@sstarr -Australian (so that's the british influence showing through I guess) fred-that is pretty much it, although currently we do have external walls, with fibre board sheeting. So if you can imagine what I mean is keeping the brick exposed along the main wall, but framing the bottom half with timber wainscoting to 120cm height. the plumbing and electrical lines would go through behind the wainscoting (not really sure if that what its called?) our house is an 100 year old English tudor style, but we are at the more informal end of the decorating spectrum. I see a lot of reno's where they keep some of the brickwork-just not sure if it would look ok with the beadboard/wainscoting on the lower part.

To quote Missy Elliott, I'd flip it and reverse it! ; D Contrary to some others, it sounds like a great block, with a north-facing rear, and 14m width is great to work with! I also live in Melbourne and my previous home's rear faced north. Although small (only 4m wide), it was such a beautiful home to live in as our living area at the rear had trifold doors and was flooded in sunlight through Winter (lovely and we rarely used the heater during th day) and in summer was bright but not blinding or too hot at any time of the day. Conversely the bedrooms at the front were lovely, dark and cool through the year. So when looking to buy our current home, a north-facing rear was literally top of my priority list, my family thought I was mad! So ensure you use the opportunity for a lovely, light-filled home to live in and to save on heating and cooling. I would put your living at the rear where the current bedrooms are, with windows/doors right along the northern (back wall), kitchen where the rear bathroom etc are, and dining further along the eastern wall adjacent to that. I also don't like the glare of a western dining room late in the day as the sun is low in the sky when you're typically having dinner. Furthermore, it's lovely having the (eastern) morning sun streaming in a kitchen and where you're having your breakfast in the morning! Alternatively, stretch your Kitchen, Dining, Living across the full width of the house at the back, I think it's almost 11m wide, which is a comfortable width to arrange that, with windows across the back, and trees at any side windows on the west. Finally, I'd flip the garage and master bedroom, so your bedroom isn't on the hottest side of the house going into the evening. Put rooms you spend a brief amount of time in on that side - bathrooms, laundry etc. As for the alfresco area that seems so popular on new builds, I'm not a fan of them in Melbourne at all. They merely block the valuable sunlight from entering, brightening and warming the house, and I'm sure they don't get used that much anyway. If you need the covered shelter, then it's likely too cold to sit outside anyway, you're better off to have it uncovered, or have a retractable awning or umbrellas for nice days when you would sit outside. And having this on your western side will only make the dining area shaded until the very late (& hot) time of day when you'll be blinded by the setting sun (unless you have neighbours on that side which shadows the afternoon light anyway). As for mould etc, just ensure you have good ventilation, good sub-floor drainage etc, I don't imagine it should be a problem usually. So glad you're considering aspect though, I see so many project homes that don't take the aspect of the home into consideration at all. With some moving around, you could have a lovely home ahead of you.

obviously there's no comparison with true daylight but, where you can't have a true skylight, the Illume (and other brands of solar powered light) are excellent... we have one in an internal bathroom and two in a big south facing room to add some extra daytime brightness..they're much cheaper to buy and install and so much more flexible to position than anything that has to have a hole in the roof and ceiling and there're no loss of heat or risk of leaking...the other advantage is that the fibre optic cable that connects the internal "light" to the external solar panel is about 9 m long so the solar panels can be positioned on the sunny side of the roof ...only problem is that because they look like light fitttings you have to get used to the fact that you can't switch them off during the day although i believe that some of the Illume lights can include an electric light for nightime use (which might be better than multiple fixtures on the ceiling) ...they have several different and custom sizes and can also be installed vertically on a wall and could make a great feature above a door in a hallway or to create the look of highlight windows in an internal room....we're very happy with ours and will add some more

the original question was to add more light to the kitchen and i've also reduced the overall size without losing any of your preferred features but it's still a very generous house with options to reduce more if necessary...my suggestions include changes that simplify the main roof and uses a simple "flat" roof over the alfresco with panels of lazerlite the most economical way to avoid too much inside shading or an adjustable flat alfresco roof the best option to allow winter sunshine and summer shade and Velux roof windows and/or Solar Skylights would be a worthwhile investment to add more light and/or ventilation inside but, ..unless you already have a 24 seat dining table (about 8m long?) i suggest that three 8 seater folding tables would be more flexible and allow for more intimate occasions and i've added an optional storage area in the garage that could be useful to store extra furniture and there's also plenty of inside storage ..it's such a good size block of land that there should be space for a driveway and parking area on the east or south sides and plenty of space for a pool, the north window in the master ens could be converted to an external door and i've added a small hallway to separate the rumpus room from the master suite..the first plan shows the house on the block with furniture and the second plan omits the furniture and shows the simpler roof shape