Hi siriuskey I apologise for not replying to you earlier but I have been reviewing your last plan over and over wanting to use the layout of the kitchen but concerned about the other changes. My main concern was the wiw/laundry area and the loss of a room, either the study or bed 4. But the idea gave me food for thought and I have been trying to work out a solution. Where there’s a will there’s a way! I can see exactly what you mean about having the Butler’s Pantry in front of the window which was a major concern of mine even though I thought the servery was a really good idea. Thank-you for taking the time to point this out …and in such depth which would’ve been very time consuming for you! I must admit it was a surprise to see the kitchen placement in your last layout. I would never ever have thought about doing that but loved the idea! I have tweaked the plans a little by simplifying some of the changes and adding a few of my original ideas and I think I have come up with a solution. I will be very interested on your thoughts! I placed the existing furniture (to size) into each of the rooms to see how it works with the new layout. Oh… and I love your suggestion about being able use the dining/family rooms as either! I have also left the wall between the family room and lounge to see how it works before removing it completely but opened it up with double doors allowing entry from the front door to the main area...and a view of the fireplace is always welcoming. It’s a great idea for a toilet and shower to service the pool area under the deck downstairs…I think that would work as there’s no limestone there (and no we’re not in SA) but I’II look at that once I get organised with these plans! Thank-you again for your time and help…your feedback on my ‘tweaking’ would be greatly appreciated!

If you "change" anything that involves a building approval then the floor area on the plans relevant will count towards the overall amount. If it amounts to beyond 50% of the existing conditions then the whole building becomes applicable to energy calculations and so you enter into up spec'ing existing areas. And yes it can often be a good thing to be doing anyway, but of course it costs money. If the total area being changes is below 50% then only the areas of new work are applicable. I'm honestly not a specialist in this area, but I have to deal with the issues naturally in the course of the design and resolution of project solutions I provide, and hence I use an energy consultant regularly and we have a way/system of working through together how best to achieve the requirements for permit. As far as I understand it's a case by case/project specific exercise and also there's various ways of negotiating/achieving the necessary performance requirements - e.g. you can play around with different levels of insulation together with a particular glazing/window spec, and depending upon circumstances you can save money one way or another. Sometimes I'll squeeze windows overall down to get it under a certain amount to not trigger requirement for expensive glass...also timber windows rate better, but if you are in a bushfire area you'll be caught out or require very expensive timber windows...it's a real juggling act in particular contexts...which is why you really need to be working collaboratively with an energy consultant/specialist to work out the best solution in this regard, as well as the other aspects of design, structure and bushfire etc. It's a true team effort ;) If you're really up for some technical reading you there is some further energy info here NCC Volume One Energy Efficiency Provisions 2016 - Australian ... but it may get confusing........Coming back to the core of it, my advice: 1. define your budget 2. list and prioritise your requirements 3. seek some preliminary advice/assistance from a seasoned designer doing this type of work to test whether or not the general concept of what your endeavouring to achieve is viable, and this depends upon the relevant context/existing conditions etc (and bushfire rating is yet another layer on top of all this), and then refine the concept from there. If you are just doing a bathroom or kitchen isolated then you can arguably do it yourself, but if you're re-jigging the whole house like it appears you are heading towards, and on a very tight budget then I'd highly recommend (to save yourself headaches and frustration going around in never-ending circles) to invest some of your available budget into front-end design, to get to a solution that works to your nominated priorities so you achieve a viable and professionally advised outcome. Trust me it will be money well spent. Have a great Christmas, and best of luck with continuing to work through it all :)

i was wondering about a downstairs front door but then how would you use the upstairs entry and what about potential loss of the grandparents' bedroom and space taken away from the garage and storage... different internal stairs meant enlarging the whole downstairs floor area (and changing the roof) and sacrificing space needed for the new upstairs deck and future pool (and extending further into the yard encroaches on the neighbours' views) but the old front stairs can be lengthened to maintain the original look of the house and you'll find that friends and family will more likely come in through the garage or rumpus room and the old front stairs will be used for only very enthusiastic sales people and photo ops but you do need to confirm all the dimensions on the original floor plan as the room sizes are inconsistent and an accurate original floor plan (including exact location of doors and windows) will help ensure that my suggestions could fit with the least amount of alteration to the existing structure and may also invite different suggestions from other HOUZZERS and happy to redraw your plans if you can correct this copy

moving the stair doesnt help the existing upstairs if your plan is to not change much. the living area would reduce from 3.5 to 2.5m width and would limit options unless you want to use this space as office/playroom. the existing door would have to be relocated to bed 1 and the green line is an existing beam which looks to be tight on the 12th stair down which is usually the minimum head height clearance.