Hi everyone, so... 3 years later and after many back and forth we have decided to knock down the house and rebuild. The cost of renovating was just too prohibitive and not to mention the unexpected surprises that surely would come with it. We should start the building of the new home in a month or less. Just wanted to thank everyone who helped in this thread, your opinions were very important and helped us decide. We are not doing a custom build, instead we chose one of those pre-designed homes (Dennis Family) but we are very happy and excited. Cant wait for it to be done. Will post photos when ready.

What is on the second floor?. Is this a slab on ground? Is the kitchen dining on a lower level, is this a built in verandah? Depending on if this is a slab on ground or raised off ground so that plumbing can easily be done, i would take out the laundry, just leave fireplace, maybe make that two way fireplace, wood or gas, and have dining here, which would open up that funny sitting room to this dining space and provide kids play area with build in window seats and the like. Does anyone really use formal dining now? build in the gap from sitting to front room, maybe even stealing a bit of space for storage. I would enclose that room next to entry to the study as most studies nowadays do not have to be massive spaces, unless clients are involved, that would make it quite place. With the storage space taken out for the dining play area, this would still be big enough for most. I would remove the existing study wall or at least open it up if structural to have the butlers pantry one side laundry the other with a gallery kitchen in front. Making the remainder the living space. Depending on budget i would raise the floor so that all this space is on one level. Depending on what the floor is or how many finishes you have i would make sure they are all the same. New timber floor, or new tiled floor, or carpet, what ever you like. If the terrace is then too low it might be able to be lifted simply to meet this new level. I would remove the hall cupboards to give more space to the living area and provide a wall with door if you like into the lounge room and guest suite from entry and then make the bedroom bathroom hall more private so that anyone staying will have a master suite, entry off entry, while family could still use the facilities. I think most people could cope with 3 entries off the entry, and the living door could be left open so that visually it can be seen as you enter the house, or if privacy is required, now that the hall cupboards are removed the entry to the living could be shifted down. If the laundry and garage were a bit bigger i would suggest a double garage, but they are too small. To keep the kitchen and dining in their current space would be one mistake after the other, unless you are overlooking some amazing views. Ros

Hi everyone, thanks for all your contributions. Siriuskey, really love that floorplan. To be honest, we came up with a similar floorplan where the kitchen, dining and living were all lined up. However, with 10m in length, my partner and I couldn't see it all comfortably fitting without us feeling too cramped. What measurements did you leave between kitchen bench and island, dining and living area? Our current living area is only 4m x 4m and we already feel that it's a bit cramped, let alone our plans to have kids in the near future where we are hoping to use parts of the living area as the play area (either in front or beside). Using your floorplan idea, I've come up with a slight alternative. The kitchen/dining area is approx. 7m long and living is 9m long - saving us approx. 2m x 10m of internal space when compared to our original final. I've moved the bank of pantry cupboards so they extend along the west boundary where the dining is. Gives us a living area of about 5x 6.5m with the proposed smaller study. I like that the kitchen is now closer to the deck with the north sun coming in. I don't like that we lose a WIP as we love the idea of hiding all our appliances in one. Not sure how much this floorplan will save us in build cost. If it is significant enough, we would be willing to compromise. I've sent the floorplans to a couple of builders to try and get a ballpark figure. In the mean time, what do you guys think of the alternative floorplan? Will it make a big difference to our building cost?

Those photos are lovely Jeddah and shows just how much work you have already done. The laundry isn't the problem as it will work else where within the house, it's the WC with easy pool access, my thoughts for this would be to built a separate mini pool house (WC, shower change room) at ground level in the area that the rubbish bins are now in, ie: between the house and pool and boundary limit. having a plumber will make this oh so achievable . Can you take further pictures from the side of the house looking at and away from the pool visually showing the space. Or wild card adding the "Mini Pool House" at the other end of the pool, as after leaving this space towels can be hung on the clothes line, just a thought. The Mudroom laundry (old study) I think is a good idea even without changing the door, your cabinetry could be moved as you suggested, across into the new study office, a WC within this space would also be a plus for any client visits, keeping the family bathroom private, keep repeating , I have a plumber in the house!!