Where is the lower level located under house? Does the whole space have 2.4, ceiling height ?

Something like this

What is the house built with, Brick and Tile or timber, h0ow many will live in the house what climate etc.

Kate - lower ground floor is located at the rear of the house (underneath bathroom and rear bedroom). The height of the ceiling is 2.2m in cellar and storage.

Siriuskey - The house is single brick with tile roof. Cool climate. Family of 4 or 5.

Well this is a bit of a curly one hey

There are of course many different solutions for your challenge but for the exercise let's make the assumption that you're OK with spending some decent money (because it will cost whatever it will whichever way you do it if you're both adding and altering existing) and that you're after a 4 Bedroom 2 Bathroom scenario.

The degree of difficulty is high with a sloping front to back south facer (ie north at the street) so it's hard to get natural light to the rear/private spaces.

The logical solution is to demolish the garage and replace with something at the front, develop a new entry to the east side with a LKD extension managed on a split/lower level directly connecting the house with the rear yard/pool.

Below an early concept from a similar situation we did a while back..

The existing lounge/entry becomes a 2nd living/retreat for the bedroom zone, existing kitchen/dining becomes the Master/ensuite. This way you get better bang for buck and more cost effective result by maximising spend on a clean/new addition that is the main living zone and minimising renovation to existing (which is as you describe is nothing that spectacular but is practical/fine for bedrooms/secondary areas) as you don't really need to do much than add a wall and refit kitchen to a bathroom. Furthermore a benefit of a solution like this is that you can remain living in the house longer without the need to move out while the extension is completed to the side and then do the master suite reno works after the new kitchen is finished.

That's just a basic outline and of course you need to consider alternatives with accurate site data & crunch numbers but you'll find one way of the other you'll spend the money, either by a rearranging the sock drawer approach to the existing with a modest extension which won't do much to connect the house any better to the rear area, or by doing something which may initially seem costly, but I can guarantee would be so much better on so many levels and a better way to invest into your home

best of luck

PD

www.pauldistefanodesign.com

Do you use garage?

Hi Paul - Thank you for your detailed response and insights. A new LKD down the east side is a good option worth considering. You're right in that this project will be budget driven so we'll need to consider whether adding in a fully new kitchen is acheivable. Return on investment is really important for us as we only envisage staying in this house for another five years or so.

If we were to extend forward and build the new master up the front of the property we would be left with our LKD area in the middle of the house. In your experience is this workable? We haven't seen many floor plan examples with that layout.

Hi Kate - Only for storage. It's and old garage that our cars don't fit into. We had the idea of turning it into a studio and building a car port or small garage up the front. We could then also have a nice courtyard on that side.

If it's only a short term & tight budget scenario then the approach needs to be super conservative (and not extreme!) and there will be compromises to be made.

I'd advise against boxing in an internalised main living zone (you may even struggle to achieve compliance for habitable rooms if you don't have sufficient natural light)........extending to the front will get you the additional internal amenity (a bit like what kate suggested but I'd align the living with the kitchen/dining side and give the master bed some north light). To address better access to the rear yard while it won't give a visual connection possibly you could consider making the back corner bedroom an office/stair and drop an internal stair down into the laundry and get to the rear yard that way? You'd then get an internal access to the lower area and with this there could also be the option of changing the lower level (cellar/storage to be the master suite (depending upon ceiling heights down there) and if you extended to the front for just the living zone/new entry you could do a laundry where kitchen currently is and do a new reconfigured kitchen.

as usual your first task should be to confirm all internal measurements, location of windows and doors, correct floor levels and which walls are load bearing as more accurate dimensions may allow for alternatives like including direct internal access between garage/rumpus and an alternate downstairs bathroom etc) but, based on minimal structural changes (eg keep celing beams instead of attempting to remove whole walls) my suggestions includes some variations that can be based on budget and potential future selling price (eg for me internal stairs to access the laundry and back yard would be preferred over a carport but always best to include all options in plans to Council to minimize planning costs even if you can't do all the same time (but you must include a generous central skylight to compensate for lack of northern windows in living areas and depending on co9nsition of the existing roof it may be cost effective to replace the whole roof with Colorbond for a fresh new look

Adding stairs to lower level to access laundry would help get to backyard. I’ve tucked a toilet under stair

Sorry, toilet is over the stair subject to height clearance

Could also add a toilet in basement for pool users

Hi Oklouise - Thanks so much for your detailed response and suggestions. There are some great alternative ideas in your design that we are considering. We hadn't thought of moving the smaller bedrooms to the front. We're not sure about internal stairs down to our lower level as these aren't really living spaces, more bonus spaces for storage etc. The ceiling heights down there are only 2.1.

Hi Kate - Thanks for your suggestions. These are such easy changes that we could easily incorporate now to make our house more livable whilst we save for the big renovation.

We are going to sit down and draw a floor plan now incorporating all the ideas above which we will post on here later for some feedback.

Hi all

Thanks again for all of your responses. This has been really useful for us in breaking through our confusion and indecision (which has lasted three years) due mostly to the challenges with our block and existing house.

We drew up the above draft floor plan incorporating bits and pieces from each of your responses and some other ideas we had. It is to the following scale: One block = 0.5m.

We would love any suggestions or comments on issues we might have or ways that we can improve the layout?

Sorry if its a bit hard to read -- if anyone can recommend any easy to use floor plan drawing tools then we can try our best to draw it in that.

A few issues that we are still mulling over:

1. could we fit a pantry and laundry in? possibly with some reshuffling of the master bedroom area.

2. Will not having any windows shining morning light into kitchen and dining be an issue? We will put a skylight in to assist but not sure if this will be enough.

Fit your laundry in the old entry

Good idea in terms of improving connection with rear etc BUT depends upon the garage level and without site data I'd guess it's likely somewhere mid way /at split between existing upper/main & lower/laundry levels (as suggest by OP's sketch) and lower than upper/main?? Similar to what I was suggesting but in reality would need to be a completely new extension and somehow managed to the fall of the land which is tricky as side setbacks/wall heights on boundaries control/constrain design (and force more expensive detail with stepped form/parapets/box gutters etc) on these steep sloping sites - need the site data to resolve

There's a lot of unknown with this and the garage being old and run down needs to be a new separate extension as suggested. A lot of guess work trying to work with what information we have , things like the rear space under the house is 2200 -2100 and that the pool is 5m from the rear of the house and apparently at 3m drop.

If there is a drop in the garage slab that can be incorporated

I only offer suggestions to be taken to local Professionals to be finalized ready for council, I don't take this on

I feel it is a much better option to extend to the rear to open up the house and having a new Modern kitchen family would not only look great .but add interest and value. This could also be done in stages which saves having to move out

another variation to consider with upstairs laundry and pantry, new master suite, 3-5 bedrooms, 3-4 living areas, carport with storage, front porch and bigger courtyard accessible through mudroom and bigger decks allow for more connection to the pool area and rumpus...there's not much advantage to removing the original toilet and minimal structural changes to the original house will be much more cost effective and it would be easier to do the work while living in the house and careful consideration of ground and floor levels will allow for the best size and location of decks and the wider frontage will has more street appeal

Hi Siriuskey - Thanks so much for your advice and floor plan suggestions. Basing the extension around the existing garage structure is not something we had considered. It might be difficult with our block but we'll mention it to our builder and see what they think. Really like the glass skylight in the roof of the picture you added in as well.

HI Oklouise - Thanks for your updated floor plan suggestion. This is a great adaption of the floor plan we sketched up and I think the type of layout we are leaning towards. The only two changes we might make is to:

1) remove the wall separating the front living and middle living to allow more light into the house and open it up a bit; and

2) remove the current side door out to the courtyard and replace it with a bigger sliding / bi-fold door in the line with the rest of the exterior wall so that we can move the dining area over a bit.

Also, what program do you use to sketch?

Thank you for your response, I did make few mistakes and think I miss read the block, does the block also slope East to West? and if so what foundation is the old garage on, is there access space under it. I will try to adjust it over the weekend. Also what are the houses on either side how close to the boundary etc and do you have views to the rear of your property. A google picture would be helpful

I use a very old program and did think to draw your great drawing and ran out of time, I will look to do that at the weekend if things are quieter

This is what I read your sketch as being, can you please check., My walls are 100.

And this with furniture

And with a couple of changes, both bedrooms are the same size, Master bath and robe are wider, plus change to the position of steps on the deck to allow for a sliding glass door from the rumpus to access the Studio and pool.

And the updated floorplan using the demolished garage for new kitchen dining with access to the new ground floor rumpus room overlooking the pool. This connects to the existing space under the house which has 21-2200 ceiling which is legal for utility rooms. This will keep any extension ground works in the one area

Hi, late to the party, haven't been around much lately, busy with fb groups constant dire need of help lol  but this is what I would suggest, more ideas in the mix. Hey All the best!