Could you pls post a handrawn sketch? And some pics?

Hi there - thanks - please see draft plan attached. No pics yet as its not built, but I cant approve plans when I cannot see how the space will be used...

Do you want to share the whole floor plan seeing its going to be a new build

This is the only new build section onto an existing house. You can see the entrance from the hall and opening to the kitchen. The stairs would be new - and unlikely to actually happen. We're trying to fit everything onto the current footprint (red lines) to avoid costly engineering works, but I just can't seem to make a dining table and conversation Area work in this space....

thanks so much for your time!

It would be better to post a full plan so that others can comment and perhaps give you some better choices, at the moment your laundry bathroom opening off the dining area could be improved.

I’m not one of our plan gurus here but I can say it’s well worth posting your full plan and answering the questions. I’d consider swapping the kitchen and dining areas.

For me the room is to wide. I would move the table closer to kitchen and rotate the lounges and coffee table anti clockwise 90 degrees, moving couches closer to rear window. Add and occasional chair near French doors. Add some storage along laundry wall and along staircase.

Hi all,

Sorry this is all I have access to right now re plans.

We did look at changing the kitchen location bigreader but the cost was out of this world. Similarly we looked at extending the room, but the cost was astronomical. We also looked at adding a second storey (hence the stairs) but the cost...

So I'm trying to make the space we have (indicated by the red line) actually work as a room and am struggling. Was hoping people with more experience and creativity might provide some inspiration.

The area from the hall to the back door is essentially a thoroughfare and when all doors are open creates a straight path from the front to back door. We have had a table in this area before but you look out onto the street, which we find a little weird.

Thanks Kate, I totally agree, I was thinking of storage along where the stairs are supposed to be. Had hoped to put in a fireplace as well here....

Siriuskey how would you change the laundry opening off the dining? We're trying to maximise light as this is our northern wall.

Thanks everyone.

the meaning of the red line is not clear so we need to understand the existing building better..can you post a rough plan of the existing house with rooms named and approx dimensions showing doors and windows without the planned extensions.. what are the walls (inside and out) floor and roof built out of?....is the kitchen, laundry and toilet shown on the posted plan already existing or part of the planned extensions? is there a structural reason why the planned extension doesn't fill in the space outside the kitchen and what are the structures shown on the outside of the south walls??

If you want help we need to see even a rough floorplan to see what we have to work with, please excuse me, but the laundry WC looks like a shag on a rock and doesn't make any sense, could it be moved down near the kitchen and that plumbing.

Sorry, where is the hall, where is the back door.

Sorry are you saying you are not doing the extension but living in the red line so as per the hatched area in my photo?

Hi Sonja, we're all sounding a bit harsh, but for us to try and help you make the best and cost effective choices we need more information. Your current extension is confusing and hard to understand, you mention a space for stairs that most likely won't happen due to cost. It appears that you may have had professional plans drawn for a planned extension and now you are trying to reduce the cost by now pulling back the size to the red line. If you can post a whole floor plan with or without the new extension that would give us more to work with and try to save you additional costs, we would really like to help you but arranging furniture isn't enough, Hopefully you have or can get a floorplan from your local council to post, cheers

should add that the kitchen appears to be part of the original house and everything else is the proposed addition, so the external wall of the original house could be compromised this would be the possible engineering costs

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your help. Sorry but I don't sit in front on my computer often, so my replies are when possible.

Here is the current floorplan with the laundry inside the living/dining area. You can see the hall from the bedrooms and the back doors are the French doors leading outside. The kitchen is existing and as much as I'd love to move it, the $'s are too high. The plumbing is nearby for the laundry already, just a shift of a few metres really. The area outside the kitchen was under-pinned before we bought the house and is sloped concrete (which I hate) but again, costly to build over and any extension here could 'land-lock' the kitchen and potentially restrict access up our driveway. The original house is double brick, 1920's, but this singular room (living/dining/laundry) is a fibro tack on with low roof, few windows and on a slab. Its ghastly.

We have had three sets of plans drawn up but once we get to the costing stage, they always blow out by about double, due to the soil type, lack of access etc etc.

We want to shift the laundry out of this space, hence the shag on the rock on the outside, so as to allow more room for living/dining in this area.

We had hoped to extend the living/dining area but again, cost. So I'm hoping to shift the laundry out with a small extension (that doesn't need to be on the same slab) and try and make the current space work.

I like the House of Dreams design, but would question the use of a thoroughfare for dining... bad feng shui???

Sorry, we have been grappling with resolving this room for 8 years, 2 architects and 1 draftsman. I appreciate I'm dreaming of a miracle here, but its either find a solution or move as our boys are growing up and we just don't fit here anymore!!!

Thanks again,

Sonja

Ah, here's the plan! And no, we're not removing the kitchen window :)

Hi Sonja, can you post a whole floorplan that's just more of the same, the whole floor plan may bring up new suggestions

Without measurements you could just try a laundry cupboard and avoid the cost of adding a room to house for the laundry. Family room furniture can be made up of a Banquette setting for dining along with a sofa and arm chair

Thanks Siriuskey. The rest of the house is just bedrooms, bathroom and cannot/wont be changed with no scope for addition elsewhere due to other structures/restrictions.

We can extend out where our proposed laundry is, or extend the living area into the backyard (but this would require ripping up the entire living room floor to create a single slab) or up (but this would require new engineering in the wall frames and possibly the slab anyway).

There isn't enough depth for a laundry cupboard where you have proposed (sorry, no measurements) and with two growing boys, I often have several buckets soaking, so I don't know that a cupboard laundry is practical for us.

I will ask for the last time if you are prepared to post a floorplan for us to try and help you?

Hi Sonja. The bad Fenn shun is having a straight flow from front door to back door apparently money will flow through. It needs to be interrupted, so a table should improve this. Really it’s up to you. Would you consider moving the French doors further from the kitchen end, is that possible, to create a dining zone? I’ll try and sketch this up.

Hi Kate, thanks for that, I didn't think about the dining table being a break in the flow of chi, that's perfect. And yes, I have been thinking about shifting the French doors, for the same reason, then there would be a dining and living zone. Do you think there will be enough space? I guess it depends on the furniture...? Thank you!!! I'm inspired again :)

Placing a Jade Plant at both doors catches and stops the good/money from escaping

For you Siriuskey :)

We are hoping to add an ensuite to bed 1. This would be a shag on a rock like the laundry proposal, but hey, what can you do!

thank you so much sonja that will be a great help but do you have it with measurements so we can work to scale.

the Jade plant thought came from our beautiful elderly aunt who we lost at 94yrs

I’ve replaced the French doors with wider sliding door opening as this saves a lot of space and moved the opening closer to centre of room. Sliding door is much easier with kids.

what are the exterior boxes on the living and kitchen, and please confirm, does the red define the current rear living space with laundry and this is not built of brick?and is on the same level as the rest of the house

I would put some storage behind couch on walkway to hall for general bits and pieces.

I like this Kate, thank you so much, I really appreciate your time and thought.

And where is the driveway

Siriuskey - I love that old wisdom :)

The plans don't have measurements but I can tell you the rooms are 3.6 x 3.6m )main bed 4.2 x 3,6) with the lounge also including the hall. The area in contention is 5555 x 6020 mm. Its an interwar bungalow.

Driveway along the veranda side near the study. Boundary fence 3m from house on the north side (two bedrooms, ensuite, laundry). At the end of a drive is a carport which is quite clise to the house (don't know metres, sorry),

From your floorplan I suggest the following, move the kitchen into the family along the back wall then turn the old kitchen into a Laundry Mudroom, and add an opening between the living and family. The living room is large and could take the dining.

My drawing is incomplete, I just wanted to see if you liked this idea. cheers

I missed all the conversations between asking for dimensions, the ensuite for the bedroom I will take a look. With the drive on the old kitchen south side this could work for the mudroom/laundry can you access the kitchen from outside.

using only the original living area (assumed to be about 5550 x 5000) and the proposed laundry extension (with or without a step down?) something like this should work but note careful location of the internal laundry door (to allow narrow bookshelves in the dining room and narrow storage cabinet next to the toilet to provide broom and privacy screen) the hinged external laundry door would be cheaper (makes adding cabinets easier and is more private for the toilet) than the sliding glass door and the offsett laundry window allows wall space for tall storage and underbench or stacked wm and dryer with deep wide bench for drop in sink and space under for baskets and soaking buckets..the kitchen includes extra counters for a breakfast or study nook and there's two possible locations for a very small heater/fire but choice of narrow furniture would help improve circulation space

You missed the Lounge/Living dimensions

Hi Siriuskey, i do like this but am concerned about it fitting? The kitchen benches would be 600mm, space to island 900mm, island 900-1000mm. Then a 6-seater table needs 4m in length right? So we would still need to extend into the garden, right? Or am I missing something?

Hi Louise, this is basically what we had planned, thank you. I am still concerned about being able to live around the furniture. The area is 5555mm and the living chairs take up 2700mm, table requires 2000mm, leaving 427.5mm either side of the table to walk past. I'm a petite woman but that's pretty tight, and more so for my husband.

btw the room is 5555 x 6000mm

Siriuskey the loungeroom is 3.6 x 3.6 + hallway. We have an ensuite plan that works for us, thank you. it really is just this one room that is te issue. The boxes on the outside are old chimneys. The red defines the current area and as mentioned this one room is fibro. Also outside access from the old kitchen isn't ideal due to what is outside....

I have added more dimensions for you, I'am trying to work within your current floor plan to avoid an extension

Thankyou. Don't you feel that the living area and dining area are cramped? I feel the kitchen dominates this pace and would sooner not have a seperate dining table and just use the island????

i think we'd be better leaving the kitchen as is. Put the laundry somewhere/somehow and arrange the living/dining in a space that works for three large and one small person, and probably an extra two once my boys start dating!

have you considered an extension table, or when the extra seating isn't used just push your table to the wall like a lot of people do. As mentioned you could always have a suitably sized table in the living room passage way for larger groups. But then if you have the money just extend the whole room for a larger family room.

Thanks everyone. We have had some great ideas and concepts raised which we haven't considered in eight years, so this has been extremely valuable. I appreciate all of your time and effort. Many thanks.

now it makes more sense.

House of Dawes design works well. You can make it a smaller living with just 2 x 2 seater now and free up the space for dining.

U might not even need to extend out.

Hi there,

As I see it the problem is common in that there are too many doors in the nearly square space so all the room should be taken with traffic lights! Can the laundry be over with the kitchen? Can the proposed living room have three walls uninterrupted by doors on the north or east (garden) sides? This will give u place to put sitting furniture. Then make kitchen & l'dry on south side as skinny as possible maximising the width of the room for dining table.

The other problem that is silly is the garage at the back of the site (It was for keeping the horses away from the house). It is wasting all the drive space. If cars can park at the front of the site it frees a heap of extra space on the south that can be used far better. Kitchen and laundry over by the south boundary, clear space for dining that could open to the existing lounge, area on the north for bedroom creep adding ensuite next to existing bathroom, and living area to the north and east......This helps maximise north light and living too.

Hope that makes sense for you!

Happy planning,

Margot