Hey Sonia, if you are still on the hunt for a sofa bed you might like to check out our range. We have 2 showrooms in Melbourne (Richmond and Carlton) with a huge range of Danish designed sofa beds to choose from. You can see our full range on our website. Cheers, Alex :)

Thanks Tracy, that looks great. I'm confused a little. I don't quite understand the "don't paint the bricks" sentiment. I understand that there is maintenance involved, potentially needing to re-paint the house every few years. Not sure how that is different to having to repaint inside every so often or if we had weatherboard, etc. As to the shutters, more than happy to change that. We are thinking we remove them and also replace the windows as well. They are the same brown aluminium frames. Perhaps going a thicker, modern black frame, with double glazed windows as well. We like the shutters in that they provide some safety as well block out the light. But we hate the look of them. Otherwise it is painting the shutters, which seems like quite a difficult process as they are powder coated, and lots of nooks and what not to get in and paint.

I was thinking of options , and basically Kates sketch would be along the lines of what I am thinking . Just some obvious things -- you have a chimney -- do you want that in your Master ? You want doors off the front Den -- no matter what you do , that will cost reasonable $$$ , as you will have to alter the framing , maybe electrical , as well as obviously cutting through bricks . Could 'just' having screens and maybe even a small roof creating a courtyard in front , using the existing front door and probably creating a better entry experience if done right , be better than that ? Same with things like having an external door from a laundry/mud room ? If that was important , personally I'd incorporate that as part of the new addition at the rear -- its way easier to design framing and walls with a door included , as opposed to modifying a 60 year old building . Basically , we could question every room , and that is what the designer should have done . Without asking , I'd come up with a totally different design , but it would be what I would do , and maybe wouldn't be what you want . And as far as adding upstairs , again personally I wouldn't . Engineering wise its difficult , matching styles is difficult , and cost will be quite a bit more per metre than adding on the rear , but you may feel the advantages outweigh the costs -- only you know .

Well based on that my feeling would be to move the back gate and fence forward of the current carport roof. Park your car in line with the neighbours car. Either use the existing carport as an alfresco area or if the roof is made of something unattractive pull it down and have a cafe blind installed over that area instead. Bringing your outdoor area in line with your living area's for easy access. Remove the single access door from the kitchen and use the wall space there to create a larger opening of some kind. I'm assuming your carport has a concrete slab floor? So yeah you could build a deck over the top and extend it to emcompass the existing deck or refinish the slab, although if your driveway is anything to go by it might not be in good shape. If I were doing that I would have the entire deck built all at the same time as it will be a cost saving to do it that way. Or another option may be to replace your existing deck and turn the carport area into a nice garden with ferns, and stepping stones leading to the deck further down the back. That way there is a decent transition for access, your deck size is smaller and creating a garden in that area will not be very expensive. All of this assuming of course that you don't desperately want to keep the carport for parking the car under.