Option 1, as the other two options you will walking through the toilet room to take out the washing. Many people don't like toilets with two doors as it is so easy to barge in on someone doing their business.

Think really hard about your bi-fold doors as they are expensive, and you have three sets of them separated by columns in option 1, which defeats the purpose of having a single wide open expanse. How often would you open them all up?

It is always good to have a traditional hinged, glazed door as an option as they are easier to open for kids. Make sure you decide how you are going to flyscreen your bi-folds. Bi-fold doors without flyscreens don't get as much use. Make sure you go to the showroom of your bi-fold door supplier and check out the mechanism, hinges and locking and think about how your family would cope with using them on a daily basis. Especially the pinch opportunities where the leaves fold together if you have toddlers and young kids.

In my experience they look great in photos, but aren't the best option to live with on a day-to-day basis for a young family.

If I was designing option 1 then I would consider the wide central opening for bi-folds, and a combination of traditional, glazed hinged doors and awning windows to complement the bi-folds for the two narrower openings for the most practicality and flexibility in managing traffic and cross-flow ventilation.

Make sure your outdoor living area is wide enough to accommodate the stack of doors when they are fully open, and that you have enough to walk past. So if each leaf is 1000mm wide, then you will need about 2000mm clearance for your deck to be comfortable. You don't want to have to move the outdoor furniture everytime you open or close your bi-folds.

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Best of luck,

Dr Retro

of Dr Retro House Calls.

can't see the need for another toilet without seeing the rest of the house plan but seems a shame to waste the curved wall in a laundry when the curve seems to be a theme so wondering about making the curve as a feature of the family living area have the kitchen laundry on the other side and swop the bifolds for a combination of stacking doors, hinged external door for the laundry and stacked windows to improve ventilation, fly and security screening and ease of everyday use

please describe your local climate and are there any special views beyond the garden and driveway?

Something else to suggest - albeit at risk of causing further questions - if I was on this job I would have looked at a concept that pushed hard to the south boundary and splayed/worked with the site shape where you don't see it but then straighten it all up on a north elevation to maximise north light opportunity into the extended areas. This concept would exploit/focus the length of the block and turn the awkward boundary angles into a visual and spatial opportunity - it's like the whole thing could be flipped/spun around for an overall better result - this will cost similar whatever option you take so it's not about costs here, it's about the design decisions & opportunities

Thanks for your comments..and design options.

One main issue we also have is the rear angled boundary setback which needs to be 3.0m and offset parallel, hence loading up the southern boundary would be an issue, but layout wise it would be ideal to separate the the 3 functions instead of having them in a row...exploit the length of the block...as suggested. Currently we are already encroaching, on the rear angled boundary...but we are able to get this rectangle shape through as it is only a point encroachment on the southern corner.

Above the bi fold doors we were thinking retractable awning could be used over the full length of the doors, the highlight windows would be shaded by extended eaves.

Also, the original plan did have that Kitchen sink pop out...but found it difficult to detail the bulkhead internally with bulkhead and highlight windows running past.the head of the sink and looked odd...so it ended up running in line.

Still though, I think there are just too many doors on the elevation...needs more thought here..

The above option by oklouise does consider all requirements though...

without the kitchen "pop out" the kitchen island is either reduced to about 1500 or kitchen changed to a simple U shape or keep the pop out without the highlights above kitchen and laundry ...love the look of the highlights but would rather have a simple internal raked ceiling and/or skylights and keep the pop out with servery window and island rather than risk having to put blinds on all the windows through summer

yep, I can see this is a tricky one then and appreciate you've already worked through negotiating some of these constraints - it's always a case of more than meets the eye with these projects..... But there's still something bugging me about this one conceptually. I think it's the fact considering the full scope in that you're doing a reasonable amount (which will cost a fair bit I imagine) but it's essentially replacing and if not losing some property amenity in the process (garage gone). When you have an opportunity like this I always dig deep to find the creative opportunity to really maximise the investment. It's a relatively smallish home, but on these ones the idea is not to tighten them up further, but to open them up and increase the feeling of space more than what they are...the key is in the planning. I suppose it's the stuff that we don't want to be noticing that I'm picking upon such as the idea of a main bathroom opposite double doors to the formal living is not ideal. oklouise's option is better but it's still kind of visible from the entry.... It's like you've got the various "spaces" boxes ticked with the rooms etc but the flow/transition is a little clunky. Walking through a kitchen, then the laundry to finally get to the loo is not an ideal set-up. Maybe it's the central passage that's closing it in an may not even need to be there so the formal living is open...I don't know and it's too involved/complex to resolve in a post/on a forum as ultimately this stuff comes back to the project brief requirements. Advice I have is like always trust your instinct and if it's not sitting right for you in certain areas then it's not resolved yet.....this may need a bit of unpicking and revisiting to get the best outcome....but just my professional opinion ;) best of luck with it PD

Thanks for the advice, it’s not the perfect plan, there have been a few comprises to help reduce demolition, but also add in as much function as possible, speed up construction and reduce cost, however it does still bug me :)

Rezone, no nothing is ever perfect and there are always compromises. But here's the thing, the trick to great project design is about getting the priorities in the right order so that the "series of compromises" which exists in all projects, is managed in a way that you really don't notice the compromises, and the benefits far outweigh and outshine them so that they are buried or diminished to the minor/less important aspects. What I'm describing here is the PROCESS of design and it factors in many variables and is complex. Ultimately it's (or should be) the homeowner's priorities that are deftly managed/factored into this process so that the result is as close to "perfect" as appropriate for the scale investment, which on these types of things is (let's be honest) a fair wad of dough. My advice is make sure you have got that order of compromise sorted and if stuff is bugging you then keep working at the floorplan until it's better resolved in relation to those all important project priorities. It's way cheaper to take some more time to consider this stuff further on paper/conceptually and arguably sensible to give yourself the best chance possible to maximise your investment by means of nailing the design solution - best of luck :) PD