Also, the garage is actually a rumpus room - on a slightly lower level than the rest of the house.

describe your climate, where's north, what's the distance from the house to all four boundaries, do you have any good or bad views, does the block slope and do you already have or want another garage?

At a glance a rough idea, plus re do the kitchen layout but keeping it in the same position

Thanks for the replies

We're on a huge block so no real boundaries to speak of. North is the along the front of the rumpus room/family room/dining etc.

We have a garage (the garage on the plan was never actually built as a garage, it's always been a rumpus room with double sliding doors where the roller doors are on the plan).

We're in central Victoria so a temperate climate. We have young kids so we really miss not being able to directly access/view the backyard from the living area.

We back onto State Forest and have an enormous backyard (which is also slowly being renovated). No slope, flat as a tack , on about a hectare, semi rural.

Thank you for the suggested floor plan changes - we actually initially thought we'd put in a hallway like that but since living in the house for a couple of years, we really do want the backyard access from the kitchen/living areas. Plus, the living areas and kitchen are actually quite dark - we have to have the light on most of the time.

The other option we considered was to knock through the cupboard and WIR, install French doors into the back yard and keep the two alternative entrances to bed 3 and the main bath. Wouldn't really let much more light in though.

sounds idyllic but where is north and your best views and which side of the house do you use as the backyard, for a barbq area, clothesline etc where is the garage and how far away from the house (ie any plans for undercover access into the house) and what are the walls, floors and roof of the house made out of??

Oops, sorry The backyard runs all along the top of the plans (bed 1,2,3, bath etc). The clothesline is out to the right from the laundry.

Lovely views everywhere really but the backyard is the bit that goes onto state forest so probably the nicest. We have a huge paddock of gumtrees to the left of the plans.

No plans for the garage to become connected to the house, we actually park right out the front most of the time during the day. The garage is off to the right of the rumpus room.

The house is on a concrete slab, laminate flooring and carpet in the living + bedrooms, brick veneer and colourbond roof.

my suggestions include rearranging the family and utility rooms to make the childrens' bedrooms and allow the kitchen to be moved to overlook the rear garden and keep the childrens' bedrooms, rumpus, bathroom and laundry grouped at one end of the house and master suite grouped with the lounge and a central family kitchen dining area with views to front and back gardens ..remove or replace some of the verandah roof with transluscent roof sheeting to brighten the centre of the house, move the entry to the front of the house and use the old entry as a small study nook..some of the dimensions are missing from your plans and with more accurate details i could make more precise suggestions and include scale sized furniture...plans have been reversed to show north at the top front and backyard at the south

Wow, thank you so, so much. I had never considered going through that bedroom instead.

We have an inbuilt Coonara wood fire in the main living area at the moment but that could be easily moved. Hmm, you've given me a lot to think about, thank you :)

if you could post the north and east sides of the plans showing the dimensions i could make the suggestions more precise

Thank you - I really appreciate your advice and have been thinking of the plan you suggested all night!

We actually never use the official entry on the plan (and our bedroom door is actually opposite that entry rather than in the living room on the plan). We use the double doors that enter the family room as the main entrance so putting a single door there instead actually makes a lot of sense. It's so difficult to impartially view a space when it's always been the 'kitchen', the 'lounge' etc.

The meals area is much smaller than the family area at the moment but again, that may just be my perception.

your initial question was about repairs to the ensuite and based on approximate dimension it appears that there would be no real advantage to moving the ensuite but closing the extra door to existing bed 2 for the first upgrade would allow a more private maser suite and easier furniture arrangement and long term you could consider the new kitchen, bedrooms and expanded family bathroom ...rearranging doors between rooms and perhaps long term reconsidering some windows eg the big western windows in the rumpus room could overheat the house in summer

what is your budget?

Thanks so much oklouise, the more I look at your plan, the more I like it.

We don't really have a set budget at the moment - we hope to live here for a long time so prepared to spend where it's needed (quality kitchen/bathroom etc). It will definitely be done in stages though, we'll be saving and renovating as we can afford it.

Just adding my thoughts on your existing floor plan and the changes that I consider could work doing things in stages

Thanks Paul - you make some great points. We've held off on doing anything major so far BC we wanted to live in the house, see how we use the space and try to anticipate how it might change as our kids get older. It's really the ensuite needing doing that's prompted us to start seriously considering what we want. We're not 'throwaway' people so we want to spend time getting it right before we start.

Siriuskey - thank you for your plan! Utilising the two bedrooms would give us a great family space. And I would LOVE a walk in linen press.

We just can't understand some of the decisions the original owners made. They commissioned the design from a local firm - and the owner was actually a retired builder!

Just weird stuff, like at the moment, there's nowhere in the ensuite for towel racks to go. The vanity has drawers that only pull out 15cm so nothing really fits in them. You have to make sure someone isn't opening the shower door or standing at the basin before you open the ensuite door.

We have a broom cupboard in our main living area.. not to mention the family bathroom and toilet entry being right next to the couch. The living room is a thoroughfare and difficult to furnish. The dishwasher has to be turned off at the wall BC it's constantly being accidentally started as it's so easy to lean against... and you can't have the cutlery drawers open at the same time as the dishwasher (the kitchen is slightly different to the plans).

Needless to say, we won't be approaching the original design firm to help us with the renovations.

Sooo many design faults - too many to list!