Thank you kooky_karen. Now I am thinking about putting together your idea of removing angled bench, putting L one after building a new wall as jbantick idea. Angled wall is internal and separates lounge room from family. I forgot about vinyls. Thank you for this reminder. We are older couple and it will make a lot easier to keep it clean. I will try to find ( any suggestions here?) best and beautiful vinyl with warm wood feel and look.

Louie - pretty well I think. See my latest renditions below. I have been playing around with how to screen off that toilet/shower area from the living room. Not only would it be preferable to keep the toilet out of sight, but it would also be nice if people pop go down and up the stairs to visit the toilet or shower without having to do a short "walk-of-shame" past the potentially occupied living/dining room. I was thinking a of having a partially-drawn pair of curtains or perhaps one of those dangle-y "fly curtain" type things to disrupt the view a bit, but then I thought a set of swinging doors with tinted/diffuse glass in them, because: 1. You can charge in and out of this busy area by just pushing through the set of doors, and letting them swing back in to place behind you (like saloon doors) 2. The glass panes will still allow the person to see if anyone is on the other side, so they don't bowl them over. Will also let natural light in. Also means could do away with the laundry door perhaps, since it will be kind-of redundant (main purpose was to eliminate washing machine noise in the living area) 3. The doors also stop heat from the fireplace drifting up the stairs on cold winter nights when the fire is going. Not a crucial thing at all, but a nice additional benefit Thanks for sharing the floor plans - it's given me a much clearer picture of what you've done with that pole house...looks fantastic! brizcs - great point about the chair by the window, that's really struck a chord with me so I am toying with ways to do this. One idea I had is in the plan below: Rather than put a narrow table hard against the glass, maybe swing the kitchen table 90 degrees, make it longer, and have people sit along the south side looking out the windows most of the time. When it's night time or there are lots of guests or whatever just drag the chairs to the other side and you're back to the conventional set up. If a table where flush against the windows it would mean a lot of direct sunlight on its surface throughout the cooler months, due to the low angle of the sun (glare might become a problem?)

Hello Lene1, My first thoughts are you have too many small art pieces, not just only pictures, trying to compete for attention against large items of furniture, hence the rooms at odds with itself because the items are not relative to each other. If you can imagine taking down all your pictures and removing all your small decor items around the tv, small table in the corner and fire place, what you're left with is a nice size room with appropriate sized furniture. Now, you could consider a larger art piece or pieces for your walls and the room will look relative. Another alternative to consider would be to get a wall mural or wall stickers for the wall behind the fire place. Either way, this will make that wall a feature as well as reduce the attention of the tiny fireplace you have that can't be moved, then the eyes are drawn to the bigger picture instead. Regarding wall stickers, tree and branch wall stickers have been used very creatively to compliment the many smaller framed pictures like they have blossomed from the tree branches like this one for example: May I also suggest having a look at my BESPOKE DESIGNS section. I specialise in designing and creating artwork to specifically compliment a rooms decor and furnishings, and here you will find inspirational ideas of other rooms: http://www.houzz.com/projects/1720017/bespoke-designs Alternatively, there are many artwork pieces that are ready and available to buy from our website also: http://thejonescollection.gallery If I can be of further assistance, feel free to contact me via my Houzz profile or through my website. All the best with whatever you decide to choose.

Thanks Tilly, yes I think it'll be a really good exercise to think about how we live every day and what will support that. For example we had a BBQ on the weekend and the weather was quite cool, so my husband said how about a covered entertaining area to the rear of the house (north facing), but I'd rather have it open so the sun comes into the house every other day of the year! So we're investigating these fabric folding awnings... I might get us both to sit down and virtually go through our day to work out our ideal items. Thanks! Holly, thanks for sharing, some great ideas there. Yes I don't want a huge footprint, and survived for 10 years in a small Victorian terrace with a 'Euro' laundry behind fold-back cupboards in the bathroom and it never bothered me, so you've reminded me that I'd much rather that space devoted to more enjoyable areas! And keen on the versatility of a multi-purpose room, sounds like such a great approach, I work part-time from home plus my family is interstate so doubling as a guest bedroom would be perfect for us. Love the window bench with storage idea and yes I want an island bench that's clear of sinks etc. Wow those loft beds are amazing! Might pencil that in as an idea. Wonderful, thanks!