The north is very important to get that natural light, if you have the money to do that two floor void, then heaps of natural light can flood into the space. If that is not possible than lighting, colour, windows and doors can help. The connection from house to garden is just as important as we tend to spend a equal amount of time outdoors if designed to the conditions, and don't forget the garden, that done well can extend the house from inside to outside rooms to garden in one big space, with paths and focal points to make it an experience to be in. You need to seek professional advice from someone who will help you understand the requirements from council, the building process, and the cost associated with those processes, and the best way to make the available funds work to your best advantage. There are very few clients who have unlimited budget and in an ideal world where you are lucky to start from scratch and design the house of your dreams, twisting to take advantage of views, light and site conditions, renovating an existing house is normally full of compromises. Renovation is always more expensive than building new, even twice as expensive depending on the house. Ideally the bedrooms should be grouped together with living to the opposite end. That may make sense if the children are young but does not make sense with older children even the ones studying and still living at home, or you are planning on renting out a room. Another factor is length of time at the house, is this a forever house or short term stay, that also should figure into the design. A good Architect Interior Designer is worth their weight in gold, and will be able to take you from this stage to the built form with ease. Seek one who can draw in 3D as that takes out a lot of guess work. good luck

Hi Sarah, hope you enjoyed your travels last night, that's something we have spent our lives doing plus living in different countries. Do look into the attic room/s they are lovely and the Velux skylights very unobtrusive, look great and if positioned correctly take care of venting any hot air, as I mentioned ours were pivoting ones and could be locked open in several positions. I much prefer these to dormer windows, you don't really notice them. The stairs were built off site and lifted into position and installed, built in. At the time we did ours a very good friend a builder did the same but just completely opened the whole ceiling space right out towards the gutters into a large bedroom play study area for his daughters, also using Velux windows. Glass ceilings, like Velux windows have been around for years, believe me I know, we're both getting older. Velux windows can be used as glass ceilings in opening and non opening configurations. I would love to see you keep the outdoor loo as well and updating the old shed into a new connecting space to the house, perhaps a glass breezeway. I will have another look at your plan again over the weekend. I love your front iron gate as well, auto sliding driveway gates work really well and would really fit with your carport. My brother in law put in a tall timber sliding gate at his last home, lovely cheers

For storage, I used a mirrored lift up cupboard door above the sink area in my very small ensuite with some success. We put power points inside the cupboard too - it was a very good place to have them as the door lifts up & is out of the way. I also used some of the wall space to allow slightly deeper shelves, without the cupboard jutting so far into the room. The cistern was recessed into the wall cavity, (in our case below the window) & it worked well to save a little space in the room. Photos are not very good, but I hope you can get the idea.. It worked very well. The ensuite was 1mx2m. We use vertical towel rails. They're really good & very compact, but do make sure the electrician installs them up the right way. They work on the heat rising principal & do not work well upside down as ours were installed!Hope this is helpful. Good luck.

Almost there ! The previous owners at my new place have moved out ( well 98% ) as of last weekend , and I have the keys . At some stage I'll get the locks changed -- you just never know ! I've taken one large covered trailer load there , enough stuff for basic camping there haha . Right now , most of that stuff is in the garage . There's a self contained furnished flat above the garage too , so I could live there . As I have 6 weeks to move , I very cleverly thought I would clean everything ( I have a Bissell carpet cleaner and 2 5 litre containers of the fluid , as well as a steam mop , and all the usual brushes , brooms , mops , buckets , rolls of cloth , etc , etc . ) . Great idea ! I've started in the living area and master bedroom -- I was initially going to touch up the skirting boards and door frames etc , but even with a small artists brush and a 25mm paint brush , and white paint and masking tape and lots of paper , the white colours look a bit different . Enough to annoy me haha . So I've been down on my knees most of Sunday , filling any knicks in the wood with a wood filler . Next will be sanding , then painting . Dining , kitchen , family , lounge , foyer and master bedroom first . And that won't even be 1/3rd of the place done ! I think I'll need the 6 weeks haha -- its a busy time in several of my entertainment and sound businesses , plus lots of motorsport , including one trip to Christchurch which is 24 hours each way plus 3 or 4 days there , try and get a few days at the beach at some stage too , paint a commercial building , and the small added issue of a relatively new girlfriend too haha . A few late nights and/or 3am starts me thinks !