Yarnos I agree with Natasha. Your existing architect will have (well, should have after working on your existing design) an intimate understanding of your site, soil conditions and implications of levels on your design. He/She are in the best position (given his/her understanding of your brief and constraints) to illustrate to you how a design solution such as this can work. No one on this forum is currently in a better position than your architect to explain this to you and outline the affordability of it as an option, based on your site, your brief and your budget. You can visualise this concept by letting your architect demonstrate it for you. If they are not demonstrating it, then you have the wrong architect I'm afraid. And if you are not empowering them to use their expertise and provide design solutions for you, then you either need to get another architect, or be a better client. Architects and designers - the good ones - are creative problem solvers. They are design detectives in the art of living well. They spend their entire professional and personal lives and time studying how people live, and how to create environments (and homes) for them to support them living better - more functionally, flexibly, beautifully. The talent of a good architect/designer is invaluable in elevating your lifestyle ... of taking the 30 year mortgage you're about to wage on this bet of building a home, of taking this massive investment, and turning it into a physical building that is your heaven and haven, your place of sanctuary and inspiration. They expand your vision, interpreting both what you say, and what you don't, into a result that is beyond your imagining. That's why you hire them - because you can't do what they can, and you need them to bring your dreams into life in a way that's better than you could have ever anticipated or created yourself. As a client, you have a responsibility to brief them well, trust them to do their job, be open to their ideas, and be guided by their expertise. The not so good architects and designers are simply drawers and documenters. They 'convert' your brief, your expressed wishes and shopping list into a floor plan that fits, and can be built, but that's simply it. It's a house, not a home. It functionally will do the job, but it never reaches its full potential. And so your life in it never reaches its full potential. You unwittingly compromise, never truly aware of how different, how much better, things could have been. The catch is, you've made a massive investment, and created something that will outlast you and become someone else's home too. So the impact is generational. Your responsibility as a client to these architects and designers is to understand the difference, and ideally not work with them - not unless you can show design leadership yourself. Work out which one your architect is and make a decision. Trust them to do the job properly for you (and give them the ability to do it), or walk away and find someone else. Regards Amelia Lee Undercover Architect www.undercoverarchitect.com amelia@undercoverarchitect.com

Good luck with the process. Just a couple of thoughts, the slightly smaller l.h.s. bedroom, moving the cupboards to the end on the bed ( if you can lengthen the house) will muffle the tv noise, as well as leaving a wall for the extra window for cross ventilation. For the r.h.s. Bedroom (main?) the wardrobe could be against the wall behind the bed, with the bed moved forward and the wardrobe and standing room hidden behind a full height wall accessible from either side. Again the room will need to be lengthened. I would like to consider the rest of the house but without comments about style of house (country, contemporary) it makes it a bit difficult. Would like to see the bathroom tweeted to allow access from b1, more like a two way bathroom. Would like you to think about a bigger south side patio to allow viewing or opening from the lounge, depending on the view, or the laundry room move to the other end on the small patio and incorporate a toilet room with it's own hand basin or powder room, to take the pressure off the main bathroom. Again without drawings of the outside of the house the balance is a bit more difficult to see. One you have a reasonable idea of what you like, need, and want, a professional designer will adjust the room sizes for balance and proportion, and make and draw suggestions to make it easier to visualise. Again, best of luck, and don't look for perfection, just perfect for you. I've been involved with building two homes and am renovation my existing one, and am still learning, and allowing the site to influence the layout.

To be blunt -- the room isn't really big enough ! So you have to sort out priorities , and space . You have a dining table , and a computer desk . Can you get rid of the computer desk , by having your computer tower mounted behind the couch or similar , and a wireless keyboard and mouse that you can use on the dining table ? Mount the monitor on a wall , or if you don't need in depth graphics , I understand you can use your TV ( I've heard something about the 'refresh rate' is less on a TV ? ) . Maybe even have a monitor but also the option of using your TV ? Could you use a 'breakfast bar' , probably where the computer desk is now , I know its not sociable all staring at a wall , but it would/could serve as a brakfast bar and computer workstation . Could you get rid of the dining table and chairs , and have a large coffee table , or 2 smaller ones , and eat 'casually' ( my polite way of saying eat sitting on the couch ) ? Even mounting the TV on the wall will let you get rid of the cabinet , but I gather you have gaming consoles in there ? And the present arrangement with the pot plants uses some space -- maybe some shelves with them on will still retain the plants but free up floor space ? Just some thoughts off the top of my head .

All - Thank you so much for your suggestions. Very helpful! Oklouise – Thanks for your suggestions. I like what you’ve done. I had not thought of the the off-centre solid wall suggestion in the tv room. This will make the space more functional. Very helpful. Thanks. Siriuskey – your design was similar to oklouise’s, so again many thanks for this. I like what you did with the entry area so will see if I can make this work given the dimensions of the house. BTW - the house is brick but I am thinking of partly limewashing/whitewashing it - but this is a very low priority item right now. Dr Retro – thanks for your comments. Appreciated. Yes, I'll check the sizing of furniture etc. Kate – thanks for your question re: wall at the end of the dining area. I’d like to create an attractive focal point from the kitchen to the garage wall, rather than just have an off-centre garage door (i.e. going for a look more like the below). I’d also like more storage so I added the partition wall, which could also have cupboards on the garage side. But your vestibule idea could work too. I will look into that while taking into account the other ideas from houzzers here too. All very helpful. Thank you. Dreamer – thanks for your suggestions as well. These give me food for thought so need to ponder more. I’m not sure there will be enough space for a fridge and an island but will draw it up and see. Just to give you more info here, not essential, but I would have liked to be able to have another tv (hidden in a wall-mounted cabinet) on the existing east-west wall that divides the kitchen-tv-formal zones now where the tv faces the kitchen so I can watch the news while cooking. I have looked at adding storage to the entry area as I think the house needs more storage so I will look at this some more again. Thanks again. Really appreciate you taking the time to get back to me on this. Cheers. Thanks again everyone. Cheers.