Hi RePete, another app for drafting is Home Sweet Home which is free. My experience has been that some of the really good architects are happy to share their ideas when they visit as they enjoy the creative process so much. Eg Williams Burton met with us years ago (we are still figuring out what to do!) - and I was very impressed. We didn't use them as they are very fastidious so their builds take a long time and we can't cope with that but they do some amazing work on character homes in particular and although people think of them as only doing very expensive jobs, I am aware that they have also done some cheaper jobs where the project has got their interest. You could try talking to them and a few others from that "tier". I can't remember if we paid for the initial meeting, but if we did it was only a very small amount. I would seek as many views as possible (including here), keep trawling the net and pinterest as well as Houzz, look at lots of magazines etc, go to every open home that is vaguely like your style and ask the real estate agent who designed/built it... (hmmmm this is why we haven't started building yet after 8 years...) As Ok says, probably the only person that can determine what accommodation is required is you, so make that thought process a parallel one to looking at pictures. Good luck.

You are most welcome, I have always said that I haven't been put on this earth to "Hug" toilets, so I'am wondering who is going to clean all of these Bathrooms. Our two kids a boy and a girl had the upstairs "apartment" which they and all their friends loved. I have added a timber stair case for fun, there's plenty of space but you will need to decide what you want to do in the attic and place the stairs to open up into a tall space. I have also turned one of the ensuites into a powder room. Your Jacaranda's only drop once a year!, you used to be able to trim them by 25% each year, you would need to check with your council, we were on the lower North Shore, I think you should consider the patio side of the house and make better use of that, is the front deck something you plan on adding because of aspect, and plant some tall growing hedge ready for the apartments. Our kids Attic desk/study space over looked our pool in the rear garden. With respect to using the formal rooms for bedrooms, you will find that once you have your large family/alfresco and the kids have their upstairs space if you still feel you need it, it would make a great office. You spend most of the time there only using only using the front room in the evening for watching movies etc. I have had another play with my floor plan, I think if your wife sees this you may be in trouble, it's a Master Suite, the free standing bath in the window alcove with white timber shutters for sun and privacy control..... Iam' adding a couple of photos of our old Federation which wasn't protected, when we sold it the new owners removed all of the Fret work & posts replacing them with simple timber posts. The front rooms which we didn't use very much once we opened up the rear rooms into a family area. The room with the Bay window had a Baby grand sitting there, we sold the piano before we took the photo. Cheers

I've been playing around with a pantry location. Originally, I was going to move the pantry into the laundry with some custom shelving and cut the laundry space in half. Now, Im thinking of cutting into the study area and building a wall there, and converting the new space into a long and narrow walk in pantry. Either that or build half a wall and put built in shelving in the study. Building the extra wall will reduce the need to cover in the door way that is currently in place and instead utilising it. Thoughts? p.s. this isnt too scale.

Hi Simona, My bathroom has the same L shape and window layout as yours (although my space is smaller and has 2 doors - the bathroom has direct access to an adjacent bedroom as well as to the main passage of the house). After much trial and error when planning the bathroom remodel about 4 years ago, I decided for a shower over bath (I wanted the largest bath possible) and ran the bath underneath the window. I am attaching a very rough (not to scale) plan of my bathroom. I am really happy with the layout of the bathroom - it is certainly a million times better than the old layout which had a smaller bath running along the shortest back wall and the toilet closer to the door. I think that you might be able to have a seperate shower facing the door (where I have a tall open storage unit) if you wanted. I also found that product choice was equally as important as layout. I opted for a white colour scheme with lots of chrome, glass and mirrors to bounce the light around the bathroom and to make it feel bigger and to playdown the odd L shape of the room. I also tried to use the walls as much as possible to maximise circulation space. I also used the same largish white rectangular tiles (laid lengthwise in brick pattern) on both the floor and walls - this really helps to visually “stretch” and unify the space and make the bathroom feel bigger than it is. As the main bathroom door opens to the centre of my house, I also wanted the bathroom to look attractive (and not “bulky”) from that doorway. Finally, I also hung an outside mirror on the fence facing the bathroom window and put in a wall garden on an adjacent outside wall. I hope that this helps a little with your thinking. Good luck!