What about an angled deck running the boards on the diagonal to a straight corner on the fence side with two tall posts next to the fence to support a feature wall (water feature, climbing plant, garden art, light etc. Then widen it at the house side to the left and right & plant the angles with taller plants against the fence & lower feature plants towards the house.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating volume build in ANY way....there's actually little positive I can say about it except they are a more affordable option, and for some people that's the priority.....,whether or not it's in fact good value for money is a whole other discussion ;).......people have to work out where they sit within the quality to quantity spectrum for a particular project..................It's certainly a challenge here for you in that how can you accurately assess and distill/filter the "advice" offered by various parties?.......Seriously, unless a builder actually absorbs your design brief and comes back with a considered solution, any suggestion/comment such as " you could raise the ceiling" or "put in a window" or "use trusses" of whatever is neither here nor there, and are just floating ideas to consider in the mix...........but isolated "suggestions", whilst may be ideas to consider, don't effectively dealing with the overall solution/big picture to your challenge..................there are different areas of expertise in this game.....builders are builders, (and they seem to have a knack of getting called in and influencing too early in the process) they build stuff and certainly they have an idea about this and that from experience, and they can provide sound quotation/opinion on how much it will cost to do something... BUT really only properly/accurately once there is hard documentation in place (read: documented&specified, not basic concept/design sketches/verbal ideas) .......I have great respect for builders (it's a seriously hard rugged gig) and I know some fantastic ones, but builders are (in general) not "designers" unless they have come form a design background......and the conversations if held too early can be (unintentionally blurred, confusing and actually detrimental to the client and what they really need to be focusing on...........design advice from a builder can be offered with good intentions, however I have found it generally comes from more a singular benefit angle (usually motivated by business/profit) whereas (good/seasoned design) advice from a design professional comes from more complex, balanced and creative position and process in which various aspects are simultaneously managed/considered to achieve results for a client on multiple levels, ie, cost, function, aesthetic, experience etc.............the different and various professional skills all have their place, but need to be utilised in the right order relevant to the process......................yep I wish you all the luck.....these are always big investments, and big decisions, both emotionally and financially :)

Thanks annb we just try not to think about it too much, there's the offending neighbours house of brick then a brick fence 1200 and then 1000 to the front bedroom wall and a step back of approx 3 meters to our dining open plan. We have planted a Ficus hedge on the wall and planted Olive trees in front which we keep trimmed, just a funnel. I think with power costs he doesn't use it so much thankfully, As always thank so much for your support and positive input, Forget the Claytons. x

some dimensions are inconsistent ..please check measurements for all rooms including bathroom, laundry, toilet, cellar and retreat and what is the height of the space under the stairs?.. without at least 2m headroom the cellar can only be used for storage unless you are prepared to rearrange plumbing and do you mean that you want the kitchen and casual dining to be reversed but what about the old kitchen window and what are the walls and floors built out of?