Where is the front street on your block?

Hi Chris,

why hasn't your designer extended out to the North instead of having the alfresco on the South in Melbourne

I was thinking the same. It’s seem the west elevation has the most windows, which is not the best for a solar passive renovation.

Sorry, what is SS Brick veneer?

Single Storey. RE Orientation, we are in a court bowl - the street is to the North of the house (left of the page). We arent able to extend any further forward then what the loungeroom is currently due to council restrictions.

Hopefully this helps (north is up the page)

Hi Chris, I’ve got a few thoughts.

1. If possible, I would look at having a skylight or two over your kitchen / meals areas to bring in a bit more light, as I think the meals in particular could be quite dark.
2. Have you thought how you will layout your furniture in the main bedroom? I would be tempted to make it a bit longer towards the back fence, if possible given set-backs etc, and put the bed on the wall opposite where you have the window now. This would give you privacy of not being able to see the bed from the hallway.
3. I would maybe put the window in the main bedroom on the back wall so you overlook the backyard not the alfresco, but this depends on where you plan to put the bed.

Thanks for all of the thoughts and suggestions!

1. We had certainly thought about extra lighting for the kitchen/meals - whether it be skylights, or maybe a highline window along the long, western facing wall that will have a tv on it. We had also thought about maybe having a an extra street facing window in the kitchen area (near where the hotplates are shown) but not sure if this will be overkill and/or reduce the amount of wall space for cabinetry in the kitchen.

2. We had thought that we would have the bed along the rear wall, so that we can place a window on the wall that backs onto the WIR/next to the ENS extrance. I take your point that it would mean you are facing a corridor with a door when lying in bed which isnt ideal. We could probably go back another 0.5-1m if needed.

3. Not sure how i feel about having the window facing the rear of the block (this is where our veggie patch and chickens are). I guess it doesnt necessarily have to be a floor to ceiling window like its shown at the moment. i guess i figured that we would make a nice, dense garden bed between the alfresco and the bed1 and this may 'hide' the alfresco a bit from its view (probably worse things to look at anyway...). What would be better in an ideal world - a south-east facing window, or a south-west one in a bedroom?

If we were to put the bed along the eastern wall, what sort of length do you think it will need to be accomodate a queen bed with bedside tables? Id imagine 4m would be ok, but 4.5 would be better?

Some people would like looking at their vege patch and chickens!. If facing the alfresco, you could put a screen up till the plants grow. Lots of interesting gardening screening available.

Very true! It's just a messy looking part of the garden at the moment - could well change in the future I guess! I think we had also earmarked that wall to extend and incorporate into the veggie patch, but this doesn't have to be a lock.

unable to read original dimensions but, based on estimated room sizes, my suggestions include reversing the master bed and ens/wiw to reduce extra hallway, enlarge ens and have master bedroom window on the eastern side (overlooking a side courtyard? with morning sun) the ens and wiw have highlight windows and a small ens window for a glimpse of the chooks and cross ventilation...remove storage from end of laundry as well as bathroom to allow toilet to be enlarged to add a handbasin...more storage can be taken off old bed 1 with access from the hallway and alternate entry to new bed 2, there's different window options and, rather than the square alfresco with hip roof, consider a rectangular alfresco (similar sqm but easier to furnish) with a simple skillion roof including transluscent panels and what about corner windows to highlight the "triple fronted" feeling of the house

I notice that your neighbour to the left of your house is further forward than your house so wouldn't this set a precedence ?, I live in a Cul De Sac and that seems to be the case

@siriuskey Due to the shape of the court bowl, our setback is actuall quite similar to the neighour to the west (the structure along the shared boundary is actually just a carport). Also, the neighbour on the other side is setback quite a bit further - our council typically looks at an avg of the two (unless you really, really want to fight it and have good reason). We could come forward in the area where the current master is, but it would be a pretty difficult extension/remodel.

@oklouise I really, really appreciate all of your hard work - its amazing! Thankyou so much :)

Couple of thoughts...

Although I get that "losing" the hallway in the new master gives more space, I think I prefer the idea of having a "buffer" from our bed to the kids rooms (extra privacy as they get older), so quite liked having the ensuite and robe between them - not just a single plaster wall. We also liked the idea of having a window looking out to the alfresco/main part of the backyard (even though it faces SW) - we could maybe look at a second window (possibly a high line one) on the eastern wall to give it more morning sun but am not sure if many bedrooms have two windows on parallel walls.....

The laundry and toilet has recently been reno'd, so i think we'd rather just stick to leaving those two rooms (and the adjoining cupboard) as is.

We had toyed with shifting the current Bed 1 door so it is in the same area as all the other bedrooms but sort of settled on allowing our eldest to have a little bit of extra privacy by having his door away from others. Not 100% settled on this however.

I'll ask the designer about bringing the kitchen area forward (it will be 0.5m) and see if he thinks the roof will work better this way. Its hard to know what will increase or decrease the price to get the work done - does pulling down a wall altogether and moving it 0.5m cost THAT much less then blocking a doorway/opening in the wall and leaving it where it is? Whos to say with tradies these days! Either way, you need a carpenter, a plasterer and a painter....

Re the lounge - i quite liked the idea of the 0.7m deep alcove which would be an inbuilt desk and cabinetry (the home wont have a dedicated office) but we were a little bit concerned that you would be working with you back to the street, with a large window between you and people coming up the driveway (eg people looking at the home from the road will see into the lounge and may well be looking directly at your study/work area.

Re the family/living room - its interesting that you have the tv on the southern wall, with the 2 couches facing that way vs having the tv on the western wall like the initial design. I get that not everything is about the TV (modern world though i guess....), but i did quite like that the whole southern wall was window - looking out onto the garden - and the tv could be easily viewed from the living, meals and kitchen. Its a little bit more "tucked in" with it on the southern wall (could be seen as a good thing though!).

Re the alfresco - i can see that the longer, skinnier alfresco with a standard skillion roof may give more space and probably cost quite a bit less to build, but i do think that a fully enclosed roof like the initial design shows does make it feel like a flowing part/extension of the whole home and not just the tacked on deck outside.

I might attach a higher res photo so the dimensions are a bit clearer. Can i ask what program it is that you are using? Its very handy to be able to drop in standard fixtures and furniture to fill out the room and give you a clearer idea of the size and shape!

Existing - https://ibb.co/ZfxZmtk

Proposed - https://ibb.co/K7BHg2p

very pleased that you have made such thoughtful decisions about your new plans (btw sound proofing and solid doors can be added between beds 1 and 4 and in fact solid core doors are a worthwhile investment for every room) and my CAD program is called 3D Home architect and is a very old program that's no longer available or supported on line (and i usually have to resize standard fixture to suit Australian options but it does allow me to create very crude 3D images that your designer should also be able to share) i think others have found the program second hand on Ebay or similar with the hard cover book of instructions if you have time to learn how to use a very old system) and would be happy to see actual dimensions of the original house to resize my ideas but make sure to ask your builder about my suggested roof changes as it could mean that the new roof could be lower down/easier/cheaper than impacting the original ridge line even if you decided not to change so much inside

having more accurate dimensions for my suggestions reinforces my preference for moving that dividing wall instead of having an alcove in the lounge...extra space in the kitchen, dining, family room and pantry will be well worth it without any loss of space for a study area and the alcove restricts different furniture placement...maybe rearrange the lounge to see how furniture plus desk space would actually fit before finalising the plans eg is the fireplace a feature and/or could desk sit against east or west walls/windows to avoid the back to the view problem?

My thoughts are that the Alfresco has the wrong aspect for MEB, so suggest something like the following might work. At the moment arrival at the house means a long trek to the front door and another long distance to the kitchen or a longer trip to the rear of the house so this for me gives better access. The new master I feel is too tight in the WIR and Ensuite and prefer where OKL had it but still keep the WIR at the entrance to the master as you end up with a dressing room.

There is a canberra based architect who specialises in updating your era and type of home.

light house architects.

Okay, a completely different take on your plans, taking into account the northern sun will not get into your living areas, on your proposed plans, and as Melbourne has more cold days than hot days I would be looking for the winter/northern sun into living rooms. So I have twisted everything around. This allows bifold or stacker doors opening up to the northern sun. Living, dining kitchen to be built as far forward as allowed. The master bedroom gets the northern sun as well, and is away from the minor bedrooms giving privacy. The meals becomes walk through robe, the kitchen becomes the master ensuite. Two new bedrooms get built on the south corner. Therefore bedroom 3 doesn’t need changing and bathroom, laundry toilet stay as is. The old sitting becomes an area for extra living with access to backyard. Just a different take for renovations…..

Nice one, Chris!! I think this looks really good. If you leave the alf where it is the garden between it and MB will be good foil for bathroom too. I prefer the ensuite and robe where they are for MB too I suggest adding two long windows to the east in MB for morning sun either side of bedhead: above tables... 4 m is great for bed and 2 tables. I cannot read the length N-S dim of the MB but make it at least 4 m. Add a window to the sough too because you can and you can wake to watch the chooks! Also make the robe db sided: long mirror at the end with hanging and long and half hanging one side and shelving (do not need to be too deep: 300 or 350 might be enough) the other so there are no dead corners. If you can enter ensuite thru robe it is better: another level of privacy and sliding doors are great there. Hall into bedroom 900 is enough leaving another 100mm for robe! Yes much better. I would want another kitchen window to the north/street. could be handy to see who is coming up the court or just a tad more light. Next to fr pop in the wall oven so your not bending, twisting, lifting balancing with hottest roast dinners. Looks wonderful: it is a shame the orientation is not right but with deciduous trees down the west side it will be shaded in summer and lighter in winter. Enjoy!! Cheers Margot

Chris b, looking at the compass point on plans, then the designer west and north elevation, this appears not to correlate. Which is correct? The elevation shows the home frontage is facing exactly west.? And the side of the home is north on the elevation.

My thoughts too dreamer

The proposed reno layout is well thought off, no suggested changes really :) Then my 'what if' thoughts for max potential with wow factors took over lol (: all the best, great suggestions here already from the community

Question has Daniela/Dan now become Jean L ?

Update to my original floorplan, keeping in mind dreamer and my question re aspect.. The alfreso area's can be covered or not. Depth of front alfresco is subject to distance to boundary

Thanks for all the input everyone - its given me a lot to chew on. The extension on the bottom of the page is slightly limited, and although we may be able to bring it forward another 0.5m, im not sure anything further then that is doable, and it would certainly need to be stepped as per the original extension plan. I understand that its good to get as much northern aspect living as possible, but we arent keen on having any living spaces at the front of the house. We may look to install a small courtyard with a sitting area/rock garden infront of the future extension ( basically behind the fireplace wall) but it will be a secondary "outside" area only due to privacy.

Jean - we hadnt thought too much about the config of the new open living space, but can certainly see some benefit in having the kitchen where you placed it.

Kitchen and Home Sketch Designs - Not too sure what you mean with regards to the WIR layout, could you elaborate? Yes, its not an ideal orientation (both of the block, and the existing house) but not everyone can have a North facing backyard! We are well shaded to the western sun by some large neighbouring trees and the backyard gets good light. We may look at add a couple of sky lights in the kitchen area though to brighten those spots regardless of the layout and final design.

RE: the orientation @siriuskey and dreamer - the front of the house (straight on) actually faces NW - maybe they just picked "West" and then the rest followed suit. They could have just as easily called it "North" and changed the other notations too. For a true "north" elevation, the house would be on an angle which i guess they tend to avoid at this early concept stage....

Thanks again

My floorplan by moving the kitchen with highlight windows above the cabinets into what is the old carport was to take advantage of the aspect, to allow for better light and access into the house. As previously mentioned your current floorplan and the proposed new plan don't address this access problem.

We only offer suggestions for you to take to your local Designer to finalize your plan to take to council because at the end of the day they are responsible.

It will cost you but it is money well spent to get the best result, hopefully we have saved you by offering our ideas.

Is there a plan for a new carport as that hasn't been mentioned and is important

Hello Chris, I would not go with sky lights: they loose too much heat in winter and enter too much heat in summer. Add another window instead. The master robe: if you have enough width in the room would work with two straight runs of storage. one side with hanging and db hanging, the other side with squares of shelving for folded things. The hanging needs to be 500mm deep and the shelving can be 300 or 400 deep with walk way down the center and long mirror at the end. So total of 1600 minimum but more would be better. It will not then have the dead corner but plenty of space for everything@ Hope that makes sense..... always: where ever you can avoid the dead corners. angle bench in kitchen across a corner with drawers below works very well. Or put the DW or cook top across the corner: better much better! Go well. Cheers Margot