Hi Nate The house has great bones plan-wise, and I think you could modify it well to be more functional - without it blowing out your budget. The main things I would be seeking are: 1. capitalising on the northern orientation your living room already has - and the great proportions of that lounge / dining space. 2. reusing plumbing where it currently exists in the home so you don't have to reconfigure it significantly 3. understand where your loadbearing walls are, and try to work around not demolishing them! I would consider locating your kitchen where your toilet and laundry are, and demolish the wall between your lounge/dining area and those service areas - so you create a big open plan living / kitchen / dining area that connects the front and rear of your home. The laundry and toilet can be located around where the existing kitchen is, and the sun room configured to connect with the new kitchen and onto your verandah / deck or outdoor area on the rear so you get that flow-through of interior living to exterior living. Your kitchen is then located to get a great view of the backyard, and you'll have a north-facing living area that optimises its orientation. And you're not trying to completely reposition your main living / dining areas into smaller rooms not suitably sized to accommodate them as well. You'll then be able to open up the view from the front to the rear of the property which will help visually enlarge it dramatically. All the bedrooms can stay as is - you may find you can punch through the eastern wall of Bed 2 to get some robe storage if needed. Or you can reconfigure the entry to Bed 2, and get the separate toilet located adjacent to your existing bathroom (lots of possibilities for small but useful reconfigurations!) Not knowing how the rest of your site is sized, or far off your home is from your boundaries, you may be able to reposition the carport / car accommodation away from the eastern side (say, relocate it to the western side, or further forward on the property) to open up that eastern side of the home too. Best wishes with your renovation - it's a fantastic opportunity to get some great functionality into your home, which will dramatically impact how you get to live in it. The key is always aligning what you want to do, with how much you want to spend on it! Warm Regards Amelia, UA www.undercoverarchitect.com.au ps @LouieT Thank you for your kind comments on your last reply! I work remotely with clients all over Australia - from 3 hours north of Perth, down to Melbourne and up to the Qld Sunshine Coast! Technology is a fantastic thing!

Hi Kieran, I've spent a fun Sunday playing around with this... thanks for the challenge! Jumping in to post it though, I think my ideas overlap with Siriuskey and Lucia. Isn't it funny how similar solutions can be arrived at independently! Key points: - As far as possible, I've tried to stick with the existing walls. - Since Bed 2 & Bed 3 are quite small already, even though I've encroached into each to achieve separate entries, the impact is minimal, particularly for Bed 3. - I've used pocket doors to both ends of the WIR and to the store room for optimal functionality. - I've depicted Caroma Urbane compact toilet suites with wall concealed cisterns because they save a bit of space and both toilets can use that extra space in that direction. - It's a very stageable design. You may for instance decide to build the ensuite/WIR and reconfigure the bed 2/3 entries without doing any of the kitchen changes. Or you may decide to save the expense and not move the main WC into the existing store, though it does add a fair area to the living space (I've used the exact existing footprint of the store to save cost and demolition pain which is workable with the Caroma Urbane, but alternatively you could demolish and rebuild the wall behind the pan for a more spacious loo). - The Family/Dining area ends up being fairly generous and very flexible. I've added a door to the end of the corridor to screen the loo a bit better from the dining area and for noise separation for the study, but you may prefer to leave this off. - I've not mucked around with your windows, figuring the important thing was to get the concept down for you, except in the ensuite. Really good idea there to have a central mirror with a narrow window to each side to throw light on your face at the mirror. Has the side benefit of a symmetrical effect which is always good aesthetically. - I've also flipped the main bathroom door to relate better to Bed 2/Bed 3, though not strictly necessary. - I originally used the Bed 1 robe space as a big walk-in-pantry, but it didn't relate particularly well to the kitchen and it also left no provision for general storage. Rather than take up a lot of valuable kitchen space with a pantry which would reduce the length of the peninsula breakfast bar (not ideal), I came up with the idea of shallow shelves with a roller shutter which I think you'll find give you an amazing amount of readily accessible storage. I'd like to think it would be possible to source a horizonal roller shutter that would coil back into the dead space at the back of the fridge, but perhaps better to just go with a vertical shutter and avoid the headache!

I'm no expert but just my thoughts if it was my house - The bedrooms are on the small side, so perhaps think about how they will be used - do your children need space to play or do homework in their rooms? Is the 4th bedroom for guests or will it be used as a home office? In bedrooms 2 and 3 the beds are below the window - are the windows high enough to allow a bedhead/to not lay down with your head against the window? What will be in the main bathroom - shower, bath, single/double vanity? What are you thinking layout wise? I'm confused by the kitchen, especially the pantry access given the corners are blocked by other benches - is it meant to be a walk in pantry or just normal cupboards? The hall is long and narrow and you need to go past all the bedrooms before you get to the living space. Not sure how well this will work, but I've only lived in places where the entry is adjacent to living space. Love the idea of having a separate self contained space for your parents - as others have said bathroom is too far from either bedroom, and the entry near bedroom could be an issue.

Hi Natasha, I think you are heading in the right direction with your arrangement of spaces. I think bedroom 3 where the laundry is makes better use of the outside window wall and just down the hallway from the bathroom. Also as you suggest, having bedroom 4 on the other side of the house is good for shift work sleep arrangements even if there is no extra powder room. Have you thought about making a small entry lobby from the courtyard where the master bedroom door is and moving the master bedroom door nearer to the ensuite, similar to Oklouise's plan. You could put a good coat cupboard from the entry backing onto the master bedroom wall. Open up the wall from the new entry to the kitchen/living space, where you have shown a cupboard. I also think having the TV area, dining and a small study room in that one area will make it feel too small. I'd make an office/study a deep cupboard that can be shut off when not in use. Perhaps create a full joinery wall between the living area and the media and bedroom 4 that works both ways and includes the study, B4 robe, TV units and entry to the media room and B4. In terms of the kitchen and laundry, I would make a nice deep laundry cupbd facing bedroom 2 in the hallway. Make sure it is big enough for all the stuff you need - ironing bd storage etc. The kitchen would be similar to what you have shown but move the island down to the outside wall to make it a peninsular. This would stop the kitchen being a walkthrough and as the laundry would ocupy the wall end near the entry, it would make the kitchen focus down the other end of the space. You can use the corner cupboard at the outer wall where the peninsular joins the bench for dining stuff storage facing the dining side, not the kitchen. Dining and living could be interchangeable and it depends on the relationship you want for both with the kitchen, back yard, front entry and media room. Cheers, Christine.