I'm also late back to this plan party.. :-) looks so much better Beck B, I'm so glad you went with the idea of having a direct entrance into the working parts of the home.. laundry butlers pantry etc.. it makes for a much easier life! And I see you have utilized that whole living spaces area much better now, better thoroughfare, flow and more pantry space! Its a much better design I would still consider a concealed sliding doors at the end of your kitchen. Also having another look at your kitchen, and your sink seems in an awkward spot, not sure it that is just temporary, but have you considered moving the cleaning section of your kitchen (sink/dishwasher) along the wall? to the right if you clean left to right or vice versa. If it eating outdoors is something you do often, this will be much more convenient and also keep the dishes away from the 'lounge/dining' part of the room. All the best with the build, make sure you post some pics when its done!!

Last piece of advice simonsays - never "assume" anything - more often than not people sorting through this stuff on their own misjudge, either in under or over estimating what's involved, incorrectly thinking that it will be either easier or harder than it actually will be to achieve whatever it is......you need to define your various project requirements/details etc as a starting point, and have clarity on what aspects are more or less important for you. This also must include your budget BEFORE you put pen to paper working through the design solution...so if you want a 2-way fireplace, consider it now, and factor it in within the process of working through the costs (which should be occurring simultaneously.........also, remember that "design" is a process, working towards an outcome, which as always is about resolving project requirements to budget within a particular context/conditions.......the project outcome, whatever that is, will be very much determined by the design process and the extent it is invested in and executed....hope this all helps and best of luck with it all :) PD

siri - re boundary construction it of course depends upon the specific context - the issue in this case is the site fall and being on the high side there could be potential issues of building heights from the NGL on the neighbour's side....my comment was also in respect to considering a terrace structure above a close to boundary structure and complexity that would be thrown up with screening and structural offsets etc.....and this is sometimes worth pursuing where space is tight, however I'm anticipating here there is a fair bit of room to move and I'm guessing (an educated guess based on limited contextual information provided ) that a more cost effective/simpler option on a number of levels will be to (a) keep things off the northern boundary and (b) minimise renovation scope and consider a strategic rear extension that focuses on master bedroom zone and cleaning up the main living zone - if the majority of the existing spaces are retain structurally and limit renovation to cosmetic upgrades then the budget will stretch a lot further but net result is a more valuable property - and a more cost-effective value adding proposal that on paper is more likely to be accepted for finance.........this is always a integrated numbers game/exercise We're working on a job at the moment that we crunched numbers on various options & scope/configurations, but the two "shortlisted" of them were very similar - one slightly more expanded and pushing out to boundaries, the other more tightly disciplined, simpler and deliberately keeping building extension off boundaries. Whilst both of the shortlisted proposals essentially accommodated/covered the client's requirements outcomes, we estimated approx $100K accumulative difference one way or the other........

OP, I agree with everybody's comment about having north facing living areas. Have a VERY good read of the Your Home website. A brilliant Aussie government website about efficient home design. As the sun is higher in the sky in summer north facing windows will be shaded by eaves in summer. So north facing rooms aren't a worry, it's west facing rooms that are difficult to shade & get the hottest in summer. South facing rooms are dark, & cool, so perfect for bedrooms.