The exterior of our 1950s cream brick

Our existing floor plan

Existing lounge area

It’s gorgeous. I’d be keeping it. The exterior says quality. There’s a great recent story here on Houzz where they extend a similar property. Worth a read.

Thanks big reader, can you send me the link.

Can’t work out how to send link. But it’s up currently in the latest story section under Houzz tour.

Great thanks I found it..it looks fantastic...gives me confidence to maybe proceed and just do large renovation at a later date. Appreciate any feedback on floor plan modifications etc

short term ideas but depends on floor and roof height for old laundry and porch

Thanks oklouise .. I would love the rumpus a bit more connected. I had thought of making lounge a bedroom and using back section for living.

The old section is all solid brick 😩

does make sense to having living out the back but we need more information about the structure, including dimensions of all the rooms that you've checked with a tape measure, where does the old extension begin, are the floors and ceilings the same height throughout, are the bathrooms new...more photos including the roof from backyard and sides and do you have a site plan showing the dimensions of the whole block and distances from house to boundaries and garage..exciting times but careful preparation will give the best results

It;s such a lovely house I would hate to see it pulled down and replaced with something new, how wide is the entrance. A very rough idea, combining the WIP and laundry spaces but separated with a door Large doors opening from the kitchen family rooms to an alfresco

Enlarge the ensuite. There can be doors added to divide off passage way to suite

The basic house seems really nice . Personally , I'd leave the interior as it is ( maybe a flatpack kitchen upgrade or similar ) but initially keep the rest as is , and formulate plans .

My main focus would be the outside -- waterblast the house and garage , paint the garage door ( it looks to be a lighter green compared to the guttering , so probably go that darker shade to make it more cohesive ) , go with rock gardens and cactuses and leafy plants and something with red leaves , maybe a couple of 1 metre tall colourful pots or a white stone waterfeature or similar .

And literally dig up the path and the two driveway strips -- maybe small red pebble sealed driveway , cobblestones ( look good but they move ) , even black bitumen with concrete kerb would look better than now . And a 'sympathetic' footpath -- white or red pebble aggregate , even pebble stepping stones .

If the front fence is the same bricks that would be a bonus , but essentially anything of a similar colouring and style would look great !

Over the next 5 years , paint or wallpaper or change light fittings or floor coverings , but see how the space and style suits , THEN make any decisions .

A couple of more pics for context. A future double garage is also on the agenda too.
Also the plan says north is directly at the back, the block is more north East orientation. The block is 750sqm.
The back two rooms are an extension, everything else is solid brick, so a little more challenging to move walls in the short term.

Floor and ceilings are all same height throughout. There’s actually original floor boards underneath all the carpet 👏🏽
I agree the extension of the bathrooms into the hall would be great, but the brick walls are more difficult.
The kitchen and bathrooms are all in original condition.

Your initial post said your home was brick veneer. Now you have said that it is solid brick. Please clarify what external and internal walls are made of. Ie: double brick external walls, with single brick internal walls, or brick veneer external with stud walls internal, etc

Agree with your initial post. Clean the home and make comfortable. Live in for a length of time. See where the sun rises, where the wind blows from, the best parts of your garden etc.
Then decide on how best to proceed.

Brick walls are a bit more challenging but it can be done, I did it

Dr Retro House Calls specializes in homes of this period, and has helped lots of new home owners with similar questions. Check out my Houzz reviews and then contact me if you would like to make a 2-hour appointment in your home to discuss the options.

https://secretdesignstudio.com/dr-retro-house-calls/

Best of luck with your considerations,

Dr Retro

of Dr Retro House Calls

Hi dreamer. Apologies. All internal walls are brick (I think single apart from the back two rooms which are stud walls) and then external is brick perhaps double?

These all sound like great ideas. If the back two rooms are not brick, knocking down those walls, to open up as your living dining. Then using the dining as a rumpus. And perhaps the lounge as a bedroom?
That way you’ll make the most of the East/north aspect in the living.

Dr Retro House Calls has an extensive range of pics on Pinterest relevant to your house. Search Secret Design Studio. I just stumbled across it and spent way too long browsing.

Gorgeous house, I hope you can find a way to make it work for your family to keep it.

if it could be done without spoiling the street frontage it would be useful to check if you could have the double garage at the front of the house to better use all of the available space for future upgrades..a design specialist would be able to advise about local options

Good advice oklouise Thankyou.

Do the minimum to make it comfortable , live in it for a reasonable time and when you know a date for the renovations , employ an architect or designer . Find someone who has good reviews . It is better to have a professional who will make sure that mistakes are not made , give you creative ideas , will help you with council and planners , engineering and also choosing an excellent builder . This will cost but the amount will pay for itself .

Wise words anonymousanne. Thanks all for your helpful advice so far .
We have a 3-5 year plan
I guess our priority will be creating 3 cosy bedrooms, with fresh paint, carpet and blinds ......not sure if they will be the existing bedrooms..or whether we will take the lounge as the master.
A dilemma how much to do in the bathrooms....
Flat pack kitchen, appliances paint etc...It would be cheapest in the kitchen to replace the Existing L only...but I do like oklouise and siruiskys suggestions for the kitchen dining areas in the plans that have been drawn.
I will get a builder friend to take a look structurally for now..still hoping to open the back up a bit more, for better internal flow of the house, so we can enjoy living there while we save to do major works

something like this could offer a more family friendly home with simple flatpac kitchen, minimal structural changes, a sofa bed in the lounge for overnight guests and a cheap pine deck to improve the rear entry....in five years the children's needs will have changed and that will have given you more time for planning but with a site plan showing dimensions of the block (including distance from house to all four boundaries) we could make some basic suggestions for long term ideas