The house seem to be really adequately planned, you appeared to have purchased a good property just from the plan point of view. As I have no idea where you are located it is difficult to determine the market you are trying to pitch the property, are four bedroom plus a selling point in the area? But just as an initial idea I think that the kitchen dining area may require to be redone perhaps using an island bench and maybe even a scullery and large walk in pantry. Four bedroom may house more than five or six people and that requires a decedent amount of food storage including a large fridge and a freezer and a butlers pantry. The entry seems to have a large number of stairs and is relatively narrow - carting the groceries up those stairs once a week for a large family I do not see as a good selling point. Some redesign for a greater access could be a good idea, depends a bit on the slope etc. (Indication of levels or a photo would help) I assume that the carport is at the front (Not the garage) - Its difficult to determine 'curb appeal' from the information you have provided - but I would suggest that this should be looked into carefully, for after all, this is the first thing the prospective purchases sees - and if they are bidding on the property at auction its ever present during the auction process. Here are some of the things that I would attempt (you may have already considered these points): 1. Contact the preferred selling agent and ask what kind of property is the best selling option i.e. - Number of bedrooms, open kitchen, man cave room, car garage or carport, extent of curb appeal, energy efficiency - heating and cooling. 2. Do a design proposal - I have found from the twenty odd years that I have been doing design proposal that it takes about three goes before you are happy with the result. 3. Show the final design proposal that you and your chosen Building Designer are happy with to a couple of real estate agents which you are most likely to employ. 4. Edit your design to incorporate some final ideas that you may have missed. 5. Do your application approvals for building the changes. I hope this is of some help - I would be happy to talk to you further about this project. Michael Manias mm407p@gmail.com Working online using - email, skype, PayPal, PDF- A3 Drawings.

Thank you both for your feedback. Yes, these are the agents plans - just trying to get some general ideas. This is my first renovation and first time posting to the forum, sorry for lack of info. I've included the downstairs of the house (agent plans again sorry, but for context). The laundry has already been moved in towards the workshop area and a new bathroom in it's place. The landing of the stairs will open onto a new deck, and the utility area will be two small bedrooms. The house is on a sloping block with the entrance at road level, so want to keep the front door where it is (to the right of the kitchen). All internal walls upstairs are asbestos so we are having this all removed, which will give us the opportunity to install a beam if we were to remove walls and open the space. The space between bedroom 2 and the kitchen is currently unused space, where I think the previous owners may have used this corner of the house as an office and put in a wall before selling (to sell as a 2 bedroom house instead of 1 bed). I was hoping to get some preliminary ideas before we engage draftsman & engineer - we will be removing the existing deck on the back of the house as well as building a new two car carport on the front of the house.

siriuskey, Yes, the courtyard is open to the sky (no roof over it), I assume this is what you mean by double story. Ref. below photos, I would love to get this look, especially the first and last photo, where you can see family living space from the first floor. I can't achieve this in my plan as it eats a lot of floor space upstairs. The referred plan (photos) has a very big void combining staircase, hallway and dining area. I know it is not easy with cooling and heating when you have such a big void. So, I explored a few ideas (with my limited knowledge on this topic) before achieving the current floorplan. I have also thought about, in my current plan, extending the void on the staircase to the dining area (it is more like L shape) but i wasn't sure if that makes any difference. keen to hear your thoughts.

Hi Dave, Julie here, I am an interior Designer so let’s see if I can help you. Great plan firstly, but just a few things to consider. Your dining area is quite large so a lot of space that could be utilised better. I personally think a kitchen taking the length of the back wall is more powerful visually and also a large island would work better than just a corner kitchen. If you brought the kitchen forward you could also do a hidden Buttler’s pantry taking up the length of the back wall (east). Also your study has no natural light. Maybe consider a sky light or a the wall facing North can be 3/4 high and the top of that wall can be glazing. Otherwise it will feel a bit suffocating. You could also do a lovely walk-in large shower in Master and rework that whole space with the walk in closet If you would like a consultation to discuss further don’t hesitate to contact me. .