have to agree with dreamer, open plan can be great for one or two living in the house but once there's more it becomes difficult for sleeping children or late night runs to the toilet for guests and there could be better access from the carport into the house for arriving home with groceries on a wet day ... it appears to be be a very big house for only three bedrooms, no separate toilet and cramped ensuite .....which direction is north and what is the width of your block? ....thinking about the TV placement i would be glad to add some scale sized furniture to the plan but i can't read the measurements ..please post the plan in halves so all the numbers are readable

my suggestion would be to have the fireplace on the northern wall between the windows and have the whole bedroom wall for TV, storage of music, books etc but as you can see by adding in large scale furniture there's a lot of under utilised circulation space and the kitchen is big enough to have a giant island as well as bigger pantry to include the freezers out of the laundry ... and there's also plenty of space for the separate powder room and lots of other variations, still keeping the big open plan area, but maybe achieving more value for the size...

Can you please send through existing conditions? Whether this is and alterations&additions or brand new, my professional comment is that it hasn't been approached IMO properly.....you don't set out a big space and then work out how to fit it out/position furniture after....I've mentioned this before in other posts but the way to most effectively design/plan a home for functional/experience based outcomes is to start with furniture and then work from there, with walls & doors, windows etc positioning and configuration come in/fixed last......several issues I see here....I'm all for efficiency but part of efficiency is flexibility in regards to function and the problem with this type of plan is that it only can work in one way and it's essentially the same concept as a small apartment.....my concern is that your decision on deleting hallways thinking that they are a waste of space is actually false economy and limiting the design function of your home.....hallways can in fact be utilised to great efficiency and function with providing clever separation and access to storage and keep bathrooms appropriately private form the main living zones etc.......I've demonstrated in many projects how actually breaking up spaces in various ways can be beneficial and increase function....passages don't have to be tunnel-like boring spaces - they can be designed creatively and become beautiful transition spaces that bridge the private and main living zones........open plan doesn't necessarily equate to open and airy - you can lose intimacy and a sense of exactly what it is if they are not done right.......overall these projects are too large an investment to get the planning wrong and time and time again I see people making critical mistakes in this area.......it's great that you have strong ideas for the way you want to live, but considering you have a reasonable size property/land, depending upon what you are starting with (existing house) I could foresee design options that would still meet your priorities on being efficient/not oversized etc that would arguably (a) connect better with the context (b) improve the residence's longterm function/flexibility and (c) possibly be more cost effective over various levels and (d) be a more spatially interesting and arguably better value construction spend........my advice is you have great potential, but remain open to the opportunities and options available... Don't mean to be overly critical but I know what I'm talking about ;) good luck! PD :)

Hi there, Seeing as you have such a big block I thought you might to see our 80's Architect floor plan we also has an angled wall. we have changed a few things like remove the wide hip height brick walls between the support posts which went from both sides of the only two steps down to the lounge, removed the bar where our computer is and re did the kitchen and lay out. The large hot water tank is now out side so we have a great cupboard in our 3 way bathroom.

It's a long open plan house that we love, if you wanted to close of the bathroom wing, a glass door and light above between the pantry and the courtyard. The kitchen still has the sink under the full width window, a large 2.7 x 1200 Island with cooktop and then a wall of pantries and fridge, We love it

Wow! Absolutely awesome siriuskey - thank you for sharing this - your Architect's plan here is just on a completely different level and immediately demonstrates the value of professional design.......isolated room arrangement does not equate to architecture - architecture is about articulating the experience of space and sadly so many project opportunities are missed when it's not understood or recognised that this (spatial/living experience) is what it is all about and if approached/founded on this principle the concept will maximise the project/property value.....this principle can be applied to all types/scales of project whether new builds and renos/extensions or small fitouts.........what your Architect's plan (I think) shows is definitive consideration of and connection to site/context as well as balancing/blending creativity of planning with function, developing rooms of various scales and a multi-dimensional/layered but also relatively simple/streamlined set of both internal and external spaces. What people often don't understand is that this type of option/layout will actually feel more spacious and significantly more interesting than other options that are physically larger but not nearly as elegantly and sensitively resolved. It also doesn't necessarily have to be that more expensive....so good to see this - aren't you lucky! :) PD

Oklouise awesome layout.

i would hate to live in bed 2 with the main tv on the otherside of my bedroom wall......just saying. My room was like this growing up and it was horrible. Constantly telling mum and dad to "turn the tv down!" So i could sleep.

no privacy in bed 3 as door is open to living areas

Hi Paul thanks for your comments and all the superlatives used to describe it and very pleased that you like our house, which amazingly appeals to all ages.

We are lucky, it's an amazing light filled house and a joy to live in, single story any day for me. It was interesting seeing the first plan and then the things that were changed, the one big oversight was that the highlight windows along the eastern side were all fixed and should have had some louvers to allow summer heat to escape, but it was an easy fix, we are the third owners.

Check out Helsham House, always loved this mid centuary house, The agents that were asked to sell it when Michael passed away specialize in architect designed houses and this one is special being associated with the Sydney Opera House cheers

Excellent and comprehensive advice from Paul, and clever oklouise for moving the kitchen out of the corner where it was plonked and would not have worked well long-term, and love love your mid-century home, siriuskey!

Thanks so much annb, it's always great to come home, it has a lovely feel. It was designed by a Dutch Architect, designed and built in the style of that period cheers,

Hi Jerpie, some new ideas for you to consider