That bump off the kitchen window is one of the green room windows from the 70's. It's all glass. We can take it out and build flush up to the kitchen wall.

Thank you all for your help. The reconfiguration ideas are great however I still end up with a child in bedroom 4. Yes, great idea to change the lounge into a master but we have been told we wouldn't get a bathroom in there And if we did, it wouldn't have a window.

Does anyone have any ideas how to extend off the back and build a new master and ensuite? Could we convert the laundry into an ensuite somehow on the left and walk on the right through to a master? Or make a walk through robe in laundry to enter the master at the back? I think (hope) we could reposition the laundry somewhere near the toilet?

Thanks again for everything so far. I like the idea of keeping the boys all in rooms 1,2 and 3 (especially when they are all teenagers) and hubby and I have something off the back a bit separate. Towards the left off the laundry as there is a carport on the right.

Hi Jason, Yes, there is room under the house. The house is positioned towards the front of the block but only 1.5m from neighbour on the left. There is a 3m driveway between the house and neighbour on the right. Off the back is a big yard. To the right (at the back) is a carport at the end of the driveway that runs up the right hand side. Adjacent to the double doors that open out from meals area. Thanks

Hello me me

When we thought of converting lounge into master, we thought we could then bring the walls out further in bedroom 4 and make that a separate lounge with bi folds or something into the kitchen area. I just can't seem to fit an ensuite into the lounge? Thanks..

Hello 3DA design drafting..... where are you located? Any ideas how we could go off the laundry? I think we would have to block up the kitchen window and punch a new one in closer to the opening doors? Hubby thinks we could make the laundry a robe, walk into a little study that leads to the master. Have you ever seen such a thing? It would result in a small courtyard area between master and kitchen window.

where do the doors off the meals area lead to, what is the condition of the existing kitchene and bathrooms? is there a deck or similar at the back where do you come into the house when bringing home the groceries, how many steps down to ground level at the back of the house, are there any views, describe your climate, what is the house built out of..walls floor and roof?... an extension big enough for a master suite including renovation of existing rooms should a big worthwhile investment but what is the budget?

Our house is almost identical to yours, except that it finishes about in line with your bed 4, which is our dining room (see photo 1). The position of our house on the block is similar to yours, with 3m driveway on right, although 1.8m off left boundary.

I have been obsessing over the design for our extension/renovation since we moved in about 16 months ago, during which I've got a good feel for what would make the most of the existing space and the best design for the extension.

Initially I came up with a much more elaborate design which, like you have thought about, turned the current living area into a master (and the kitchen/dining into WIR and ensuite). The extension was going to be a kitchen/dining/living room across the whole back of the house, and a 2nd living area in the back right corner. But with this quite extensive reconfiguring of the current space, the quotes were too expensive, so I scaled it back.

We are now extending out the back to add on the master/ensuite/WIR (see photo 2). We are also pushing the kitchen/dining back wall out about 2 metres to expand living areas - but you wouldn't need to do this, as you have more room to play with. We are switching kitchen to dining room position so sight lines from front entry are all the way through to the back garden through big sliding doors, to give a sense of spaciousness. We will only have 1 living area, so will be removing the wall between lounge room and kitchen/dining.

Because you already have more sqm, you can keep 2 living areas, and only have a small extension to achieve a segregated master/ensuite/WIR, as I have shown in photo 3.

I put the master at back rather than the WIR/ensuite, so you can have slideing doors onto backyard. You can take the left wall to 1 metre off boundary, to add an extra half a metre to the width, which gives nice width for ensuite/WIR.

This design solves the issue of noise for Bed 4. It also segregates the master from the three children's bedrooms, as you said you preferred.

I arranged the kitchen/dining/family so the family room was towards the back, for access to the backyard. But you could also leave the kitchen in the top left corner with the dining room in the top right and the family room adjacent to the lounge room.

I'm very happy to share more details/measurements etc on both the designs we had drawn up to give you ideas for your plans.

Hi there oklouise. I'm sure you can confirm my use of the word 'obsessing!' Seeing as you and Sirius solved my own design dilemmas!

Just realised that the family room width is around the 7.4m mark (?), which is excessive, so you could steal some of that space for the WIR (see photo), which means the length of the extension would be reduced - saves $$. Will also mean you won't need to extend that half metre towards the left boundary line, so less fiddly with roofline changes.

Anyway, some more ideas to work with. This might need some more thought to make sure dining/family room spaces feel right.

WOW!! That's incredible! I love it but I'm scared to love it as it screams pricy! I've never considered moving the kitchen. You've just opened up a whole new list of possibilities. Thank you so much Nicole. We couldn't move any closer to boundary line as we are at 1.5m mark. I'm wondering if we could do everything you have said without going out the back at all to save on $$?. Need to sit down with my ruler again.

Can anyone see a way that the lounge could be turned into 2 bedrooms for children? I'm struggling with windows. If I did that, bedroom 3 could become the ensuite and robe to bed 1?? And Bedroom 4 made bigger into separate lounge?

... I think you would have a nicer floorplan using the final one from 3da design drafting and 3d visuals rather than trying to split that lounge into two bedrooms. Do you loose out on a lot of practical space if the cupboard area next to the laundry is converted to bathroom space? I guess a downside here is having to walk from bedrooms through living area to get to bathroom. Definitely save big on costs by keeping it all under the current roof if you can achieve what you want.

Nailed it oklouise! And you managed to get a study in there as well as the 4 bedrooms! Optimal use of space with walk-through wardrobe in master rather than walk-in. Great idea with dual access to toilet, especially with 3 boys. Also means toilet door isn't directly off a living area.

Living in a house with a very similar floor plan, I can see this layout working beautifully. And with minimal reconfiguration of the current floor plan as well as the straightforward addition of the master bedroom off the back, costs should will be kept under control.

After nearly 2 months I finally got my updated plans back from draughtsman today OK, so now must resist making any further changes based on your fab plan here!

Hi kiwimills, I'm not the original poster (Mrs No Ideas), just offered suggestions because we are about to renovate a house with a very similar layout. Oklouise helped me with a few kitchen design dilemmas of my own a couple of months ago, and I was just letting her know the plans were back at last, and how her suggestions on Mrs No Idea's design were very tempting!

Oh yeah...true ! Get it now. Yours were above. Sorry...

Yes, some great ideas there. But not for you !!!

I've just logged on. Haven't been near the computer in a few days. Thank you all so so much. I'm trying to have a look at the plan designed. I cannot believe someone would go to this trouble for us. Thanks a million. I'll have a look, try to print and be back shortly...

My husband loves it oklouise. We could build the bedroom on the back, save up and then do the internals. We can live walking to the bedroom through the laundry for a couple of years. Is anyone here in Melbourne? Any idea what I should use as a ball park figure for the extension alone? So just adding a 4 x 3 m brick room off the back and adjusting the roofline? (Everything else we can do slowly)

always good to please your husband and you'll have a better chance of achieving a good result together....cost will depend too much on the reality of the site to guestimate...we always begin by consulting a builder to check the existing building to see what's possible structurally, check with Council to see what's legal and then you'll need formal plans drawn up so you can collect quotes but i'd be inclined to ask about the whole project as you may have a better chance of attracting an experienced custom builder for a bigger job than just the small extension (even if you negotiate to have the work done in stages ...best of luck