Congrats. I would be looking at getting access to the front bath from master. Even if it I meant only a paint job in kids bathroom.

An idea without changing master bath

Really like this idea Kate! you are saying just a paknt job in the kid bathroom as you reckon we will go over budget with such a kitchen redesign?

With the option I gave I haven’t touched your ensuite to keep costs down. I think your budget sounds great but it all depends on the quality/cost of everything you choose and labour costs in your area. You will prob need a structural beam in kitchen to remove the side wall where stove is. Once you settle on some genera layouts get a builder in to quote and kitchen company. Kitchen companies are great with layouts and costs for kitchen but won’t include structural, elect or plumbing changes or flooring in their costs. Builders pick that all up.
You could look at adding a separate shower to ensuite.
If you can get proper measurements I’m sure siriuskey or oklouise or others will come up with some layouts for your master suite worth keeping in mind even for the future and ensuring new kitchen is in right place.
Oh and you don’t need two entries to master.

Oh just looking at photos again. Master bath has shower not bathtub? I must say in our house since kids are little we may have bath maybe once a year, so would only miss the place I wash my small dog.

Yes master is only a shower. we dont have any bathtub and would need one for thr boys. They are quite found of it so would renovate the kids bathroom to add one here.

I'd plan the journey quite differently , and ask different questions .

You said its a long term home , but things change , so whilst thats the plan , what happens if your finances change , jobs change , even personal stuff like more children or you seperate . I'm not trying to be inquisitive or negative , just running through scenarios . What if someone loses a job , or gets a large raise , or an inheritance ? Things change .

So if you spend $150k now , will your place be worth at least $150k more right now ? What if it costs $300k ? Can you pay that ( the interest presumably ? ) .

I'd start off slow . The kitchen tends to be most peoples focus , so maybe start there . While its easy to say you'll start again , thats expensive , and is there anything you like ? Just me , I'd paint the grey above the cupboards in a bright shiny blue ( to sort of tie in with the benchtop ) , and evertything beige I'd paint in a white with a blue tinge ( surfmist or similar ) . Probably change the stools , get quotes for tiles . If the tiler thinks they can make a tidy job of it , just change the top row of tiles to something blue .

Likeise , then work through the house -- maybe a feature wall in each room , either paint or wallpaper . Similarly , repaint the other 3 walls in a white with a tinge of each rooms primary feature wall colour . Some of the rooms don't seem to have curtains , but most of the windows seem to have character . Even so , I'd do curtains in each rooms theme colour .

The house will start looking different , it may take 12 months , maybe 5 years . Then you can start moving doors and walls and laying new tiles and gutting the kitchen and doing a Wow ensuite or whatever , but start with baby steps IMO .

Pinching space from playroom for tub would work.

Can you do some things DIY to help the budget? Are you on a slab or stumps, this will make a marked difference to your plumbing costs? Have you spoken to Council, your changes will most likely require permits, which means plans and can take $10k ish before any work is even commenced. Does the property have any asbestos? Are you happy with the current heating and cooling? Does the $150 include your contingency? It’s a nice property and I can see the potential. PS I have a shower over bath in a small bathroom. My kids are 11 and 13 and still use the bath.

Adding to Bigreaders questions. Is your house double brick external single brick internal. Or is it timber studs with plasterboard? Are you planning to do these renovations now in this expensive market, or wait five years and do it then? Would you continue to live in the home while the kitchen and floors are being ripped up?? Everything adds to the overall budget analysis.

@dreamer @bigreader @User

Trying to shed some more lights here: We are already renting at the moment with 28 days notice period, which plays an important role in deciding to do the reno now rather than later as we can move out / in when the work is advanced enough.

The kids are still young enough to play a lot of the floor and always walk barefoot so the tile flooring is a concern for us in Winter.

The current owners recently did some work:

• updated the shower/bathroom
• New skylight put in
• New Air Conditioning units in living room and back room
• Ducted heating throughout
• New hot water system

The house is as follow:

• Main building – floor construction: Stumps, bearers and floor joists, Brick foundation walls, Timber poles / stumps
• Main building – wall construction: Timber framed, Internal gypsum plasterboard, Brick veneer (timber framed)

Indeedm we are not necessarly looking at massive changes. Ideally we would only do things not requiring extensive planning and permits. I understand we will need one for the bathroom as we would like to swap the shower for one over bath. Ideally create an opening in the bathroom to create an ensuite. As for the kitchen, we like the idea from Kate but we will also get some simple quotes to just do a facelift as well.

The plans and permits will cost about the same whether you add one shower or 10. It’s most cost effective if you get the permit for your full wishlist even if you stage the work. Most permits give you two years to start the works and they don’t need to be all started or finished together. You can inquire at the local Council and see if they have a copy of your house plan already on file. It will cut the costs of having a draftsman draw up plans if you can provide that.

Have you identified any asbestos, for safety and to factor remediation into your budget?

No idea for asbestos yet. We will do a full inspection.

Any recommendation for a designer who can help us through the whole process or can a builder do all the planning and manage with the council? Wiling to get reco from Melbourne - South East.

As this is internal works you can use a private building surveyor for any approvals needed. Builder can organise that. I’d start by chatting to a builder then a kitchen designer. Most builders work with a draftsperson and will manage whole process.

it will probably take quite a long while to make plans and organise trades so that would help to experience living in the house before committing to any major changes but i would first confirm dimensions of every room (including hallways, entry, laundry bathrooms and does the master include the bay window? my approximations, based on real estate plans, are highly suspect and you can't make plans until you know what you already have) Then try different furniture arrangements to help identify best locations for walkways and doors to create more useable spaces ....eg what would be the advantage for very expensive bifolds between family and alfresco or could wider stacking doors and/or roofing and/or screening the alfresco be more cost effective and useful? (nb how often would they be opened, secured and screened?) and that will largely depend on your climate?) my suggestions include changes to dining, kitchen, laundry and living areas and subject to accurate dimensions, there might be enough space for a tiny bath for the kids but, for the few more years that they will use the bath, you might find it cheaper and easier to install a heated spa in the alfresco but the biggest change would be to rearrange access through the centre of the house and decide how you could use the leftover space from closing off the old bathroom entry

Agree with oklouise regarding moving into your home prior to any renovations. Your children are not babies, so tile floors are not an issue. You will also save the cost of renting, this money can go into your renovations. Move into the home and work out how YOU LIVE in the home. Work out what doesn’t work, where do the breezes come from, which rooms are hot in summer or cold in winter? Does the garage stop the winter sun from getting into the home? Could that be removed? The cost and time frame to get tradesmen is not cheap or quick. The following article is about the current Melbourne market. Are you prepared to spend six months more time in your rental, while you have a perfectly good house to move into and live comfortably? As a new home owner with young children, paying the mortgage and having funds for unexpected items is important.

Definitely like the suggestions and the floor plan aligned to Kate initial idea of creating a lounge and transforming the dining into a kitchen.

Thanks @CHRISTINE HALL ARCHITECTS LTD! We like your suggestion. Just to confirm, does it mean we don’t need to change the layout of the kitchen? We would build this new scullery in lieu of the dining room with maybe an additional sink and the diswasher. So this should help to minimise the reno cost.

Hi Ddufre,

You absolutely could do this with minimal changes to the kitchen, certainly keep the plumbing similar to reduce costs but if you want a sink in the scullery, I'd put it just inside on the left as you enter so you can link the drainage in with the existing one. However, I would take this time to look at the arrangement of everything around that area to make sure it really works for your needs well into the future. It may only be minor tweaks to get things like storage and seating arrangements with furniture placements right.

Alternatively if you want to train your boys to help with dishes as they grow up, put the dishwasher to the left of the current sink location so other functions can still occur in the kitchen whilst they are rincing, loading and unloading the dishwasher!!!! This may also affect where you want the main cutlery and crockery storage so they can put these away and lay the table etc. Possibly have everyday cutlery and crockery drawers as the first stack of joinery on the peninsular bench unit immediately next to the dishwasher. Imagine the kitchen as almost 2 zones. One is the inner kitchen where most of the work happens and 2 is the family zone where others can hover and do what they need to do. Get drinks, snacks, do the dishes etc.

Minor tweaks may include making the outer edge of the newly installed breakfast bar to line up with the outer face of the wall between the scullery and sitting area so it is less restrictive for your furniture placement in the sitting area. Even if it means moving the wall rather than making the kitchen narrower. I'd also consider putting the cook top and oven on the back wall so the opening to the scullery could be nice and wide. As I suggested, this doesn't need to be a fully closed off scullery but act as an extension to the kitchen for the messy stuff and pantry. You could also install double cavity sliders that probably only get closed when visitors turn up or if you prefer to hide the mess. However, don't forget that the cavity walls are not much use for fixing things to unless they make the wall framing bigger.

I'd actually just make the walls to the scullery as wide as the benches with the opening the same width as between the benches or possibly even have no wall closing off along the back bench and just one at the peninsular so you can hide the mess inside that front area. The back wall would start with the door or doors from the entry into the kitchen, then the fridge freezer next to that (so it is in the most accessible location so people can get to the fridge without interupting someone cooking) then a bit of bench and the cooktop and oven with the bench continuing into scullery transitioning into tall pantry storage into the corner. Keep the window onto the driveway if you don't extend the garage forwards. This way, you could also have a different bench material for the sink/breakfast bar peninsular to the cooktop bench. I would suggest quartz for the peninsular and stainless steel for the cooktop bench and run that into the scullery but you may prefer something else. (I really like the 2WL patterned SS or just brushed SS so it doesn't show finger marks but can be nicely polished)

Another thought is that you could put the laundry into the scullery area either running along the outside wall or the wall to the sitting area. That would make the current laundry a really nice space for a guest shower room and separate powder room???

Good luck,

C.

Hi David and Emma,

Not sure if you got my email last night but attached is a concept plan of my suggestions.

I'd seek someone local to you to get this drawn up and submitted to council for approval as I am unfamiliar with Melbourne requirements and it would be so much more convenient for you to have someone local to negotiate all this for you. You could seek a drafting company or go straight to a builder who may have someone they use.

There is a second option to have the laundry close to the guest room but ideally this would need a small extension unless you feel the guest room can cope with less wardrobe space. If you extend with the wardrobe as I've shown, it may need to be pulled in 1m from the boundary for fire rating issues.

A few things in the plan I have not previously mentioned include; blocking in the exterior door from your 3 year olds bedroom.

Also, whilst the boys are young, I'd be inclined to remove the door from the hall to the play room. I think it is always a good idea to be able to hear what is or is not going on!!!

I would also put up a wall and door for the back boys bedroom. As he gets older, he will want privacy.

I like the laundry in the scullery as it is closer to your bedroom and the main part of the house where you'll be spending more of your day rather than down by the guest room. Some people don't like the laundry in with the kitchen but if you've ever lived in Europe or in an apartment, it is pretty common and can work well.

I've suggested pull out pantrys. These are only 300mm wide and you can put in as many as you need. They are very efficient and allows you easy access to everything you store. Don't go any higher than you can easily reach but put cupbds above them if there is space and use these for items you don't use regularly.

For your bedroom, I've suggested a linen cupboard adjacent the ensuite and suggested two separate walk in robes. If these feel a bit tight, create a shelving unit on one side that only needs to be 350-400mm deep for folded items and have hanging on the other side. This will be a really efficent wardrobe and gives you somewhere between 4.4 & 4.8m of wall space with no redundant corners. I am not exactly sure of the dimensions here.

I've suggested that you could put in one more cupboard outside your bedroom, which will give your bedroom entry a bit more privacy but it will tighten up the space that will be quite a busy area so maybe leave it out.

I've also shown that you can have a small cupboard in the breakfast bar facing the other way near the sitting end. This can be a good spot for placemats, coasters and games etc. This will be shallower than a normal cupboard and depends on how wide you make the bench.

Good luck,

C.

Thank you so much @CHRISTINE HALL ARCHITECTS LTD! This is gold so mich details and informations for newbies like us, and yes from Europe used to tiny appartment. You would laugh at our kitchen in our flat in Paris.