Hi Barry, I personally don't think the large blank space lends itself to a piece of art. It's up too high and contrary to your thoughts, it wouldn't be the feature you'd hope for it to be. Besides, the money you spend on a piece large enough, would be better spent on a smaller, higher quality piece mounted at the correct height (eye-level) that would compliment another part of your home. Getting back to the blank space, have you considered using a timber veneer for the wall cabinets? Something that would work with your bench, and then you could use the same veneer as wall panels to continue above the blank space over the cupboards. Perhaps you could even incorporate led strip lighting to give it a little more wow factor. Timber is great because it adds a layer of warmth to the polished concrete and dark cabinets. Good luck, and keep us posted! Would love to see which way you go. Cheers, and have a great weekend. Steve

we can't read the wording on the floorplan but it looks like the designers have produced what you asked for internally although i would prefer a simple verandah across the front door instead of the gabled porch. The feeling of a high ceiling can be achieved by having a raked ceiling over the living, dining, kitchen and stairwell, tall enough to have generous ceiling fans without having to raise the ceiling of the whole upstairs. Install an opening window as high as possible in the stairwell to improve stacking ventilation (with electric window openers) Overall ventilation can be improved by aiming to have an entry and exit point for breezes on opposing walls in every room and short horizontal windows (like the ribbon windows on the old east elevation) tucked up high as possible under eaves on east and west walls rather than tall narrow windows can improve daylighting and help reduce overheating. Consider security fly screening the external areas to exclude harsh sun and bugs and allowing stacking doors to be kept open and the outdoor areas to be used as much as possible (with the screens on the outside openings the stackers can be installed without their screens, improving the connection to outdoor living areas)

we need to have a better understanding of the current spaces...do you have a floor plan of the original house (usually shows lines for the roof ridges and valleys as well as measurements)...also need to know the height from ground level to the bottom of the gutter on the original house and the height of the wall from ground level to the underside of any existing gutter on the "outhouse" (quite confusing 'cause where i come from an outhouse is usually a "dunny" or outdoor toilet!) is the ground between the house and the outhouse level, how many steps up from ground into the house, is the floor of the courtyard already paved? is the floor of the outhouse level with the courtyard or a step up?...please advise the length and width of the outhouse and the distance from the house and any side fences...the attached plan is an approximation that needs accurate dimensions but most most important is the heights above the ground

I'd say it's an easy min. $250K minimum flagfall on a relatively basic/not fancy spec/fit-out in a super good package deal. You're essentially renovating an entire house including moving plumbing, walls replastering, new floors throughout etc....not to mention lights, rewiring etc etc, it goes on and on.......This scope would still cost a builder themselves $150K, not factoring in their own time/labour, paying cash for sub-trades and getting super deals on all materials....and then you could only really potentially roll this type of operation out if you actually have the money in the bank. If you need to borrow then you'd need a building contract which then brings in market rates, profit margins and GST. Take profit and GST out from $150K and there's barely enough left to cover materials alone, when the labour/materials ratio (of a construction cost) these days, particular for renovations is labour being the most significant cost involved.............you can fine tune and perfect a floor plan like you have (which I reckon is pretty good as a plan), but when push comes to shove it always comes back to budget and costs, which is why we always are encouraging people to utilise design professionals who manage the challenge of designing within budget limits. If you separate budget/costs from the design process (rather than integrate it) more often than not it will leads to disappointment and misalignment of your expectations of what is realistic.