I assume you want the front door to be on the front of the house. If so, what if you put a new door to the right of the window of the sitting room? If there is not enough space, then change the sitting room windows to be similar to the 2 vertical single pane windows on the floor above. You shouldn't lose any light into the sitting room area then and the windows will fit in nicely to the above window and lounge windows.

Are you able to show how the house sits on the block and size, along with aspect and any views.

Would you be able to build another carport on the LH boundary with access for unloading the car via the side with a door replacing the window next to the kitchen. This would also give more privacy from the neighbors house

Then look at maintaining the entrance under cover in it's current position with a few additional changes to that area. Do you have any rear access to the block.

What is the ceiling height in the Sitting area, it looks low

Forgot to mention that I love that Render OK L

Thanks for supplying ceiling height info, something for you to consider with your renovations, legal ceiling height in habitable rooms is 2.4, hence my question. Do you have actual ceiling height of the "sitting room"

Habitable Room and Legal Ceiling Heights

According to the "Building Code of Australia" a Habitable Room is:

"A room used for normal domestic activities and

• Includes a bedroom, living room, lounge room, music room, television room, kitchen, dining room, sewing room, study, playroom, family room, home theatre, and sunroom; but,
• Excludes a bathroom, laundry, water closet, pantry, walk-in wardrobe, corridor, hallway, lobby, photographic darkroom, clothes drying room, and other spaces of a specialised nature occupied neither frequently nor for extended periods."

Building Code Ceiling Heights

A room or space within a building must have sufficient height suitable for the intended function of that room or space. According to BCA Vol 2 part 3.8.2, for the requirement to be satisfied, the ceiling height must not be less than:

• in a habitable room excluding a kitchen - 2.4 m and
• in a kitchen, laundry or the like - 2.1m and
• in a corridor or passageway or the like - 2.1m and
• in a bathroom, shower room, laundry, sanitary compartment, pantry, storeroom, garage, car parking area etc - 2.1m and
• in an attic, room with a sloping ceiling or projection below ceiling line or non-habitable room or similar - a height that does not unduly interfere with the proper functioning of the room or space. More than 50% of the ceiling space should be on average a minimum height.
• in a stairway - 2.0m measured vertically above the nosing line.

Otherwise, the room would be deemed to be a "utility room".

Technically the height is measured from the finished floor covering to the underside of ceiling or lowest protrusion of the ceiling. If you are trying to determine whether you can build in an area - ensure you take into consideration what you are going to put on the floor.

If there is any doubt about a ceiling height - you should speak to your local council:

Do you have a Photo of the current front door

A floor plan similar the the Agents which are never correct, you will need to re measure.

I suggest the following after seeing your beautiful large front garden,

Retain the current entrance from the carport into the mudroom/laundry and access to the kitchen, great for kids coming home from school in wet weather,

You could also add a panel lift garage door due to the lower height, I have already suggested one at the rear of the carport to cover up the trailer storage etc.

Add a deck to the front of the living dining with a pergola to match the angle of the roof adding large overlapping concrete or timber steps up to the deck and new front entrance.

The steps are stepped out from the low over hang of the split level floor, this would have white pebbles as per your photo and could be mass planted with Snake Plants or other.

The entrance from the new deck would have a single door opening plus bi fold doors, this will now add more living space. You could retain the windows if preferred. cheers

this with a dining setting included. My suggestion for the trailer store area was instead of putting a panel lift door at the front of the carport was to put it at the back so as to still give access to the old entrance and to cover the trailer and anything else you might like to store

A little update on our renovation, because of the slope of the roof the cost of works will be substantial due to having to change the angle of the roof, we're not keen for that! Haha! Thankfully there were some great suggestions on here about relocating the front door to the front of the sitting room. That's what we're going to do. I have a question though, the existing brickwork is an addition and built underneath the supports for the level above, therefore not load bearing in any capacity. Do I need to get anyone out to remove those bricks where the door will go or can I do that myself?

Also does anyone know any good landscape designers and earthmovers? The ground level on that wall is approxinately 400mm up the wall, that will obviously all need to be excavated in order to access that wall and create a path etc.

Mudroom/entrance here we come!

Which state or town are you in? A reputable builder or structural engineer would assess whether you could remove bricks without having to support structure. Maybe your carpenter for your new doors could also give an assessment.

If all is okay with the structure, then remove bricks yourself.

Good luck with it all, exciting, look forward to seeing your photos