I'd be combining the kitchen and laundry by knocking out the wall between them and concealing the laundry appliances in the new kitchen. Ikea kitchen, nearly new appliances (someone is always selling a new appliance that doesn't fit) and flooring (the new linos look really good or perhaps a laminate floor?) If you had the budget, I'd also turn the bedroom next to the laundry into the dining room so your living area connects to the back deck with a lovely sliding door. Maybe also remove wall between laundry and bedroom to create open plan living? Not sure if this is possible if walls are load bearing, but steel beams can fix that maybe? Dining room then becomes bedroom. I like connecting living rooms to outdoor areas, but that's the Aussie in me. Good luck! P.s. Find a good carpenter who charges by the hour maybe? (I married mine!)

Hi fb57, Great charming federation house, retain the front and fix the back, then maybe later you can put in a granny flat - depending on cost and local council bylaws. I would not put in an attic - stairs are a good place for mishaps and as we age it might have limited functionality - but if its something you have your heart set on it might prove worth while. It appears that you are competent enough to do a decent measure up plan, going from what you have posted - you might need to take a few photo and a few other dimension to get a good design from someone working online. The idea is to get a design that you are happy with and then get a local competent Drafts-person to do your working drawings for a Building Permit and then get it built with a Builder of your choice. This would result in my opinion in a significant saving and a design of your choice, especially if you are willing to do some of the legwork with council and other authorities. To get a good design that you feel is a solution to your requirements, you need to produce a variety of design schemes (plans elevations perspectives etc.) and this can be done online with any competent Building Designer that you can get along with. It will not take one go at it - and it will not be quick, as you need time to digest every scheme but generally it works out in the long run. These are some of the things I would look at: 1. The possibility of breaking up the build into stages - maybe stage one do the renovations at the back and the stage 2 place in a granny flat. 2. As you have good access on both sides of the property I would place a new garage on the largest width and possible gate and walkway on the other side to give individual access to the granny flat. The new garage would be as closely to the front as possible, with the new fence an gate on the other side it would greatly improve security. 3. Depending on budget I would provide a bathroom shower and toilet with a walk in robe to the main bedroom and redo the kitchen and laundry if required. 4.The area next to the lounge area I would develop into an external entertainment area. 5 Since you mentioned that you have a "Fibro Extension" it implies to me that you may have asbestos on the property - get an expert in and determine if you need to remove asbestos when you renovate - this is a dangerous material and you should take all precautions possible to avoid long term damage. 6. An indication of the position of your neighbors windows and setback might also help in providing a design that complies with your planning laws and respects your adjoining neighbors. Like all things it will take a few revisions to get it right , but if you are willing to work at it, it will payoff in the end. The first thing is to draw up the existing conditions to scale so that an initial proposal showing possibilities can be worked on. I would be willing to work on this project with you online, I hope this is of some help. Regards Michael Manias mm407p@gmail.com

I would also suggest a deck at the same level as the house floor. Merbau decking boards are hard wearing and reasonably priced $. Also look at a new sliding doors with insect screen built into the door frame as a second door. This will introduce cross ventilation and keep the mozzies at bay in the night and make your internal floor space appear bigger. I would also build a veranda over the deck and mimic the existing gable end of the roof ( keep the rafters high ) and use all laserlight transparent roofing material to keep natural light flooding in. You could also look at introducing a natural gas point and some outdoor power points for gas BBQ and entertaining. The space will effectively become your new Outdoor room - enjoy :-)

without the plan of upstairs i'm not sure that my suggested changes to front wall will be suitable but instead of reducing the rear deck, taking space off the front porch would allow extra space for the kitchen without changing the front set back and, unless there's some special reason for the extra toilet could you consider different access to the downstairs bathroom to have a more private toilet with included handbasin with or without the extra sink in the dining area?.. there's enough space for extra storage for utility and dining area with a table for two in the kitchen and extending the floor of the deck to the rear and side fences would allow more outside sitting area