Hi fb57, Great charming federation house, retain the front and fix the back, then maybe later you can put in a granny flat - depending on cost and local council bylaws. I would not put in an attic - stairs are a good place for mishaps and as we age it might have limited functionality - but if its something you have your heart set on it might prove worth while. It appears that you are competent enough to do a decent measure up plan, going from what you have posted - you might need to take a few photo and a few other dimension to get a good design from someone working online. The idea is to get a design that you are happy with and then get a local competent Drafts-person to do your working drawings for a Building Permit and then get it built with a Builder of your choice. This would result in my opinion in a significant saving and a design of your choice, especially if you are willing to do some of the legwork with council and other authorities. To get a good design that you feel is a solution to your requirements, you need to produce a variety of design schemes (plans elevations perspectives etc.) and this can be done online with any competent Building Designer that you can get along with. It will not take one go at it - and it will not be quick, as you need time to digest every scheme but generally it works out in the long run. These are some of the things I would look at: 1. The possibility of breaking up the build into stages - maybe stage one do the renovations at the back and the stage 2 place in a granny flat. 2. As you have good access on both sides of the property I would place a new garage on the largest width and possible gate and walkway on the other side to give individual access to the granny flat. The new garage would be as closely to the front as possible, with the new fence an gate on the other side it would greatly improve security. 3. Depending on budget I would provide a bathroom shower and toilet with a walk in robe to the main bedroom and redo the kitchen and laundry if required. 4.The area next to the lounge area I would develop into an external entertainment area. 5 Since you mentioned that you have a "Fibro Extension" it implies to me that you may have asbestos on the property - get an expert in and determine if you need to remove asbestos when you renovate - this is a dangerous material and you should take all precautions possible to avoid long term damage. 6. An indication of the position of your neighbors windows and setback might also help in providing a design that complies with your planning laws and respects your adjoining neighbors. Like all things it will take a few revisions to get it right , but if you are willing to work at it, it will payoff in the end. The first thing is to draw up the existing conditions to scale so that an initial proposal showing possibilities can be worked on. I would be willing to work on this project with you online, I hope this is of some help. Regards Michael Manias mm407p@gmail.com

I'm going to assume that when you say the rear of the house is east, that's the kitchen! If so then you have a great northern aspect across your kitchen and living areas. I would think that opening those areas into a large space would be great especially considering your limited budget however make sure you adequately eave or screen those windows for summer. Come winter it will be lovely and warm and with the right eaves, lovely and cool for summer. Considering you have a 4th bedroom/study you can also use that as a separate kids space when you have guests so you don't necessarily need two living areas. As for the bathroom unless you have a second toilet somewhere don't make it one big space. We have this problem at the moment and you really don't want to have a shower while your kids doing their morning poo. Not to mention the fights when one of them is in the shower and anyone else has to go.

I had a bath shaped one in a prior house. I loved it. Can't remember the brand but it was mid range from Reece, and never has any problems. I picked it based on jet position for my creaky old back. I used it weekly.

Finally the job of replacing the spa bath with a normal bath has started. Firstly, part of kitchen ceiling removed to undo spa waste, then row of tiles removed to jiggle out the spa - no good! Plumber had to cut spa shell in 2 with grinder to remove. New replacement bath, same make and model, now installed, waterproofing done, tiler called in to assess the retiling job. I thought I'd be clever and order some white replacement tiles to help - ha, tiler says they are a slightly different colour but have just enough of originals to finish the job. Heading in the right direction!!