Turning something that is run-down into an inviting space again is very rewarding. This is one of our favourite ever transformations in the Perth suburb of Mount Lawley: After - top storey addition, open plan living extension at the rear, indoor/outdoor living complete with an outdoor kitchen. Just stunning.

Just to confirm I have taken the great ideas presented here as advice only and have no intention to do some dodgy diy reno's. With the exception of a couple of quirky exposed timbers as you can see in my pictures there are no other exposed beams. As you can also see from the pictures there is a large roof space on the right (east) side of the house but the ceilings themselves are flat with a slight dip on the north wall. Based on my own personal experiences I would have to agree with Two's Company that there is a tendency towards rendered brick in WA (although there are still many exposed brick houses in my suburb) while double enclosed double garages are also highly desirable. I would also agree that toilets within the main bathroom and non traditional laundries may be considered unusual by many (but not all). Ensuites with toilets however are still very common. Also due to the nature of our work we would prefer the laundry separated from food/kitchen area. For a 4x2 house it is only around 155m2 excluding carport/alfresco which makes the rooms feel quite cramped, hence the desire to open up the family room. However, as Two's Company suggests we will need to first get a builder/eng in to check load bearing walls etc as this will undoubtedly affect what we can achieve within our budget. Having said that I still excited by many of your ideas and with luck hopefully can work some of them into the budget. Cheers all :)

Very nice, however I liked the old console in the hallway better than the new one, I would have liked to see that styled without the mirror on the wall.

We had one in our previous home and hardly ever used it because of the layout of the house (kitchen was quite a distance from the outside area the servery served) and the insects. If we had one in our current home, I would use it all the time because the kitchen is more conveniently located and we screened our entire outdoor living area. We are now planning a move and top of the make-over list is a new kitchen with servery window and screening the outdoor living room completely. With the outdoor area screened, there's no need for a servery window screen and outdoor dining is a delight.