What a pretty house, room dimensions are needed to comment and overcome design problems as shown

Thank you. I will try and get a better picture shortly that shows the dimensions

I like your plan. The Living area of 7100 x 6400 as shown is a wonderful big area. The minor bedrooms at 3200 x 3300 are the right size for king single bed and play/study area. But a double bed or bigger would be a bit tight. Bed 4 may be a bit tight for a double bed. The lounge room at 5000 x 4400 is a big room. Could you take some area from that for bed 4. You just have two rather big lounge/living rooms. The only thing of concern, is your ensuite toilet door. I would face the door towards the walk in robe or bathroom. All the best.

Sorry, Katelan, I realised the toilet I am questioning is the powder room, not ensuite, toilet. The access area needs to be looked at.

Also, the laundry. I would swap the appliances/plumbing to the ensuite bathroom wall. Two reasons. Plumbing is together, and the wall noise generated by washing machine etc, would be annoying for anyone in bed 2.

I would aim to have bedrooms at 3.0 m x 3.0 m as a minimum plus add the additional space to allow built in robes.

My sister built a harkaway home. Recently sold it. Might give some inspiration https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=2ahUKEwjs78L0qafmAhXX6nMBHVWJBxcQFjAAegQICBAB&url=https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-vic-plenty-130735090&usg=AOvVaw0AJtfHp6461JlC6RUFrJ_J

Swap b4 and lounge to get double aspect in lounge. Why does study get no window. Need to rework that aspect

Hi katelan, any chance of up dating dimensions, I really can't see them especially bahtooms etc

I am just waiting on our second lot of plans to come back with all the measurements on it. Our block is just over an acre facing north west. It will be elevated on stumps also.

Thank you everyone for your input so far! So helpful already!!

What climate are you building in and how big a family are you, I look forward to seeing the updated plan, a lot of time and thought goes into a floorplan like the one above by Oklouise, so it will be a big help.

Update on us- we are building in north Victoria where our summers are 40-45 degree heat waves but we also get down to minus 3 and frosts in winter. We are a family of 4 (kids will be 8 & 10 when we move in). We are not starting our build until this time next year. Our house will be on stumps and haven’t decided if we’ll have a carport (most houses around us do) or a garage. The study was actually a study nook that we made bigger and will put bifold doors and potentially a skylight in as well.

My concerns, I don’t like the door placement to our WIR/en-suite. You will walk into the foot of our bed when entering our room. Also I’m worried about the meals/kitchen/ family area and if there is sufficient space in each area for it to not look out of proportion. We like to entertain and will use alfresco all year round, eventually adding a pool off the back of alfresco.

I appreciate everyone’s input, it’s such a big eye opener to see others thoughts.

Here is our updated plan. 28.7sq living, 5.2sp alfresco, 8sq verandah.

Entry 1800, Hall 1500, family 6290 to fireplace x6400 to Island, meals 4800 x 3500, island bench 3000x1200, lounge 4700x5000, bed 3 3300 x 3100, bathroom 3500 x 1900, laundry 4200 x 2400, WIR 1800x 4200, study 2200 x 2500, master 5420x4090

Which way is north?

Terrible picture but it’s the best I could do

Given the heat, widen the north facing verandah and add a verandah around meals area. The home has very steep roof line and study will be on south side of ridge line which may impact sky light efficiency

Kitchen/Living/Dining/Alfresco area should be reworked IMO. Dining is way too tight and bottleneck flow around the island. You MUST get furniture on your plan to resolve the flow in and around spaces properly. Yes climate conditions are an extreme range, but first things first the planning is critical. main living zone relationship needs work as does the access into the Master suite coming right off the main living - this a bit clunky and could be more discrete & private. I'm guessing you're on a bit of land, so no significant boundary restrictions??

Think about views/outlooks and connections of certain spaces to the outside. there's also A LOT of passage space here, and assuming you have plenty of space/land there's really no reason to have internalised spaces like the study. Bed 3 with the WIR is awkward and you'd be better to have more streamlined built in robes. When we design we ALWAYS start with the furniture and spaces flow / relationships and then build the walls, windows etc around that. When you draw a plan actually the LAST thing you should draw are the walls. It seems like doing it back the front, but what it does it make sure that the spaces are designed to the function. It's easy to make things look nice, or traditional or whatever style appeals, however the experience of your living spaces will be more defined by the quality of planning , their function and their connection to your context/site.

Thank Paul, can I ask, are your comments off the original plan or the new one I uploaded? If it’s the new one, how big would you suggest dining/lounge? Thank you for all your ideas, it is such an eye opener and I’ll loving it

the space size will/should be determined by your furniture layout and size. For example if you have a round table of a certain size vs a rectangular table this will change what is required. Same with lounge furniture. With living room it becomes more involved depending upon whether you have a fireplace and a TV set up as the lounge furniture needs to be able to work to both. If you want a more formal 3 piece lounge setup vs a more contemporary modular corner lounge with chaise end then this will change room proportion, TV/fire positioning and also paths of movement around/through and into the space. Your issue with the dining space is more about the bottleneck in and out of it The size is just OK (with update plan) although if you have a 2.4m length table you best have closer to 5 or 5.5m length to have comfortable space to move around the table ends if people are seated at the ends. If your living and dining areas are more combined then overall you may not need to increase the size of the building, rather you have a more efficiently planned space as you can "share" the swing room around furniture to a certain degree. However you may prefer the separated configuration, which is fine, but it needs to be set-up with proper clearances around both the built in and freestanding elements to function well. Have attached an example of one of our projects, a completely different thing but inspired by a traditional style - the plan however shows how the spaces are designed specifically to furniture and paths of movement is flowing and balanced with no awkward bottlenecks in this regard. Also the more centralised living zone enables a more efficient relationship between entry and main living.

21st Century Victorian · More Info

based on your 28.7squares (266 sq m) my suggestion includes an extra bedroom and furniture to show how the rooms could function

My concern, in all the plans posted, that bedroom 3 has no western sun protection. If your summers get to 40 plus degrees, then some kind of external shading, be it an awning or tall tree, would be required. We all know, that it is best to stop the sun from getting to the window, then having it reach into the room.

Hi Katelan, would you mind sharing where in Northern Victoria you will be building

My sister’s Harkaway house was in Melbourne and the front faced west. The bedroom window did get the weather and had some rot, but fixed before sale. Air con essential.

This is my idea for your new house, the living room and master suite are together as the living room would mostly be used at night for quiet times. You can lay back on the Master bed and watch the sun go down or watch it from your private verandah. Both the ensuite and bedroom have high set windows, the mudroom laundry gives access from the carport/garage into the house the mudroom can have both storage and bench seating to drop school bags etc. A small study off the living room for home office use and home work computer etc. The fireplace is two way so you can enjoy it inside and out,

A courtyard formed by the house and garage walls for a drying area.