Hi Jess Suazo - What a wonderful opportunity to do a fantastic bathroom renovation, like all small rooms they do require some careful detailing. I thought the following might help a bit: 1. If you move the door as shown on the included plan sketch (please not that I had to guess the dimensions) you will notice that you have quite a bit of space. 2. The shower (bath drain) and the toilet plumbing are kept in the similar position thus save of plumbing costs. 3. By using a glass screen, possibly running full height, and no glass door for the shower you save on shower door costs. (you might like to provide a second strip drain at the shower entry if splashing of water is of concern) 4. You can run a decent towel rail behind the door. 5. If you want extra space you can open the door outward, if you are not concerned by the closeness of the other doors. 6. You have somewhere to hang the toilet paper roll on the side cabinet, and could run a good size mirror at the back of your basin. Like all small areas there is a lot of detailing required, also you would have to take some accurate measurements of the space before further detailing and choosing of fitting and fixtures. The choice of tiles and lighting would be a priority., natural lighting (maybe a skylight ) would help a lot in the ambience of the space. If you do a good set of working drawings, and then choose your builder well I think you may have a very satisfactory result. Hope this is of some help, I would be happy to continue further advice on this project. Regards Michael Manias - mm407p@gmail.com

Hydronic slab heating is fairly straightforward to install and not that expensive compared with other forms of central heating. If you try to cool the slab, it becomes a lot more complicated. First up, cooling the slab does nothing to remove humidity from the air, which is a large part of what makes you feel hot. Second, you need some way of controlling the heat pump between heating and cooling mode. Usually we use mechanical thermostats which switch on when the house gets below the set temperature, but when you change to cooling mode it needs turn on when the indoor temperature is above the set temperature, so instead of a standard central heating thermostat you instead need an electronic temperature sensor. Anything is possible, but the short answer is that having a chilled slab will be more complicated and more expensive than an air conditioner, and less effective. You'll also need to find a contractor to design the system, and because it will be a custom design if you have any issues in the future you'll need to get the same person who installed it to come and fix it, which is a problem if they move, go on holiday, or close their business.

To clarify, what exactly does the extension involve? Are you opening up/changing the existing family/kitchen space? Or is it just a tack-on as per the rough sketch? Is it only single storey? What is the site access like? Is it high end finish or have character/heritage type detail/fabric to tie in/continue with? 4-500K It seems high, but then if the whole area was being re-jigged and you have to then do structural support to the upper level etc....then it's surprising how much the costs can stack up...... Have you only just discussed this in concept and an architect throw a number at you, or have you actually completed a proper/professional pre-design/feasibility stage of service? The way we professionally manage/address these types of "weighing up" scenarios (which is very common) is by properly crunching the numbers on several different options based on specific scope of works. We call this a "feasibility" stage of service, which is relatively contained/compact, and we find it really helps people regularly in situations like yourself to make confident decisions moving forward with projects. But you need to be given the right information and then have the capacity to properly weigh up options (say renovating/extending in various formats and aspects) against the next in terms of costs and overall value. For that type of number, whatever it is, you want to make sure that it makes sense for the property investment, and that it is the best way to spend it. For example, you may have to spend 4 or 500K one way or the other, but is there a more effective design strategy than just a relatively small extended footprint? What we try and achieve for clients is best bang for buck with the design solution, in terms of property/investment value of the built result, and so we see our job to not just simply design a kitchen extension because that's what is being asked of us, but rather look at it all broadly, identifying the opportunities and maximising them, and sometimes particularly for small scale/tight sites reno scenarios, that we find better value outcomes often involve a larger scale project where the budget is more cost effectively distributed, so in other words, you still pay the money, but it's spent so much better ;) Hope this helps as food for thought, but ultimately until there's more information provided (or a proper investigation/service performed) it's hard to provide accurate comment on whether in your case doing something is "worthwhile" or not. As a last comment - we've done several similar scale/nature projects - let's just say we "spread" that type of budget much further than just a 10m2 extension scope ;) Feel free to contact us if you're interested in discussing further Kind regards PD :) Paul Di Stefano Design www.pauldistefanodesign.com admin@pauldistefanodesign,com @pauldistefanodesign

Hi Cheryl, it sounds like you are getting ready to brief an architect for your project? Have you worked with an architect or designer before? I ask because it is often the case that people who haven't worked with a design professional sometimes struggle with where to begin. If that is your situation, my advice is not to sweat the details before you have found the right designer. When interviewing potential architects it is important to have a budget range and a set of desired outcomes clear in your mind, but it is not necessary, or even advisable, to present candidates with a pre-conceived "solution" because that can shut the gate on their creative input and potentially deny you the best value from your investment in their services. By all means canvas ideas here, but please try to keep an open mind and give your designer room to do their best for you.