Hello Dee, I would 'mirror image' your plan and have the kitchen against the original part of the house (to the left of your step down) and still with the island. You could then have sliding doors facing both decks, and hopefully a beautiful outlook to your garden, also a lovely vista when you walk down the steps... your living dining furniture will have the feel of more room against windows, rather than boxed in by walls.

Thanks for all the suggestions. It's taken a bit of time but I have collected a few pieces to make the space look better. I decided on a table lamp and have grouped some photos behind it. I'm really happy with the result. a couple of new cushion covers for some more colour which I love. I also have a clock for the far right wall and a picture for behind the couch. i don't love the picture but it will do until I can find something I really like (and have the funds for). thanks for all the great suggestions.

unable to read all the dimensions but assuming a narrow block of land with zero set back on the garage you would lose extra width upstairs with the additional setback needed for upstairs, none of your examples could fit the available space and there would be a lot of wastage upstairs and down with hallways and stairs and, if a suitable plan could be achieved, there would also be substantial costs ($10,000?) in council, design and plan drawing fees plus costs of living elsewhere for months to build a second story and an upstairs would not improve modest downstairs living and outdoor areas...my suggestions would be to make improvements without over capitalising and could be achieved in stages eg new laundry and move meals storage, (nb this allows the old laundry to continue to function pending completion of new laundry) rearrange bedrooms and replace old external laundry door with window and cladding, enclose the alfresco with insulated wall and cladding), move sliding glass doors and use windows to suit direction of sunlight and outlook in new family room and add a tiny handbasin (inside the wall) to the toilet and, although it's not legal to use a garage for living areas, consider a partition to create a storage area (keeping the garage door) and make a rumpus room with skylight in the garage and leave cars outdoors...these changes creates 4 bedrooms, bigger study, new laundry with storage and a much shorter inside walk to outdoor drying area, generous dining and family room and you could add paving outdoors with a giant market umbrella to replace the alfresco ...unfortunately you will still be astounded at the cost of any changes but hopefully a staged approach would make these changes manageable and you could save more with DIY freestanding flatpac wardrobes, family room and study furniture and your carpenter/ builder might be happy to credit some costs for help with demolition under supervision

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.