Hi Steven Rawlins, Designing your own house does present some challenges, I suppose it all depends where you wish to invest your money on what kind of results you end up with. I like the way the house relates to the games room, it would remove lot of the noise from the main house. There are a few area where you might consider some revision of your proposal. You have not stated the location of north, really to make comments orientation is a very important factor and it would help in further edits. Also where you are located would also help (if you are comfortable with the idea) as this can ascertain climate conditions and if it is on Google earth it may be possible to ascertain adjoining properties influences and climate conditions. I roughly estimate that your house is about 15 meters wide, with a roof at 25 degrees you would end up with a massive high roof, the trusses would be significant size and the cost of covering such roof would be considerable. Also a roof acts as a sail, and although it helps that the roof is at an angle, it still is a large area for winds to exercise their destructive force. Special consideration would need to be placed on holding down bolts, and it you are covering with concrete tiles it would be a considerable cost. I think you might like to revise this roof design and reduce span, weight and cost. There are three doors between the "inside and the outside" front door, back door and garage it means that in winter you heat all of the Kitchen, lounge, dining and corridor, this is a lot of area to keep heated in winter (and cooled in summer) your costs for heating and cooling would be considerable. If possible I would consider adding some doors to act as airlocks to reduce heating and cooling costs. The garage which is of good size, has a door opening in the living areas (close to the main corridor). In winter when the front of the garage door is closed and you warm up the car the exhaust fumes will find their way into your kitchen/family/ and the rest of the house. These fumes are generally heavier than air and will most likely be ingested by your children and your pets, furthermore this is an accumulative process which I feels is not amenable to good health. In the master suite you have to cross the room to get from the master bathroom to the walk in robe. This would become an area of max travel as it is an activity done at least every day and sometimes "wetness" is included in the mix. It would mean that the carpet wold become warned and most likely soiled, and if you have a hard floor it would become slippery. There is also some wasted area at the entry of the bedroom which you might like to reconsider. The three toilets shown in the proposed plan all have internal opening doors, these are not very functional (illegal in Victoria unless you have panic hinges) if you have to get to someone inside in an emergency you would find access to them very difficult and might damage them as generaly people fall forward in such areas thus blocking the door opening inwards. Changing to external opening doors or sliders might help to solve this issue. The robes in bedrooms 2,3 and 4 seem to be very small, and not very well located. In bedroom s 3 and 4 you might find it helpful to locate the robes in the wall between the two rooms with some rearrangements of the doors might give you more storage space and act as a noise suppressor between the two rooms. You have a very good storage for linen in the laundry, however this can at times be effected by moisture variation especially if the dryer has heavy use. As pointed out from others above the scullery sees to be very large and it might also generate a lot of traffic considering that this is the only sink in the kitchen. Generally we use a sink for washing up, cleaning vegetable, cleaning fish, getting a glass of water and sometimes in an emergency. Really a kitchen sink should be separated from the stove/cooktop by about one working station which means 800 mm to 1000 mm. This is because in an emergency (pot catching fire) we instinctively move the pot to the sink - quickly. Maybe adding a second sink to the main kitchen might be beneficial. To help in getting a better idea on the were space is misused it is sometime good to add the furniture, and this will show your circulation corridors and were you might reduced space. I hope these comments are of some help, generally it takes me three revision for me to get the Sketch plan to a point where the client has some acceptance of the idea, and sometimes a greater number. This part of the design process is the most important part, hopefully helping the rest of the documentation. Wish you the best for the future, I would be happy to further commend on this project towards a hopefully successful resolution. Michael Manias Building Designers - mm407p@gmail.com

Hi again Oklouise, I contacted support and apparently there can be only 10 photos per discussion. I deleted most of my photos, to try and add more, but no joy. Here is the link to a photo of the shower rail in in the shower space. I am not keen on towels hanging near toilets, and when I saw this picture, I thought it was ideal - no tip toeing across the bathroom floor to reach for the towel: http://www.housetohome.co.uk/bathroom/picture/neutral-stone-tiled-shower-room?room_style=modern. Here's another pic showing the clean lines of the frameless glass shower, I think the glass loses some of that simplicity if it has to sit on top of a framed bath (have to scroll along to bathroom pic): http://www.insideout.com.au/home-style/clean-contemporary/home-tour-a-modern-beachside-holiday-home?ret=/home-style/clean-contemporary/take-a-peek-inside-this-elegant-coastal-escape If we didn't go with the full length vanity, but a 1500mm vanity there would be more room for the freestanding bath, a bit like this picture (sorry its only half a picture):https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/61/aa/74/61aa748fc15686d04bba77016d4fd1db.jpg Your suggestion for the IT nook is interesting. I like the idea of having more wall space in the Master Bedroom... The IT nook already has had the velux opening skylight installed in the roof (just needs to be fitted out at the ceiling). The idea of the IT nook, was a personal study for me. It was to replace the original study which did open directly into the kitchen/family room. I found it was a little too open, for when I had confidential documents spread out on my desk... The idea was to make the study 'less' accessible (not to family members, but overly familiar guests, at times..) In saying that, I quite like the look of your one, it has an element of separation with the hall.... I am going to consider changing it. I am liking your 'thinking outside the box', I'm curious, are you an interiors architect?

Hi liisabb, I have drawn up my thoughts from my original post. In your original post, you have said you would preferably like the island in the same orientation as plan posted. With my thoughts the island will change. Looking at kitchen on left hand wall, I suggest a full enclosed appliance cupboard, pantry, storage area. With sliding doors, as per photo. If you must hide your dirty dishes, put them in there and close the doors. I have put the dish washer in the island, with easy access to those dirty dishes. Back wall is a window splash back with sink and cook top. Left hand wall is wall oven more storage and fridge. With door to laundry as per your revised plan. This kitchen gives you plenty of bench space, place to put and use appliances, hide dirty dishes, easy access to dishwasher as per your original brief. The reason for open plan is to be part of your gatherings. In my opinion I would not like to be stuck in a butlers pantry/scullery preparing meals, when my friends are in my kitchen. Thanks.

I thought we evolved from the closed in kitchen to the open plan kitchen so that the cook and dishwasher (usually women) could be part of the family rather than tucked away in solitude and separated from everyone else. It would drive me crazy collecting ingredients from the pantry and fridge, lugging then to the scullery to wash and chop/prepare then back to the kitchen to cook, then all the dirty dishes back to the scullery for clean up. The upside is that I would easy get in my 10,000 daily steps with all that walking so that’s a bonus. But seriously, consider your workflow carefully. Think in terms of zones. Food storage all together (pantry and fridge) then prep and compost disposal, cooking, serving, clean up. If your messy in the kitchen have deep sinks with a cover you can hide the mess in until you’re ready to do the dishes after you’ve eaten or finished cooking. All the best.