No one says you can't put some kind of storage in the garage. Maybe blanket boxes at the end of the beds would help ( useful seating as well). Use one of the kitchen drawers for kitchen linen. Under Bed storage for a change of linen in each room. Kids? One or two bath towels (each child with their own colour, so you know who the culprit is that left the towel on the bathroom floor

Western wall will have a carport attached so will be shielded from sun. Western 'wall' of carport will be mesh with a creeper grown up it. We live in Gladstone SA where we have a long hot summer and a long cold winter. We have built houses before that make use of north facing but have found since we have lived here that having lots of south facing windows is also very important for light without sun coming in and for when a cool breeze is present. Shower room is on the north side so that it dries out well and doesn't grow mold. North wall will have a pergola with a deciduous climber on it. The second bedroom is a spare room - children have gone. The dog room does not have solid walls. It will actually be cellar balustrading - the dogs are in the room without being all over the furniture. Their spot is there because it gives them access to the yard (there will be a dog door in the wall). The house is actually a converted shed. We are using secondhand products as much as possible. Windows in the living area are 1800H but have to be 500 off the floor or we have to reglaze them with safety glass (they are old windows). External doors are both glass. Our taste is country/shabby chic/reclaimed/antique. We already have plenty of furniture, just not sure how to arrange it and wanted some advice

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 all, I can't seem to reply individually to your comments so here's a general one :) Thanks all for the suggestions and experience-I'm really intrigued by these suggestions of pavilion extensions, those links you attached Kate are super striking! Unfortunately for us we are on a fairly small block of land and one side of the house is a narrow driveway-we looked into building a garage/study on the ground but as we have to be 900mm from the neighbouring fence it was going to be very skinny and just not worth it. I appreciate the thoughts shared on keeping our feet on the ground but as we've two young kids and two dogs (and would love to have chickens again) I'm less and less inclined to give up more of the garden which is what we'd have to do if we extend out. Our verandah roof was done back in the 60's and slopes down and leaks in the rain so hence it needs to be lifted up if we were to build out. Kate, I LOVE your idea of the shed! We actually converted a massive steel shed into a gorgeous shed home when we lived in QLD on a massive rural block of land, loved how easy it was to 'knock' down a wall! :) Sadly we have learned the hard way that trying to save money by hiring a draftsperson that didn't ask us what our budget was has cost us time and money, but I guess in a way I'm grateful as this extra time has given me time to consider building up now instead of out. I'm getting a sense that it will be a lot more expensive to do so so might have to wait another 2-3 years to get re-finance happening. In the meantime we are making some changes to the current set up, slowly adding value and making it more enjoyable to live in :)