We are doing a new kitchen with antique white shaker cupboards & drawers and I'm thinking a painted, pressed metal splashback behind a free standing 90cm heritage style electric cooker and the subway tiles elsewhere. We are doing an oiled natural shaped huon pine slab for the main benchtop.

Hi Wendan, we recently got double glazing installed to replace large sliding doors and windows. In some cases some noise is now more noticeable. I queried the installer and he said it happens a bit. The glass changes the type of noise that enters the house due to frequency. For example, I almost never hear our neighbours loud TV any more, but sometimes notice low pitch traffic noise from further away (less ambient noise to dull the hum). There is apparently specific double glazing for noise reduction, which wasn't something we considered when we were retrofitting, but possibly would've been good to know (two points in the house seem to be more affected by this, rather than the whole place). The other thing I'll mention is the frames. After lots of research we decided to get sliding units, essentially replacing like for like style. We had trouble trying to work out why casement style provided better thermal properties, other than being told the seal is better. The main difference now appears to be in the design/manufacture. Casements come as a complete unit, no gaps in the frame. Sliders come in two pieces with windows inserted into the frame in situ. This results in small air gaps between the frame and window due to the need for wiggle room. Annoying that we didn't find this out until after the event, seems like a bit of a flaw. Overall though, the glazing seems better than the almost 30yo bog standard stuff we previously had. Looking forward to summer with low-e glass and hopefully less heat entering the house.

Just to confirm I have taken the great ideas presented here as advice only and have no intention to do some dodgy diy reno's. With the exception of a couple of quirky exposed timbers as you can see in my pictures there are no other exposed beams. As you can also see from the pictures there is a large roof space on the right (east) side of the house but the ceilings themselves are flat with a slight dip on the north wall. Based on my own personal experiences I would have to agree with Two's Company that there is a tendency towards rendered brick in WA (although there are still many exposed brick houses in my suburb) while double enclosed double garages are also highly desirable. I would also agree that toilets within the main bathroom and non traditional laundries may be considered unusual by many (but not all). Ensuites with toilets however are still very common. Also due to the nature of our work we would prefer the laundry separated from food/kitchen area. For a 4x2 house it is only around 155m2 excluding carport/alfresco which makes the rooms feel quite cramped, hence the desire to open up the family room. However, as Two's Company suggests we will need to first get a builder/eng in to check load bearing walls etc as this will undoubtedly affect what we can achieve within our budget. Having said that I still excited by many of your ideas and with luck hopefully can work some of them into the budget. Cheers all :)

The idea to extend out under the eaves was to add and use available space under the existing roof. you will see the 3 eave extensions marked with circles Both bedrooms would continue the bump out wall next to the robes for a desk space or other by using the bricks from the exterior wall and the return/Nib wall. The Nib wall between both the robe and desk would be framed out with timber and Gyprock so that all the original bricks ca be used in the new wall. A concrete base of approx 600 deep will need to be added to both new desk spaces. The third bump out wall suggested was in the laundry space which would reuse the existing sliding door and bricks and bring it inline with the kitchen wall, once again it will need a fill in concrete slab of approx 600 deep but no extra roof expense applies. The Carport I think has no walls so nothing to demolish there it would however need 3 new walls of brick or cladding as previously mentioned plus the extra narrow concrete slab on one short wall and part of the long wall. Stepping from the old now wider laundry into the new Master you would need a new small slab across the end of the old Carport. This section would need a small section of roof to either sit up to or under the corner eaves, this could be slopping glass or Metal. All renovations/ extensions will involve a need to match exterior walls which can be done by rendering or cladding, in particular the new walls ( the bedroom extension walls would include the existing robe walls) All of this only requires the addition of a small roof section in the corner of the laundry and the carport Eaves, a small sloping glass roof here would add some Wow factor plus the aspect is perfect.. A few small additions can make such a difference for a smaller outlay. A new double carport can be factored in to be done in the next stage as you have plenty of space to work with You mention the use of a Modular system, along with OKL and my suggestions you could have a livable shed costed by local Professionals. would be interested to see what the difference is