Hi fb57, Great charming federation house, retain the front and fix the back, then maybe later you can put in a granny flat - depending on cost and local council bylaws. I would not put in an attic - stairs are a good place for mishaps and as we age it might have limited functionality - but if its something you have your heart set on it might prove worth while. It appears that you are competent enough to do a decent measure up plan, going from what you have posted - you might need to take a few photo and a few other dimension to get a good design from someone working online. The idea is to get a design that you are happy with and then get a local competent Drafts-person to do your working drawings for a Building Permit and then get it built with a Builder of your choice. This would result in my opinion in a significant saving and a design of your choice, especially if you are willing to do some of the legwork with council and other authorities. To get a good design that you feel is a solution to your requirements, you need to produce a variety of design schemes (plans elevations perspectives etc.) and this can be done online with any competent Building Designer that you can get along with. It will not take one go at it - and it will not be quick, as you need time to digest every scheme but generally it works out in the long run. These are some of the things I would look at: 1. The possibility of breaking up the build into stages - maybe stage one do the renovations at the back and the stage 2 place in a granny flat. 2. As you have good access on both sides of the property I would place a new garage on the largest width and possible gate and walkway on the other side to give individual access to the granny flat. The new garage would be as closely to the front as possible, with the new fence an gate on the other side it would greatly improve security. 3. Depending on budget I would provide a bathroom shower and toilet with a walk in robe to the main bedroom and redo the kitchen and laundry if required. 4.The area next to the lounge area I would develop into an external entertainment area. 5 Since you mentioned that you have a "Fibro Extension" it implies to me that you may have asbestos on the property - get an expert in and determine if you need to remove asbestos when you renovate - this is a dangerous material and you should take all precautions possible to avoid long term damage. 6. An indication of the position of your neighbors windows and setback might also help in providing a design that complies with your planning laws and respects your adjoining neighbors. Like all things it will take a few revisions to get it right , but if you are willing to work at it, it will payoff in the end. The first thing is to draw up the existing conditions to scale so that an initial proposal showing possibilities can be worked on. I would be willing to work on this project with you online, I hope this is of some help. Regards Michael Manias mm407p@gmail.com

Two ways you can go. Curtain on the back with wire and small hooks. Or you could use pressed tin screwed over the glass panel on both sides to fake the appearance of a solid decorative door. Pressed tin would maybe cost around $90 to cover that. Whichever way you go make sure you cause minimal damage to the door, that whole set is worth a small fortune as a heritage door and someone will gladly buy it from you. You could easily get a grand for it. Since it's the original door to this home another option would be to keep the door but have it reglazed with something less transparent.

Hi Janelle, You would like to have internal access to the laundry. However, going through the bathroom to the laundry will get complicated in that you could not be using the bathroom whilst accessing the laundry or the house from the laundry/back garden. I am not sure what your budget is but the sketch below is what I would do to make best use of the space whilst maintaining privacy for the bathroom and keeping the external form of the building the same. I'm not sure what your historic control issues are so I am not sure if this will work for you. There is now only one toilet - less to clean and there is a second one in the ensuite, but it is separate and private. That bathroom is at the end so completely private. If you have a guest that likes long baths, there is no restriction on access to the laundry. The laundry, separate toilet and the bathroom all have internal access and access to a back door. You can adjust the position of the toilet room to suit how much space you want for the vanity or the length of the laundry cupbds. I am unsure of your exact measurements but if you allow 1000mm for the vanity and 1500mm x 1000mm for the toilet, there should be 3m of laundry cupboards and bench plus 1200mm for the tub and washing mashine. The washing machine and tub can also go on the wall against the original house with possible direct access from your dressing room for laundry, but thought it would be nicer near the back door and window. You could still make a laundry basket access from your dressing room!!!! You could put doors over that bench area too, to keep the laundry looking very smart if you have visitors!!! A full wall of 3m long will give you ample options of how to arrange it for your needs. You could have a full length bench with overhead cupboards or shelves all behind tall doors. Up to you. Good luck, C.

Thanks @ Victorian coastal floors! That's very professional and helpful. I looked into Bona products and I really liked the effect of Bona Nordic Seal. However, I'm quite confused about the difference between Bona Nordic Seal and Bona White Primer, are they water-based polyurethane or stain? How about Traffic HD, I thought it was polyurethane but it says Finish/Lacquer on the package. In terms of cost, how much more expensive is Bona compared to hardwax-oil or solvent-based polyurethane? Thank you in advance.