 6 stools and is more in proportion to your very generous rooms, rotating the island would reduce the length of the island by half and leave big leftover space at one end

I see what you mean. I have to significantly reduce the bench space. Thanks for your help oklouise, you have been very helpful.

I have a different floor plan, keeping the kitchen in the same place extending out into the garden space with a sloping roof and large sliding doors to allow more light and easy access to the Alfresco area. Do you have much use for the rear garage door, thinking that it might be possible to have the laundry back to back with the kitchen or taking extra space off the study for this cheers

Hi Siriuskey, I thought of extending into the garden space, however, I thought it may be expensive because that wall is likely to be structural as it goes all the way up to the roof.

As the space on the other side of the house is also limited, having that rear garage door allows us to be able to move bulky items through to the backyard and thought it is best to keep that option for future resell-ability.

What do you think?

Totally agree with keeping access to the rear but even with the laundry wall backing to the kitchen that would leave plenty of room for bulky things, the other suggestion was to take some space from the back of the study for a laundry nook with the linen cupboard next to it, even accessing it via the study as I notice it has a door directly from the garage, dropping dirty clothing on the way.

Re the garden space and load bearing wall you would need to get expert advice on that, I don't think it would be very costly to add a beam across if needed, I didn't find that when we removed part of a rear wall wider than yours and then the sloping roof of metal or glass and large sliding doors will make great use of that wasted space and as mention much needed light back into the kitchen cheers

My first thoughts for your WIR was to move Bedroom 2 and use that space,, in my experience kids like being where the food and action is. cheers

"I didn't find that when we removed part of a rear wall wider than yours and then the sloping roof of metal or glass and large sliding doors will make great use of that wasted space and as mention much needed light back into the kitchen cheers"

I didn't consider the sloped roof minimising structural impacts. I will get my builder to look into it as that will make use of that useless garden space, also integrating the outdoor living with indoors with nice stacker doors.

The idea of moving WIR to bedroom 2 will surely make the Master an amazing room, however, I feel like we need to retain the upstairs retreat for energy savings. My thoughts are in the cold winter months, we spend time in the upstairs lounge (as heat rises) and in summer months, living rooms downstairs are used.

Sounds like a plan, re heat, if you could close off the stair well along with front of the house the heat would be retained down stairs until it's needed up stairs, actually it will give you better control of your energy, reverse cycle ceiling fans also help to push the heat down from the ceiling. It would give you an amazing Master suite.

Love oklouise ensuite 1 with the wir as per 2.