More pictures including some of the home taken before it was reclad in the 80's

With such a small budget, I’d look at painting interior walls (I’d do them straight white), including in the bathroom and laundry. Get rid of the little curtain on kitchen window. Definitely look at an island bench for the kitchen. In the kitchen, I’d paint the walls white and then see how it looks with cabinetry doors. You could then either paint the doors or leave them. Get rid of the carpet, see what is underneath - it might be boards that could be polished.

I’d look at creating a deck and covered area and landscaping.

What a wonderful home. Congratulations.
You have said there is wasted space in the middle of the kitchen room. But, there isn't. This is where the dining table goes. Not pushed to the side as in the photo. This is the original "open plan" with the kitchen and dining together. The kitchen table then doubles as a bench for preparing food.
The area in front of the fireplace is required as a walkway. So again not wasted space.
What room will you use for a dining room if you install an island or increase the kitchen room to be all kitchen?

Paint is a wonderful way to update the interior. If the kitchen cabinets and doors are good, then repaint or leave as is. Add a freestanding buffet and hutch to increase your storage capacity, if required.
Check that there are no leaks in the bathroom, and just paint. VJ boards will look good. But check the walls for dampness first. You do not want to cover up anything that needs fixing. Love the yellow basin and bath.

Congratulations. You’ve done well. It’s very tempting to rush ahead BUT you have an old house and a small budget. Live in it a while. Get a feel for the house. Work out what works for you and what doesn’t. Only then plan and make changes.
PS apart from the carpet. Pull that dust monster up and live with what’s underneath until you’ve planned your changes.

Inspiration

Good advice from bigreader. Don't try and change any of the layout until you have lived in the home.
But here is a thought for later down the track for your kitchen/diner.
Move existing cupboards, or build new ones, along the kitchen wall with the window. Incorporate your stove, fridge and pantry along that wall. Move the entrance between lounge and kitchen to other side of the fireplace. This then gives you a full wall of storage which is not compromised by walkways. There is so much potential for your home, but this would be an inexpensive start.

yeah!!! congratulations and love that you want to keep furniture and original charm but as usual suggest that you live in the house before making too many changes inside and you could refresh the landscaping while you plan but my first thought would be to consider polished floorboards (hopefully theres solid pine flooring under all the old floor coverings) and ýou could carefully relocate the kitchen cabinets.. pulled away from the walls and add 60cm deep counters...or salvage the old doors to add to new cabinets and counters with modern sink and DW...and do you need a door between kitchen and living? i would relocate the kitchen cabinets and swop the door to the other side of the fire or lose the extra doorway and use free standing vinatge dresser for extra storage ..and rearrange the laundry and bathroom to include a generous shower while reusing original bath etc....bedrooms, lounge and sunroom will depend on how you plan to use the rooms but you might like to consider sliding glass doors and a deck for the sunroom and close the side entry door to allow more options??

Oklouise the kitchen is what I was thinking. Your professional plan is a lot better than my hand drawn sketch.

I would keep the cupboards, if serviceable just paint, new knobs and add. Seek second hand from someone renovating and repurpose and paint. You may be able to pick up a complimentary style, and some that could be converted to a mobile island and. Spend your money of things that are structural eg floors and the fire place. As the years roll on you will understand how you are working with the layout and what needs doing. Love the 50s furniture.

Thank you all above for your wonderful advice, inspiration, ideas and comments! Wow I appreciate the time spent here this morning!
Laura yes I would love to add a deck in the future as entertaining family and friends is a big part of our lifestyle. I agree about the white paint interior ,getting rid of the curtains and carpet. Yes there are pine floor boards beneath.
dreamer and oklouise the kitchen layout is great.Thank you both! I guess the only reservation I have is. ...would it be too close to the fireplace? This will be the primary heat source in the winter.??

MD design, thanks for your encouragement. What do you think of this colour scheme for exterior?...you mentioned 1950's colours??? Any in particular?

oklouise, I am thinking of taking the wall out of the 3rd bedroom and updating the rear WC to a tiny ensuite. The main bedroom now only fits a double bed and being 6ft 6" I will need at least a queen

HU-54 thanks for your advice.
The kitchen cupboards are very much in need of repair or replacement....I guess this part of my plan is my biggest dilemma. I really like the layout ideas suggested above , I guess my biggest decision will be , how much to do to make it fully functional with what I have to spend....will definitely be on the lookout for units to repurpose. Thanks

good idea about second bathroom and bigger bedroom but assume that the sunroom and pwdr room are a later addition with skillion roof so will need extra roof support and new ceiling for new master suite and suggest that you arrange furniture to suit in sunroom before committing to location of study nook (or Europen laundry?) there are so many options and no real hurry but where is north, what is the width and length of the block, please describe your climate and how many will live in the house?

North is the lounge room , kitchen side. The back sunroom faces West.
Huge corner block. 1400sqm
Central Western NSW. Cold winters, hot dry summers.
Just 2 people for now:)!

Extremely well done .

Just a hunch , but are you in NZ ? Looks like NZ fixtures , and even the green grass haha !

I love it as it is , it is delightfully tacky ! Sure , in time I'd do the kitchen cupboard doors in a brighter 50's colour , and get rid of the lino -- I'd actually do the kitchen dining in black and white tiles , BUT I'd do the smaller 150 x 150 ones ( they might even be 125 x 125 ? ) -- here in NZ you can actually buy them as '4 piece' ( 2 x black , 2 x white each tile ) self adhesive tiles , although I always do a coating of that smelly goldy yellow glue on the floor . Leave the walls as they are , the ceiling roses and the 'period' lights -- they make the character .

I WOULDN"T go back to timber in the kitchen , and I definitely wouldn't do fake boards there either .

The carpet is pretty shocking , but I'd be playful , if its in reasonable condition , I'd add a big cowhide rug in the lounge , maybe even have sheepskin rugs in the bedrooms !

I wouldn't change any interior walls , in fact about the only real money I'd spend would be to paint the roof , and even then I'd go oxide red . Even though the green was also of that era , and charcoal is trendy and more 'logical' ( but imagine if that trend goes the same way as mission brown -- yuck ! ) , I think oxide red is the only choice to go with the windows !

So for the next 3 or 4 years , about all I'd do is the roof and gutters , the flooring , and maybe even have some fun with more period furniture -- I'd try and get one of those TV's that had the 4-fold front doors on the cabinets ( Pye Vidmatic and Phillips K9 here in NZ ) and put a flatscreen in it , maybe a neon clock , etc .

Without being too blunt , if after that 4 year time you want to modernise , sell with the furniture included , and buy a 'modern' house in 7 shades of grey outside , and 7 shades of off-white inside .

I like your humour pottsy99! :)
...no I am in NSW...weve had a bit of rain recently!
Underneath the brown kitchen lino is another layer of lino that is black and mint green check!
No I dont want to modernise it , I love its mid century farm house charm and am thankful that so much is still original. It just needs to be freshened up and made comfy again. The bathrooms are really in need of a birthday and the kitchen needs to be a tad more functional.
Thank you for your advice!

Congratulations, what a treasure, great advice above, Just thought I would had to this keeping the character but opening it up to accommodate a young family. If you do need to eventually replace cabinets, I use Bunnings Kaboodle and have just been adding to my laundry as cost effective as I can, They do ready to paint doors etc in 3 profiles, 3 x 300 doors $75 as against approx $75 per door depending on profile and finish. big saving and you could have fun painting the doors in fun period colours, agree with painting walls ceilings white and removing old floor coverings for instant update, Open the fireplace up to the living area so that you have the chimney wall to hang things or add shelves. I'am not a fan of working on tables in kitchen unless they are suitable to adding lockable industrial style wheels to raise up to benchtop height,and you being 6'6 it definately won't work. Add a deck off the kitchen with a severy window plus a pergola along the Western side including the dining sunroom. With all the clever talent you have available it will be very cost effective. The sunroom/dining sloping ceiling will also look great

keep to the original vibe, maybe restore the black and green lino... One thing given the age of the house is to really investigate if and where there is asbestos. Often local council has testing kits that allow you a couple of sample testing, but it's not always costly to do more. It's possible there could be asbestos under the lino, in the bathroom and laundry areas, in and around flues, in the internal cement-sheet cladding. in the cladding under the roof eaves. It has a certain look that becomes familiar and there are a lot of asbestos awareness websites that can help. It's not necessarily dangerous but its something you have to factor in. It was a surprise after buying our how just how much was asbestos and our building report had not flagged any of it. if any of it is worn or damaged it needs replacing sooner rather than later, and means you can't remove any of it yourself. It's not as pricey as you think to have it professionally removed though. asbestos continued to be used in cement sheeting products right up until the 1990s. In our town they used in in glue mediums under lino so be aware of that before you consider ripping it up. But other places lino is just laid over timber.

But it's so awesome to buy your own home!!! keeping it old style and using vintage furniture and op shop finds to decorate will save money for any reno you do.

Congratulations, some great scores on the furniture. Our first home was similar vintage to yours, it had the same kitchen cabinetry, someone had painted ours green and gold, so patriotic! lol We also had the identical pedestal basin. $20k is a tight budget, however if you're handy and you have trades in the family you can stretch that a long way. Hopefully the original cladding is underneath the aluminium cladding. I think all the plans sound really good. A lot of what you are proposing we did with ours, resheeted with vj panel sheets, we did pull up carpet and sand and polish all the floors, however laid cork in our kitchen, and tiled the bathroom, laundry, and toilet. We ended up going a bit more old style in the bathroom using an old sideboard to create a double vanity, and there was a claw foot bath already that we reused and then just had a separate shower, but we moved our bathroom from it's original location in the middle of the house and made that a small bedroom instead. We've mainly used Ikea cabinetry over Bunnings, haven't done a kitchen yet though, we've still used cabinet makers for that so far, but we've used it for laundries and built in wardrobes and been super happy with it. It's a great journey and I think can become addictive, we're onto our third purchase and will renovate to our taste! Keen to see the changes as you make them. :)

siriuskey did you spray paint your kaboodle doors or roll/brush them? Laminate paint or???
Thanks v much for the floor plan idea. Love it!...will def make the living flow more and feel larger.

fianou luca thanks for advice re asbestos.

Leigh James, you wouldn't happen to have a pic of your remodelled bathroom with yellow basin would you?

We just collected or 3 laundry doors from Bunnings and found that they had a white laminate finish on the inside which I hadn't expected so have just made contact to see if they come without that. Imagine opening a coloured door and finding white on the inside.

Hoping I can get them without, but I guess that can be worked around. Spray painting will always give you a better finish. I have known some that have used car painting companies to paint their cabinets, not sure which paint was used but not car paint..

I have also used an online company Elraco in Sth Australia (I'am in NSW) for all cabinet fitouts, ie: draws they have everything, great people to deal with

Hey, we didn't reuse the pedestal, we used an old sideboard and converted it into a vanity with a green coloured granite top and two countertop basins, splashbacks are painted pressed metal, tile is like an olive green and you can't really see in the photo but we put in a double shower. The only thing that we kept was the clawfoot you can see, it's the old style cast iron and so fricking heavy, but worth it. It was like a cream on the inside and that heritage maroon on the outside, so we had it repainted white inside and black outside - we actually got that done at a panel beaters, was way cheaper lol.

Plan, plan, plan and look out for second hand cabinets etc. take your time. If it’s just the two of you, pull out cupboards from a bedroom to fit king bed and use another as a dressing room till u sort full layouts.
But first get asbestos expert in to assess and quote. I loved the fact that they did all the demo work in our bathroom.

Make regular trips to tip shops and salvage yards you can find all sorts of things like original doors, windows, and be prepared to play the long game and wait till you find the right things. I really love your pedestal vanity, please keep it!

@siriuskey not related to this thread per se but I believe all cabinetry with the exception of timber comes with white laminate inside (unless you order custom and pay for the inside to be painted). We just had black cabinetry installed in our lounge and the back of the doors are white. I was shocked so contacted everyone I know with new kitchens in dark colours and they ALL had polyurethane cabinets with white laminate on the back of dark/coloured doors.

Likewise, I have only ever had white cabinets so didn't have the problem, I wonder if Ikea does the same thing, I intend contacting Kaboodle because I don't think it's right having to paint the inside panel to match the exterior colour. The lady at Bunnings told me to use Zinsser bin sealer before painting it, What a shame as your new cabinets look fabulous.

Thank you, we are really happy with them. Although the matte finish is prone to scratching more than we expected. Thankfully learnt that very early on when an issue could be fixed during install. Good luck with Kaboodle!

Who did you use for your cabinets

They are custom - we used Level Interiors a small Sydney/Central Coast business https://www.levelinteriors.com.au/

Aside from the white interiors (a result of my lack of knowledge rather than their short comings) they did a wonderful job.

I was surprised as it's not a good look I would have to paint it but that's me

Thanks Natalia , and I certainly appreciate your completely unbiased recommendation . We must catch up sometime for a spam sandwich .

Certainly wouldn't want to deal with this person, I have flagged several of these, I wonder what has happened to theHouzz Moderator to protect us from these not infrequent infringements, Perhaps if it was Trump it would be blocked immediately haha

Trumpty Dumpty had a great fall -- and he's unemployed , and needs cash to defend numerous court cases . Natalia is probably his daughter , her mother was an illegal immigrant working for cash at one of Trumps businesses . Imports cheap stuff from China , puts a Made in USA ( USA is a suburb in Shanghai ) sticker on it . Hahaha .

Trumps government was a least doing a great job, unlike not there Biden and his lefty communist party haha