I have lived in both. I love the hustle and bustle of the city (bus pulling up outside our house now ;) but I like the idea of the county meandering garden and the roar of the cracking wooden fire in winter. It was for this reason we moved to an outer suburb with 2/3 of an acre of land with gum trees and a chook shed (which was bigger than my back yard now ). But we missed the city. The noise the activity, where people were going somewhere and doing stuff. So we moved back. now miss the chooks. lol

oops with the diagrams.. Note that the "shed like" part of the extension joins onto what must have been the original lean to that extends all along the original villa part. Note the pillar in the living area, that is structural. Another strange aspect is that the toilet juts out into the open plan space ( I think that could be remedied with $$s and it could fit into the main part of the family bathroom by taking out the old corner spa and putting in a smaller freestanding bath for example) . By the way, the "retreat" is actually a courtyard that could be a nice feature if properly landscaped etc. A new roof (to get a new roof line) might work on the shed like part, but the walls around the west and southern perimeters of the space are just windows/doors so I don't think they could support the weight of a "proper" roof rather than glass? Can you see that plan well enough and what info do you still need OkLouise (and others)? Thanks again for any ideas :)

Hi Do you need four bedrooms? If not, turn main bedroom into a kids room. Turn the lounge into main bedroom with en-suite, knock down the wall between the kitchen and the bedroom at the back of the house and then create one big open plan kitchen living dining across the back of the house. I envisage you would need to knock out the back wall of the house and add some square footage to get the space you would desire. You could also build a patio across the back with stacking sliding doors to create a beautiful indoor/outdoor living space that overlooks the pool. Good luck!!

Hi Kerri, what a fabulous place you have, have you thought of painting your building black, looks fabulous in the landscape amongst greenery, or Monument or a darker grey, keeping it the one colour looks stunning and very inviting, and adding your lighting it will look fabulous