I would do plan a with the entry to the wir moved to bed side. You want to be able to put on a door on a bedroom. I stayed in an apartment with my family that had an upstairs master with stairs and no door. You never know if someone has crept up the stairs and is watching,
The 5x1.5 would be a useful study area or reading area it looks like there is a window on the stair wall for natural light to that space.

Thanks MB, we are looking to keep our costs down so thanks for pointing this out.

Would option C result in a bulkhead in the hallway below to accommodate the shower plumbing? Or is there a way to avoid this?

I like this design too for the more useable study size, but the staircase wall in common with the shower would have to be a full wall and may impact on the aesthetics of the openness of the staircase in option A and B.

Thanks Kate, totally agree in option A to move the WIR entry to bed side and figure out brining in a door in the 1.5 metre wide bedroom entry for bedroom privacy. Yes their stairway should be filled with light from the stair window on north, plus we can add windows on all other aspects of the rooms.

if you're going up, make the most of the opportunity - there's another option, but it involves pushing out a bit further on the line of the stair extension - this would enable a configuration with (a) proper separation of bedroom from passage / stair (b) better appointed robe with the bed backing onto it / accessed from either side (c) flexible & separate study/retreat/library space (d) more private and direct access to ensuite from bedroom (e) mitigating potential bulkhead in lower passage

It's always about weighing up the options - if you're going up it's going to cost similar ballpark no matter how you configure it and the smaller the footprint the higher the relative cost/m2

Think about the dynamics of your living situation - do you have a growing family and need more space / separation in the years to come? If so then advise you maximise the space and options and try to avoid pokey spaces and ensure that the flow in and out of spaces is streamlined

Best of luck PD :)

www.pauldistefanodesign.com

Thanks PD,

Some great advice and a great option to consider.

Kids are 10 and 12 and we will all probably need more separate space as they get older.

We'd initially budgeted for a bedroom, robe and ensuite only upstairs (and for some other tweaks on existing house). We'd have to consider the budget for the larger space.

Thank you for the advice.

this is not a job that you can work on a set cost/m2 to try and get it to budget. Trust me, it will wash out similar ballpark any of these configurations. if you want to save money look at the finishes. Better to get the space right. You don't want to be kicking yourself after spending probably more than what you want on a smaller option and realise once you're done when you kids are proper teenagers older that actually that separation and extra space would have been a much better way to go. The option I've shown is an extra 5m2 - relatively minimal increase in area, but significant improvement in practicality

Good luck with your decision making and make sure whoever is helping you is providing you with accurate, realistic and honest costings in conjunction with the options so you can make informed decisions

Cheers PD

Thanks very much Paul, I really appreciate your ideas and feedback. We like your plan and agree this plan gives us a more practical user space.

We're really focused on making it all "feel" right and would also consider how this canterlever out over the existing master bedroom would feel/look from the verandah and living area looking out.

We're also extending the study out towards the side boundary by just over a metre and removing the existing linen to increased bedroom 2.

Bedroom 3 will be the kids chill out room/spare room and the other child will move to the original master.

New Linen will be under the new stairs and we're also building some storage into the study and extending the garage to the front boundary by 1 metre.

We dont' feel like we need another living area (or massive house to clean) as we already have two separate living areas and bedroom 3 will be for the kids to hang out in.

And this is why I originally posted (and which you've clearly identified) - because I'm stuck between having a limited use gallery landing to provide volume and drama in the stairs, and as you say I don't want to kick myself for not making the gallery area a more practical space. I know other families with parents retreats that never use them, so I'm conscious of this too.

I think I was probably hoping to achieve the same footprint with the nook a little wider.

I thought last night I could reduce the ensure/robe depth to 2.2 to 2.5 (and increase the nook to 1.7 to 2.0) by moving the toilet to the end of the shower.

Maybe this would work as a compromise.

siriuskey

Adding a new exterior stair case to access a New Master is expensive I would suggest going up through the old passage which is wasted space

Differentways I like it, but would add a door to enclose bedroom from landing
.

siriuskey

I agree Kate this was just a concept idea to move the staircase details of ensuite etc can be changed to suit as well. My suggestion would be to add a doorway and shutters to the bedroom wall beside the stairs so that they can be open or closed

Thanks for your plans and suggestions differentways and Kate,

This was actually one of our initial ideas but decided on stairs on outside to retain original master room size and light.

Great idea re the shutters.

Thanks so much for your input.

even with the internal stairs the new master is much bigger and will have better light and view? have you also considered the width the external stairs takeaway from the deck area and the view from the KDL out to the deck? (siriuskey)

Hi differentways,

Good points. Yes the new master will be much bigger and brighter. I think the external stair width is 900. It's not an ideal position out on the deck. View will be slightly impacted but our view is probably realistically drawn to the pool and greenery beyond which is towards the north edge of deck. I was thinking of trying to add some interest into the external stairs with glass louvres on external stair wall above steps up to ceiling height of deck and hoping to soften view from KDL by curving off the square corner of the stair walls (just outside the sliding door of current master bedroom). Thanks again for your input.