The last home we had was a very small workers cottage so I kept the walls a light off white, table and to unit tops were gloss white to bounce the light around. My dining chairs and bar stools were clear acrylic so that I could see through them, the ends of my island bench/brekky bar were mirrored and my curtains were textured white sheers so that they also didn't take up too much visual room. All of my furniture was on legs so that I could see under it and the lounge room rug was pulled away from the lounge just a teeny bit so that I could see a little bit of timber flooring all the way round it, that all made the floor size look just a bit bigger. Bedrooms had mirrored wardrobe doors and bathroom was almost completely white (except for dark floor) and had frameless shower screen and oversized vanity mirror to reflect as much light as possible. Friends and visitors would comment that the house was bigger than they had imagined from the outside.......it wasn't, it was just styled inside to make it look larger.

Hi arcmaz Great house - fantastic 60's modern look - Harry Sidler (Modernist Architect 1923-2006 exponent of the Bauhaus style in Australia, mainly Sydney) would have loved the interpretation, its a good style, don't change it will pay dividends in the long run. It would be good if there was a plan of the house,and a plan of the block this would allow some relatively accurate planning proposals. If you had the real-state plan with the block plan it would help a lot. In terms of making the place bigger and retaining the style I would suggest that the extension (maybe one room and an en suite depending on a budget) be a block in the today's current style, but linked to the existing house via a "link" (Link =small walkway). This would allow you to retain the style, but not be dominated by a past period, I have done this a few times and it has worked fairly well. If you are looking for three bedrooms it might be best to add a master bedroom with a bathroom, and then maybe living areas with back yard access. There may be other approaches depending on the current layout that could be considered, but I would retain as much as the original as possible, and only make small cosmetic changes until you are ready for a worthy development. I hope this is of some help, I would be happy to comment further or work on this project. Regards - Michael Manias Manias Associates Building designers - mm407p@gmail.com

Hi Lah, firstly we are in an inner Sydney area, so your house is positively enormous by our standards!. My kitchen/dining is 4.6 x 6. This will be my main entertaining space. We have a separate loungeroom upstairs that will be just for us. It's 4 x 4 roughly. The plaster is light grey, whereas the framing was dark and made it look like a cave. If you really don't need the 4th bedroom, I'd be leaving the cavity slider and making it a media room perhaps?. My boys are on the edge of their teen years, I know they won't want to be anywhere near us soon....I think open plan works well when your kids are young, but as they age they really want to be away!! I think opening that whole area up would make for a giant open-plan but odd shape. Keeping it gives the option for future buyers or you to determine what you do with it.

do you plan have door height windows/doors in the living room and the bedroom?...if you make the living room windows three matching sections wide and the bedroom window two sections wide the inidividual panes could be the same or similar size regardless of how high the whole window is but widening the opening in the wall is a very expensive option and strongly suggest that you obtain quotes for enlarging the openings compared to replacing the windows in the existing openings or bigger openings to have a better idea of the difference in costs .... window manufacturers can help you plan how to achieve the best look but even when the inidividual panes are exactly the same size they will look different fom different angles like this