having a broken ankle made me so much more aware of the restrictions on elderley, disabled and temporarily indisposed in most bathrooms so, when planning our new bathrooms we made sure that the doorways were wide enough for wheelchair access, the toilets are installed a little higher to make sitting and standing easier, entry to the shower and access around the toilet are "drive in" The toilets and shower have proper grab rails installed during construction, not as an afterthought, we have straight grab rails installed as towel rails, 30mm square and rectangular textured tiles as a non slip floor, a fold up seat in the shower, a proper chair to sit and dry your toes and help during dressing, controlled temperature hot water, adjustable spray shower heads and hand held adjustable spray (separate to the overhead shower not attached to slip down rails) the vanity and toilets are wall hung for easier cleaning and the space under the vanity is a handy place for a waste bin and slippers out of the way, all medicines are stored in a shallow wall hung medicine cabinet and there's good lighting, overhead heater with fan, underfloor tile heating and all taps are rounded to prevent accidental cuts and bruises on old flesh...the two things to regret are: we installed a walk in hydrotherapy bath that could have waited until really necessary because we have no traditional bath in the house for little kids and we couldn't find a soap dish without sharp edges so that gap is waiting for the new styles to be released...btw all the details about grab rails heights etc are readily available on Google but can't remember which specific sites we used

Hi Bec, I said it was coming, My idea is to open up the kitchen against the back wall with large Island and access to the verandah. This would need a full height wall or one the same height as the cabinets which could allow light in to the hallway and not interfere with the ceiling, I think there's already a wall included with the existing kitchen. Meme suggested using the family room which would save on adding more rooms, this would work really well with full height pocket doors between it and the kitchen, great for theater snaks. If you were to use this space you would have to go to the ceiling on the walkway end of the room as well as between the kitchen and new media room cheers

Ive had a really busy 4 days & have been totally warn out, sorry for the lack of communication. We are changing the plan to have the roofline open up at the back like the latest pic posted by dreamer, but to also open up at the front for a patio entrance. Doing things this way gives us the high/raked ceilings in the kitchen/living/dining rather than stepping the whole area down. As for the design of the ensuite, kids bathroom, laundry, pantry, spare toilet & mudroom..... We've had a chat about it & have made a few changes. We have spoken with the 'architect' & he is drawing it up with the changes that we are happy with😊 Thank you all so much for you opinions & help, its been very much appreciated & has helped us get to a point that we are very happy with the design now, couldnt have done it without you guys💚💙 When the shed gets built we will have a granny flat setup in one end of it for the older kids or visitors so that will work out for us now too.

your house looks like an 80's home with a sunken lounge. I live in an 80's single level house like yours and love the spacious feeling, do you have raked ceilings? If it was me I would make small changes so suggest the following, 1) If the eave is deep enough I would push your sons bedroom wall out this would give him a good sized bedroom with access to the next bedroom and bathroom for his "PAD" 2) There is a flow problem with the house with accessing the bedrooms as you have to step down into and back up from the family/rumpus/living at two points. Keeping the "fireplace" insitu I would take part of the internal bedroom to allow for a passage across from the entrance to the bedroom wing. the reduced bedroom would make a great study or guest room. you can keep both step down points or close off the wall from the fireplace to the master bedroom 3) another problem with the house is internal access to the alfresco, at the moment it would only be via the family/rumpus or master bedroom, I suggest that the alfresco decking be split level to allow for large sliding doors coming off the new open plan kitchen. The door into the existing kitchen be kept but remove the laundry which will allow for a bigger dining table. 4) The laundry could be moved into the planned office/guest.pool room which would be perfect if there was access down the L/H side of the house for hubbie coming home and needing a cleanup which would be done in the same space, which could also be his man cave!! 5) The granny flat needs to be sorted by a local designer to get the best possible result, I have heard that a studio is more readily approved over a granny flat (siriuskey)