ok, here's the new floor plan, I've taken your advice and did some adjustments. with the bathroom I'm very happy now, thanks oklouise, I've just done a few changes to better suit the way we live. moving the guest bath over gave me more room for the pantry, although on paper the entrance/pantry area looks a bit awkward now so I'm hoping for some more of your great ideas (ps siriuskey, I know the pantry corner in the kitchen is a bit of a space waster, I just fell in love with a picture or two, so if I just search enough I should be able to get my head - or rather heart - around a more practical solution ). I'm not sure about moving the kitchen door to the left as it's the main access also for the living and dining room and would direct traffic through the work zone. and oklouise, you asked for an overall vision of our house, so here it is: we live in a beautiful valley with no close neighbors and most of our lives happen outdoors. it will be only my husband and me living there with occasional overnight guest. while we build we'll be living in a granny flat so one spare bedroom will be enough. the living, dining and master bed windows will face north towards the view and the sun. as we spend so much time outside we want our house to be a cosy home with the occasional big entertaining happening outside. our plan is to build a strawbale house with open post and beam, I love the combination of warm grey and timber. just not too rustic and heavy, think scandinavian lightness (I'm from the north of Germany and spend most holidays in Scandinavia) and add some cheerful south American accents (where my husband comes from) we like to cook together, that's why we need a good sized kitchen. and it's my dream to come inside after work into a beautiful bathroom, where I can enjoy getting fresh and clean instead of trying to get out of there as quickly as possible ok, that was a lot, hope I haven't lost you half way through but I'm really grateful for your input and support

Hi Deonne If your bathroom requires the two doors, my suggestion is NOT to have a bath. Keep it very clean and neat Across the recess have either a walk-in shower with a 600mm opening OR a glass panel and door. You may consider a seat in the shower ( example on our website ) A recess ( niche ) for shower 300mm high max length Wall hung, all drawer vanity. In-wall cistern toilet suite. Mixer diverter, overhead and handheld shower. Quality tapware, with min 10-year warranty Porcelain floor tiles min 300 x 300. Tile to ceiling, ( unless home has high ceiling, if high, tile to an architrave height ) min tile size 600 x 300, Ceramic to rein in cost

thinking about the rumpus and wine cellar my suggestions keep most of the original walls with the cellar built in the garage with no external walls to improve insulation and temp control, uses the old single garage door space for an optional entry porch and has the new bar in the old gym maybe replacing the sliding door with a servery window? and the opening to the rumpus could have optional doors to separate the rumpus and bar and keeping the angled wall (and matching ceiling?) in the rumpus could be a good location for a small heater and there's more wall space for enough furniture for a crowd and i've added some suggestions for the bathroom with a separate powder room with vanity and, based on family gossip, a wine cellar this size should have enough space for about 1500 bottles and a small tasting table and chairs!! avoiding changes to walls and adding new doorways instead keeps the original ceilings, avoids unnecessary demolition, is cheaper and saves money that will be needed for new finishes

Thank you all for taking the time to offer help and suggestions, really appreciate it! You’ve given me lots to think about that wouldn’t have crossed my mind. Last night I thought about separating the toilet and laundry from the bathroom with a barn door/sliding door. This would involve adding a partition wall and extending the benchtop. If we can remove the trough and put WM recess in it’s place and plumb that into a large trough/butchers style basin in the bathroom, that could potentially work? I’ve added my very amateur mark up to try show the idea. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!