a copy of your floor plan would be helpful

Hi Kate, with respect, I'm not sure I agree but all families are different I guess. I don't think you need locks, a closed door and a knock are fine in our house. I am assuming there will be another door to the kitchen aswell. Having the toilet at the furthest point means the back door can be opened to release any "odours" quickly if necessary so personally I prefer that location. That passage is the main circulation way so Having an "empty wall" keeps the passage clear. I did put a double heated towel rail just outside the shower and assumed the hand towel rail would be part of the floating vanity with a shelf underneath for extra towels. As they are teenagers I think they"ll be fine to reach inside the recessed cabinets. The sinks need to be quite narrow due to the 400mm wall depth in this corner, by recessing the cabinets it gives you more "headroom" when you bend to the basin to shave/brush teeth/wash face etc. Ditto, because of the narrow depth, getting a closer look is no problem and teenagers still have great eyesight anyway (unlike us parents!) I am an interior designer and property stylist and played with a few different layouts but I think that this one (a combination of busybeelissa, LouieT and my ideas) is a good solution given the space limitations and the fact that it's trying to work for 4 teenagers.

Hi, Based on the provided floorplan, the issue is that your rooms are long and quite narrow so this will present a bit of a challenge with furniture placement. When Selecting furniture I would suggest you choose sofas and armchairs that are sleek and have a small footprint. Make sure that the arms are narrow so they don't take up too much valuable space. The below sofa and armchair are a good example of what I'm referring to. The fire place in the Family Room takes up a lot of space in the centre of the only wall without windows, perhaps you would consider moving it into a corner? This would free up some space and provide some much needed circulation space. Otherwise this room is in danger of looking a little bit like a waiting room with sealing along one wall. If you like open plan and aren't worried about taking out walls, then there is an opportunity to open up the wall between the dining room, Living Room and Kitchen for a real Open Plan space, but this would involve redesigning the entire living space of the house. Not impossible but a bit messy. Hope this helped, MKG

if you post the whole floor plan we could see adjoining rooms and all the doors and windows and do you intend to use the whole dining and lounge for the study with small sofa, piano and Ikea shelf?..do you need a desk and/or other furniture ..what will you use the rooms for and will it need to be shared with other people and purposes eg will it be a separate study/work space from the rest of the house or will you still need to include a dining table, lounges and TV etc