Wow, that house is WAY to big. How on earth do you clean it? Why not have outdoor entertaining on the back deck? This would incorporate flying fox to a cubby and play equipment down the back yard. In the summer perhaps a collapsible awning for during the day but at night just candles and the stars to keep you company. If the weather is too cold you could provide a pile of crocheted lap rugs or fur or old blankets to get the cottage or french look. I suppose then your dining furniture would need to be a style to suit - maybe more relaxed or boho. Anyway sounds good fun - oo I forgot to allow for the outdoor fireplace (stone or brick) preferably. I notice you said any ideas would be greatly appreciated so I will press on regardless another day.

Ah yes, the perennial issue/question: how best to distribute/utilise budget over various project scope and in what format .....$150K it's arguably tight for this depending upon how you are intending on going about it - you'd have to be super super disciplined and there's no margin for any blow-outs/or pop-issues... reconfiguring wet areas & kitchen will stack costs up very quickly....even just doing the cosmetic/fit-out upgrades you've mentioned without changing any layout could nudge 100K.....what you need to do is prioritise your goals and then be prepared to start cutting out scope if you have a $150K limit...I'm with oklouise on this one....quite likely there's an alternative option that will arguably utilise your budget/investment better to add both more value and increased/desired living space to the home/set-up......I've seen time and time again people try and rearrange/shuffle layouts around with existing building envelopes and prove false economy with this strategy when considering what it ended up costing them...one way or another the number/cost will end up being what it will be and you'd be surprised what this could end up costing you in this format (think potentially high 200's ........more often than not I can demonstrate that a clean/clever building extension + minimal tweaks to existing will be a far better bang-for-buck option than the completely rip apart and put back together within existing footprint.....but to stack this up properly construction costs need ascertaining over various levels of trade breakdown.......

That was my point Kate -- I probably didn't express it well . Move the table and chairs towards the garage door / stairs , and it cuts down the flow at that end , and looks jammed in . Someone coming in the front door and along the hall will have to go through the kitchen if someone has left a chair not pushed back under the table ; you come through the garage and slide the door ( not great for noise or heat sealing ) and theres a chair 60cm in front of you ; come out of the WC , along the short hallway , and you do a tight 180 degrees to get around the table and chairs to get to the Rumpus . It is cramped , a compromise . In some respects yours is better than the original design -- the point I was making is that this place is designed as a compromise right from the start , whereas by coming up with an alternative design ( a clean sheet of paper ) it should be possible to start with a minimum of compromises . For example , would swapping the kitchen to the left hand end be better ? This may give more flexibility with the open plan dining and rumpus area ? Could something as simple as swapping the rumpus and the dining work better ? Is the bedroom needed , or is it a guest bedroom used once a year ? Given that the garage most likely needs enlarging , do you enlarge upstairs too ? Or will that go over budget or breach local rules ?

Andrew, it’s all experience and learning. But if the real estate agent was selling that home, that is who you sign the offer and acceptance with. Yes the agent definitely works for the seller, so you need to be vigilant at all times. Then the real estate agent puts you in contact with a settlement agent to proceed with the purchase documents and transfer of money and Landgate information. You can also choose a settlement agent if you already know one. You have done the normal sequence of events in Western Australia. You can’t help if you think the real estate was dodgy, because they are the ones who were contracted to sell that home, you could not have avoided interaction with that agent. You could only have asked to deal with another agent from that real estate company. There is nothing wrong with what you have done to purchase YOUR home. Enjoy the home as is, and do your due diligence with every thing in the future when you are working out the renovations.