where is your floor plan and measurements??

Hi Al. As the garage and laundry protrude beyond the upstairs front and back walls I assume they have concrete decks on top? Is this right? Which council area are you in? Any photos?

Hey. As lovely as it would be to move the kitchen and bathrooms around (Sister-in-laws plan) it will also come with a nice cost. Moving plumbing is not only a huge pain but comes with cost too. Unless you have a really horrible floorplan that is begging for change and a lot of $$$$ I would do my best not to move what you don't need too. You already have a nice layout. The kitchen probably feels small right now because of the walls. It doesn't have a lot of space in it, thanks to doors and openings - I left the existing walls as dotted lines. A double sided island also gives you loads of extra storage and options. The extra loo is going to be a pro's and con's thing! Do you like the double doors that you will loose for a little Loo? An extra little Loo won't add to much value, but would the bathroom off the master add more value taking into consideration the cost of doing it this way? This is were you need to talk to an estate agent and a builder - before you make a real plan forward. If you go for the little loo, you can think about replacing the big front window with a cavity slider so you don't loose the indoor outdoor flow, back and front of the house. The little loo will be way cheaper - you are only adding plumbing and internal walls. The bathroom off the master is huge. New window for the bedroom, the roof line is changing, new plumbing and the shower on top......however, it's an option. It will also change the look of the front which you also may not like.

my initial suggestion would be to consider adding an extension at the back and renovate the existing spaces as funds allow but we need to understand the slope of the block and the shape of the existing roof...some external photos will help and is the existing kitchen, bathroom and laundry functional or needing immediate attention and please describe the pool area...is there existing paving or landscaping around the pool or could an extension be built over the area between the house and the pool and how do you plan to use the studio?

Ah yes, the perennial issue/question: how best to distribute/utilise budget over various project scope and in what format .....$150K it's arguably tight for this depending upon how you are intending on going about it - you'd have to be super super disciplined and there's no margin for any blow-outs/or pop-issues... reconfiguring wet areas & kitchen will stack costs up very quickly....even just doing the cosmetic/fit-out upgrades you've mentioned without changing any layout could nudge 100K.....what you need to do is prioritise your goals and then be prepared to start cutting out scope if you have a $150K limit...I'm with oklouise on this one....quite likely there's an alternative option that will arguably utilise your budget/investment better to add both more value and increased/desired living space to the home/set-up......I've seen time and time again people try and rearrange/shuffle layouts around with existing building envelopes and prove false economy with this strategy when considering what it ended up costing them...one way or another the number/cost will end up being what it will be and you'd be surprised what this could end up costing you in this format (think potentially high 200's ........more often than not I can demonstrate that a clean/clever building extension + minimal tweaks to existing will be a far better bang-for-buck option than the completely rip apart and put back together within existing footprint.....but to stack this up properly construction costs need ascertaining over various levels of trade breakdown.......

Hi everyone thank you for your responses!

Arco Eco , the laundry protrudes out from the existing building, the garage does not

Arco Eco the laundry has a concrete ceiling as its supporting the concrete stairwell. the garage sits flush with the remaining house.

I am in hornsby council.

Kim Mackintosh - thank you for your comment and I appreciate your designs - my brother in law who is also an architect suggested exactly what you had in your last photo (entering from the double doors and closing off the main entrance, and putting an additional toilet). We wont be rendering as such and its such an old house and finding the same bricks will be tough.

Since my post, we have come to a realisation that the existing space will be insufficient for us and are now decided on a 4th bedroom and extended space on the west side of the property. I have pondered on how to convert this space.

You made a point about that plumbing would be a costly issue- do you know how much it would cost approximately to move the plumbing?

Hi oklouise - thank you for your comment.

An extension is the path we have decided to follow -

The house slopes on the west side and slightly slopes on the north side - photos attached are from googlemaps, ill take some photos of pool and bath i get home.

We will keep the existing laundry outside. We will keep the existing bathrooms - want to remove the bathtub and create a walk in shower.

The pool area is paved and fenced.

We considered extending from the east side of the house ( through the rooms) but that would mean losing a bedroom.

The existing studio is quite dark and wet so we plan on using that just as a storage room. A waste, I know but without proper ventilation ( the previous owner completely concreted the room leaving a small window which can be seen from the front).

HI Paul, thanks for your comments.

We have pushed the budget to 230k, in the hopes it be enough to achieve this renovation.

I have drawn a new floor plan which I think is more fitting to our family but dont know whether there are big flaws or things i havent considered. MY brother in law has yet to comment as he is overseas.

Basically wont be touching the east side of the house.

Convert living into a master bedroom, and utilising approx 7m x 1.5m of kitchen and dining space behind into create an ensuite and storage space.

Keep part of the existing brick exterior as framework to create the kitchen and open the extension out 7m x 7m towards the yard.

7x7 is just something we thought was a good space but we are also mindful not to create too wasted space so advice on Kitchen living and dining room dimensions would be great! I've looked at all the kitchen living dining layouts on Houzz and they look huge.

Ai c - I know how much a new loo and plumbing would cost were I live. You could even get a ball park figure from a plumber. However, to give you any cost, even a guess would be pointless. You need to know how to supply the water to a new position and it has to drain away too. It's more of a builders question - someone who can be on site and take a look at what you have and what you want to do in the future. If you have a few ideas on paper for a builder they will give you pro's and con's right there. They won't give you a cost on the spot because that take a lot of time and work, but solid advise as to what you can do. What would cost more - work it would take etc. It will give you a really good idea of what to expect. He can look at your roofline too. Again, drainage will be a factor here too, cladding, the foundation you already have. Also, you can't just plonk a lounge on a house without knowing if you are building over existing services - he can look at this for you too.

Thanks Paul and Kim. So change of events and now we will be keeping our existing floorplan after all. And so comes a new set of questions

- Our bathroom currently contains a bath, shower and vanity, but no toilet and a wc next door. with no sink. We plan to renovate both but keep them both separated.

Given this will be our main bathroom, is there a way to add an additional toilet, bathtub, shower and vanity to a 1.8m x 2.5m space ?

And has anyone added a sink to a small wc next door? The WC is tight - basically the door is about 30cm short of touching the toilet bowl.

Me Me made a great point about re positioning the 3rd brm door and utilising that space however the 3rd brm entry door will not be large enough and will consume half a doors width into the 2nd brm which is already quite small.

Happy to reconfigure the existing space but ideally dont want to move walls.

Thanks

You could maybe put a loo were the door is now and add a pocket door to the side - in the little hall you walk down to get to the original loo. Maybe!?!?