unable to read dimensions can you share a close up copy of the original plans without any additions, could you label all the separate rooms and explain how all the existing spaces are used, what is the distance from the house to all boundaries and have you considered moving the kitchen and where is north on the plan?

Hi, thank you for your response I’ve attached the original plans and then the updated floor plan from the property listing as it’s had some minor renovations since it was first built. Currently open to anything however I know moving the kitchen will be an extra cost so it would really need to make a world of difference! Also with the build, we’d like to minimise building on top of the existing house where possible

Also, property is West Facing, and for a double storey will need a 2m set back from the boundary

Is there a specious reason you want to go two stories tucked in the L and blocking your light? Extending out the back off the living room looks to make more sense.

How many people live here?

to add any extension (to replace the existing open structure) in the location you have suggested would mean rebuilding the roof of the existing house and wasting a large amount of space upstairs and down on a stairwell and connection between new and old parts of the home ... we need to understand the planned purpose for all the rooms to help make suitable suggestions...it would be easier and cheaper to add a new master suite at the rear of the home and/or re arrange some of the existing living areas without changing any of the existing outdoor entertaining areas apart from minor changes to allow for the internal access from the garage and that could easily be achieved with a simple door into the formal lounge

I agree with oklouise - this look like an expensive way to approach a design. I hope you are confident that you won't be overcapitalizing in your area? Apart from budget issues there are problems with scale, integration with the existing structure and roofline, potential overlooking and overshadowing. It may be better to sit back and think about what accommodation is really important for you, rather then trying to design it, then engaging a design professional when you have an idea of how much you could realistically spend on your home. When you are spending big dollars on your home, spend it wisely, make sure it works for the whole house, and something that reads as a tacked-on addition can sometimes devalue a house.

Best of luck with your considerations.

Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls and Dr Retro Virtual Visits

The first thing that I noticed was the blocking of light for the kitchen and living room .

Without knowing what the front of the house looks like , I can sort of guess at most of the construction , so I'd make a couple of different options that may work .

You seem to have enough living areas , you arguably need another bedroom ( or it would be nice to have ) . You could add it on the back of the house , but you already have the living room there with windows , so it would be difficult to just get the glue gun out and glue a new bedroom there haha .

So you could rejig 'everything' , add a new living at the rear , turn part or most of the existing living into a new Master , possibly rejig other bedrooms and bath and laundry . You'll end up with a longer , flatter single story , less light problems , less structural problems , probably easiest to match styles and materials .

But the other option , particularly if you want a Master upstairs , that I would look into would be to do it above the garage . Maybe you would fall foul of the setback rules ( as it looks like the garage wall is on the boundary ) but you'd have less natural light problems and almost certainly less construction and strengthening issues compared to 'your' idea .

If considering above the garage , and you have to move it 'inwards' , then partially above the existing lounge may also work , with the stairs maybe coming down the wall that seperates the lounge and garage . Of course , that makes the lounge a bit smaller , and doesn't get you a door direct into the garage , but everything is going to be a compromise .

My suggestions may not be practical , but on the face of it they would be better and cheaper and easier and have more chance of looking balanced compared to your proposal , which works but seems clumsy .

After seeing the Realestate Photos and the make over, I would make the following suggestions, very rough as I couldn't clearly read the dimensions.

I) Divide the front room and entrance, this room could become a Media/4th Bedroom/ Parents retreat

2) Move the kitchen onto the long wall facing the Alfresco (working with the doorway into bedrooms)

3) The beautiful bay windowed room facing the rear garden could be divided into two rooms, ie: the left is part of the dinging Kitchen family . The right to become a media room with full height pocket doors when watching films, and just left open at other times

4) The Alfresco needs updating to match the rest of the updated interior, ie; painted the same light colours, filling in the ceiling between the beams to make it a raked ceiling. You could add walls and large stacker doors so the room can be used during the whole year

5) The window of the new room facing into the alfresco could be removed and that wall becomes your outdoor kitchen.

Just something for you to consider and happy to draw with dimensions if they are readable

I see a tiny dark kitchen and a 4 bedroom house with 3 large living areas. This is out of balance IMO. Maybe a put stairs in kitchen, new kitchen in alfresco, extension above existing house with master and tv room.

The large windows in each of the rooms allows for plenty of light, including the bedrooms, the front room only needs the bay window so the other window opening to alfresco isn't needed. The current kitchen has light coming through the clear panels used in the alfresco roof, if the this roof was filled I would add a Velux skylight above the new kitchen which is all the extra light needed. The beautiful open plan family extension is already filled with light from the extra large windows. How many people will be living in your house and ages

Bit hard to have a productive thread when the OP doesn’t comment.

Hi All

Thank you for the comments and input, apologies for not responding soooner. In the meantime I was able to get in contact with a freelance architect on Fiverr who for a couple hundred bux prepared this for me. In essence it’s what I think will work, but know knowing the my neighbour to my south’s north facing windows are 6m from our boundary I think I have scope to go double storey a lot closer the the fence line. As such I will likely get these revised to have two kids bedrooms and then merge the existing main bedroom and bedroom one to be one big master.

Having said all that, this will leave me with an extra bedroom (arguable if required for next 10 yrs or so) and an additional living room. So we are looking at reworking the existing facility to flow better. This would include making the formal living a more relaxed room with TV and large modular sofa, renovation the ensuite to some how fit a double vanity there, and then closing the alfresco off to be a raked ceiling and a more “outdoor kitchen” room. This will then be capped off with quite a few skylights to get more light.

Let me know your thoughts!

A pretty presentation doesn't overcome the basic problem of where does the rainwater go? Maybe it doesn't rain where Triad Design services are, but the runoff from your existing roof is going to flow down to a problematic box gutter (not included in these drawings) that has a couple of bends in it. I hope your insurance policy covers flood damage due to bad design?

How will you get your big bed around the tight corner in your stairwell? Won't the master bedroom's bay window be overlooking your neighbour's private open space?

There isn't any "design" in this, no consideration about the inherent problems, or overcoming the constraints of the existing property. Unfortunately, when it comes to the real world of building, pretty presentations don't make up for an inadequate design.

Before you spend any more money, don't be wedded to only one concept, but try and be open-minded to alternatives that are easier and more cost-effective to construct that a local designer could suggest. A land survey of your property, and the location of the adjacent houses, their windows and their private open spaces can help inform a designers' decisions.

I'm afraid its a fail from me,

Best of luck with your considerations,

Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls and Dr Retro Virtual Visits.

Thanks for the input. The design was to get illustrate my original idea to then have proper discussions/convey my thoughts with builders and designers, so apologies if it was viewed as my final drawings. I wanted to see something visually before heading down the path of a designer (ie more of an high level concept of one scenario), but as mentioned, I think a lot can be done with the existing space to make the most out of the floor plan.

I’m still not convinced that blocking all the northern light is the way to go. A few things I do notice. There is no internal access from the garage. Also there are three large living areas and a big outdoor kitchen so presumably hosting a lot of people but no powder room. The kitchen also seems small in comparison to the rest of the house. And there doesn’t seem to be storage anywhere. Only you know how you live but do consider functionality. Do a walk though of your plan - what do you do when you get home from work, where do you eat breakfast, where do you dump your work/gym bag, do you need a study nook??

The following is an example only of what we could have offered you for free if you had updated dimensions as OKL had requested so that you could take to your local Professional to finalize details ready to present to your council