Jessica Craig, I thought you might like to know this. When my daughter was a baby and I took her for swimming lessons, I met another wonderful Mum Wendy and her daughter, Sophie. Sophie's father had recently passed away and so Wendy was trying to adjust to the hand that fate had dealt her. They had not long purchased their house too. We have remained very close all these years and I can report that both Soph and Wendy are a force to be reckoned with. Sophie (now 15) is a talented singer, is doing well at school and has oodles of personality. Wendy is studying online and working towards fulfilling her dream of one day writing a children's book. The house has been renovated and is a very warm and welcoming home. It has not always been an easy road as single mum for Wendy, but it continues to get richer as the years move by. I hope that in some of your harder moments, this may bring some small level of comfort to you.

Thanks so much for your suggestions. I have included a basic sketch. I have a survey plan but not sure how to upload a document rather than picture file. The block is 888sqm. Here is our wish list: Wish List for property; Entrance to Property To create a modern, private façade. Possibly to extend the front of the property out to the eaves. To create a driveway in front. Change the look to more modern face and hide the shed. Resurface driveway and entry to property. Create private entry that can be locked when the property is vacant. Have tropical garden with up / Feature lighting. Create a better entry to property. Currently the entry is one the backyard side of the property. Possibly lift roof to create higher ceiling. Add skylights or Louvers. Paint or clad external for a more modern finish. Internal. Paint all internal walls neural tones Resurface kitchen as per more modern finishes. Possibly Open up kitchen window if practical to have outdoor bench and stool seating looking into kitchen. Resurface floor. Maybe new vinyl floorboards or concrete. Add skylight/s. Or alter roof. Possibly build out area under eaves to add more room to the front lounge dining, and create a better entry. Windows are currently mission brown aluminium. We would prefer black, but may have to work with these due to budget. Open up some of the sliding doors and windows to create more space or internal/external living access. Change all light fittings. Paint and new handles to wardrobes and cupboards. Hide / move large hot water service in laundry Possibly fit out laundry and make a small indent to laundry from hallway to include a mini study desk in hallway Utilise (Build out) the eaves to make more space to bedrooms if possible. Remodel bathroom, tiles and joinery to more modern finishes. Possible skylight for hallway. External Outdoor Kitchen Pool Landscape tropical garden. Kids zone, Basketball hoop at back rear of property. Relaxation reading spaces Tropical garden in property entrance. Garden / entry lighting Hide the Shed with planting, painting or clad part of it. Possibly incorporate outdoor kitchen alongside of it. I hope this is not too much information. many Thanks

Western Sydney can be a very hot place in summer. So you've really got to try to minimise summer heat loads. What does this mean? Keeping the summer sun off your windows. Easy to do in the north, with appropriate length eaves. But much more difficult to do from the east & west. As the sun is lower in the sky & eaves become ineffective. Western sun is a particular problem, as the sun is in this direction at the hottest time of the day. So that is why quite a few people a few commenters have raise the issue of too many western windows. So how do you resolve this? It's difficult to do when the long sides of your home face east & west. But there are options to minimise western glazing. Firstly, eliminating or minimising windows. That's a very large western window in the dining area, which will get blazing hot in summer. I'd be eliminating this window (more in that later), or at least greatly reducing its size. I'd be eliminating the western wrap-around portion of the master bedroom window. Yes, it may look cool, but this will be at the expense of you comfort. You certainly don't want SW sun coming in your bedroom windows in summer evenings. Same goes for the media room. A very large western window means a very hot space. I'd this a true media room? If so, I'd think you'd want lower levels of glazing in this room. I'd actually eliminate this window, & take the following approach. Next, where possible, swap the western windows for glazing facing a different direction. You can do this in the media room, with long, thin windows. You can also do this in the upstairs living area. Again a large western window, which certainly should be swapped out for a northern window. Thirdly, locate rarely used rooms in the western side of the house. So they can bear the brunt of the western sun. Bathrooms, laundries (not in your case), & importantly, the garage. So I'd actually look at flipping the from portion of the house, so that the media room faces SE & the garage SW. Tough you won't have access from the garage to the laundry, which may be something you want. I'd then consider having the entrance to the home on the western side, beside the garage. This means you'll have a shorter hallway from the entrance to you living areas. Changes to the location of the garage to the western side may not be allowed, of the road is busier, or if the driveway is too close to the corner. So that would need to be looked at, if you were considering this change. As for your remaining western (& eastern) windows, you've got to try to minimise the amount of heat that comes through these windows. There's a few approaches. Louvred vertical sun shades or timber battens are an option. These will reduce the amount of sun striking the window, & increase privacy, but decrease the views out the window. Shutters or awnings are an option, but probably don't look as nice. Window treatments, such as low-e glass, are a good idea too - just note reviews for some single glazed low-e glass products aren't great. Western (& eastern) glazing should certainly be low SHGC (solar heat gain coefficient). As has been mentioned, windows should also be designed for cross-ventilation. A free was way too cool your home, especially effective at night. Winter in western Sydney can be pretty cold too. In winter it's all about letting the sun in, particularly the northern sun, as the sun is in the northern portion of the sky. As has been mentioned above, northern covered alfrescos aren't a great idea. Robbing north facing living areas of daylight, & winter sunshine. At the very least add a vergola to let some sun in here. you should also consider zoning your main living area. that is, having a door that can separate it from the rest of the house. Then you can just heat this room, instead of the entire house. Otherwise the staircase will act like a giant chimney, losing heat upstairs. You'd need to reverse the direction of the staircase, to add a door between it & the kitchen/laundry area. May not be ideal, but worth considering.

Agree with CP. I would change front door to a large single door that takes up less width. This will allow a console table or tv to be placed on wall on hall side of entry. That living is probably more suited to 2 chairs facing each other and a small table, or as an office space. Swap laundry and pantry and perhaps door at both ends to access external area and clothes line. Don’t overthink distance to laundry. I grew up in 5 bed 2 storey house and laundry was similar distance next to kitchen. It is what it is. Never gave it a thought. Laundry is something you use during day and so is meal prep. Drop laundry on way to brekkie. Easy. You could put laundry chute into linen in hall next to stair I guess. But, the downstairs cloak in hall, if you don’t have a hall table I would have open shelf, or shelves, over a lower cupboard so you can drop keys and have a niche welcoming display for guests.