Are the unneeded walls, load bearing?

Hi .ash, some photos would help. Both internal and from outside the entry. My initial impression is to add a wall between dining and lounge. I would then use meals as a family room, with the dining opened up to the kitchen, rather than a formal dining.
The entry and porch is tight. I’m not sure what I would do from just looking at the floor plan. Why is the porch there? Do you want to keep it, is it external or was it once part of house?

You need to confirm if the walls are supporting the roof structure. Get a builder or structural engineer to have a look in your roof space to work out if they are load bearing. If they are load bearing you will need to engage a structural engineer to work out a way to span the new openings to support the load. Depending on the load, and the width of the span this could be a steel beam, or a timber beam, or beams. This beam will then need to be supported at either end, and you may want to work out a way to disguise it, or make it a feature.

There are a lot of design and detail decisions to be made with connections, supports, concealment, electrical, continuation of floor and ceiling finishes, and it is getting these little details right than can add significant costs which at first sight looks like a cheap and easy job.

Best of luck with your considerations

Dr Retro

of Dr Retro House Calls/Dr Retro Virtual Visits

Not sure I'd be in a hurry to create a home where you open the front door onto a dining table and chairs. I'd say it's very likely that that little partitiion wall is holding up the roofspan and it may be costly to remove. If you look at the floorplan you can see the walls run vertical right through the centre of the house.

I wonder what is not working about this layout? Even with the wall removed you will still have to turn left or right when you enter the house anyway. Just removing storage won't change that. I would be more inclined to remove the ugly storage and replace it with something more attractive that works for you in the space. Like a cloak and shoes closet or similar.

Turn that entry into an attractive mudroom. Then it is no longer just wasted space with annoying blank walls near the door. But a proper entry with a useful purpose. Then the irritation of it will go away. People are always quick to decide they need to remove walls in a home when in fact that may not be the real problem at all.

Do you need 2 eating areas?
Depending on how you want the flow to work you could convert either dining or meals into study nook/seating area and then adjust the walls accordingly. This may change the layout of your kitchen renovation.
I would not get rid of the entry wall as you need a sense of arrival, plus privacy.

Why do you need to zigzag to go into a house? Just punch into this window to go straight in. Its a window so surely not structural. Even if it does, the lintel beam above it has done the job well.
Your current entry can be fitted with new joinery and make it a cloak area. No need to punch any walls.

Hi Ash and Rob, How about moving the kitchen to the bed room off the alfresco. Move that bedroom to the dining room. New wall there. Have an open plan kitchen dining with a big island bench where you kitchen be part of the party and not hidden away. Let the lounge as somewhere else to go and the old kitchen as room for a big dining table going across the house. Dinning party for 16.

Have fun

Liz, that would mean you have one bedroom with people trying to sleep, while they are in the middle of the entertainment area.

Hey Liz,

I tried to modify the plan without messing with the existing (possibly load bearing) walls too much. I made an assumption that the Meals area didn't need to be so long so added an often-underrated Storage room. Flipping the Entry cupboard gives some useful shelving to the Dining Room and the added wall between the Dining and Lounge gives more options for furniture layouts.

I'm quite happy to tweak this for free if you want to see variations.

Cheers

Colin

Congo Systems - 3D Visualisation & Design

I really like a small entry, rather than walking straight into a house (or having others look in when you open the door). I also wonder about two eating areas - tends to result in the more "formal" one being largely unused. For me, the wall that would annoy me is the one between the kitchen and the dining - need not be completely removed, maybe shortened. That would enable the kitchen to be more connected to the dining area without being completely open to it. If you can get hold of Sarah Susanka's book on renovations (she does a series on the "not so big house"), she has some good ideas about small changes that improve liveability.

Hi Ash & Rob,

A little bit more information on how you want to use the space and which direction is North, if you are in the southern hemisphere or South if you are in the northern hemisphere. I.e, is your alfresco area in the morning or afternoon sun or is it shaded by the car port.

As another person asked, do you need two eating areas or is one a family space and where do you have the TV etc. These have a huge impact on whether any change will make an improvement to your home. You do also need to know what is structural and what is not as it will affect the cost of changes proposed or to be avoided. Altering the kitchen will also be limited by the door to the corridor to the bedrooms which cuts the space in half with the meals space.

There will be plenty of willing people to offer suggestions with a bit more information from yourselves.

Christine.