Before doing any work at all I’d have a rough master plan for the whole property. Without it you run the risk of wasting money.

Can you post a site plan, google earth. You have marked out the carport so I would suggest that the new laundry is directly below the bathroom with access to the external stairs or will you consider enclosing the stairs.

Thanks people. I'd welcome ideas for downstairs too @oklouise. I envisage a house where my young children feel comfortable staying around as they become teenagers into young adults, so maybe a teenage area downstairs away from parents.

The carport doesn’t need to be under the house.

Kitchen stays upstairs as that’s where the nice view is. Second and likely main bathroom needed

I did try and post some links but they didn’t upload @siriuskey. Yes planning to ask about enclosing back stairs

@bigreader I hear you- unfortunately the water proof membrane has been ruptured so I don’t have the luxury of lots of time in this scenario

Lastly there is no storage in the house, just one wall to wall BIR I added to the wall on the back of the bathroom

@oklouise are they shaving cabinets where I have the blue arrows pointing?

BTW I love this!!

They are towel rails.

they are towel rails and there is a wall cabinet above the vanity

@oklouise is there a reason I cant leave the toilet in its current position with the door in its current position in your first version? is it because the door would be too close to the new exterior door created where the hallway is now? and same for version two?

Secondly, is there a reason not to do away with the door and the wall as per this photo?

depending on local regs my first suggested toilet room may be too short (as i kept the bath space and wall unchanged) and the second option was to allow for more toilet room and, if necessary move the wall and window, but i think it's a mistake to alter one room without considering all the other rooms upstairs and down....if you want an extra bathroom downstairs it makes better sense to at least plan both toilets at the same time even if you don't do all the work at once but we need more details of the downstairs space including size of the whole area and location of all support columns (ie distance between posts) location of proposed new stairs and new balcony/decks etc a rough hand drawn sketch is fine as long as we can read the dimensions but why is the carport in the middle of the downstairs space, what is the width and length of your block and where is the driveway and front gates

Sure thing.

Dimension underneath i will get ASAP

Plan downstairs to allow self contained in future or shared laundry accessed from rear put a future entry from under current landing. Make it a window if you don’t want a door yet. Consider where the sun will be and outside terrace area for living space to extend out

Before renovating the bathroom, think about future plans for the property. Is there room for a back deck? Would you be likely to do this at some stage? If so, is it an option to swap the bathroom into the bed 3 space? This would then give you more flexibility down the track in opening or extending out the back. Just a thought.

the reason for the compartmented bathroom with extra doors is so that the bathroom can be used by several people at once and anyone who has had teenagers or shared one bathroom with multiple other people including guests knows that extra privacy is usually welcome and if the bathroom is to remain open into a central living area it's also great to have more separation between public and private room

@oklouise, as a parent of two toddlers, I’m not even allowed to close the door to toilet shower or bathroom, so this explanation very helpful to my future vision of life

@ruth Benjamin-Thomas thanks for the great ideas. there is no extra space on the block, the footprint I’ve got is what I’m stuck with.

ignoring actual dimensions my suggestions for downstairs include garage, mudroom, rumpus with kitchen, laundry, two bedrooms and internal access to upstairs...this new downstairs plan now suggests an alternate arrangement for the upstairs bathroom that allows for current family with two small kids and an upstairs laundry and could more easily evolve into a home with separate downstairs accommodation for adult kids or rental ... future upstairs has a master suite using the current revised bathroom for ens and pwder plus a generous wiw and guest room/ study

@oklouise this is seriously amazing!!

I will visit for dimensions on Wednesday.

In the meantime, can i ask, is the only alteration youve made to the current kitchen to move the bench space where the stools are out s bit further? PHotos for current context.

Also just a comment. Im so in love with the first bathroom design you made. I just love having the vanity in its own space. I will need to do some talking to myself to come round to the model youve designed with the future in mind :)

looking at the kitchen photos the difference in the space shown for the kitchen is due to the fact that there is an opening between dining and living that has short side walls near the edge of the island which i didn't know about before your photo so my plan looks like the kitchen is bigger when in fact your walls make it appear that the island only reaches the edge of the room...depends on how the measurement are made...clear as mud?? but no need to change what already works, and, if you love the separate vanity space in teh bathroom you could still have that but then the toilet and upstairs laundry wouldn't work so well and access to the future wiw would need to change ....but you can see that just turning the toilet sideways makes more space for the upstairs laundry and extra handbasin in the powder room so it depends on which option you like best for now and knowing that it can be changed for the future...and the vanity downstairs is in a separate room so maybe you could move downstairs when you don't want to be up and down stairs so much

Adding more photos of the opening between dining and living

I don’t know the distance between the wall of future WIW and that decorative opening detail. Will need to check this at my next visit. any other measurements I should nab while I’m there? (I’d be interested in any takes on making the kitchen less poky too).

It also looks like toilet doesn’t jut out as far as current laundry/linen cupboard so will check that too

as usual, the photos tell a different story to the real estate plans and any accurate dimensions will help...using my rough draft of the plan you should measure the length of every wall corner to corner and hand write the dimensions in BIG letters and also add locations of any missing doors or windows and we can attempt a more accurate plan of the original house before attempting to suggest any variations

...and it could help make the kitchen less pokey to remove the big cabinet next to the fridge and have a counter and window overlooking the backyard

Excellent- will do

The builder says the cupboard will stay but just be narrower since the current toilet doesn’t line up with the linen cupboard and is hindered from lining up by the windows….

These are the windows in the dining next to the toilet

your numbers need to be much BIGGER for us to be able to read them

NB: THe bathroom shape is represented best by the plan I put back up the top called "Old Bathroom"

IM still in love with the bathroom with separate vanity :) i also love the WIW in the future but will just accept that access to ensuite is a bit circuitous.

yeah!!!

much better dimensions for the whole house plan but still missing the width of dining, living and hallway (which impacts the width of the whole house) AND here is another option for the bathroom with the separate vanity plus underbench washer as i wouldn't want to always go up and down stairs for the laundry

oooh interesting new layout! You are so clever!! I wish my brain worked like yours :)

Do the dimensions of the slab help with the width of the whole house? The slab is directly under the house (excluding verahndahs and kitchen). (I am kicking myself for missing these measurements)

Also can confirm the measurements from back fence to rear staircase range from 2.2m to 2.9m, which means (as far as I can tell) enclosing back stair case is allowed :)

dimensions of slab will give a good estimate but more important will be builders' response to all the support columns and if any can be moved if needed and location of enclosed staircase is critical so suggest that you discuss with your local council so that you know everything that is allowed

I think this sums up what i need to know re the back fence distance from house.

@oklouise I am back to my house on Friday morning - will get missing measurements - the width of dining, living and hallway. Wondering if there is anything else glaring missing?.

Im started to get quite enthused about planning the ground floor build in and making a start on maybe just the DA and the exterior walls.

When i look at the work up you did of the ground floor already, I can see that I will have to trim some of the width off the rumpus and mud room. Ive had a go of reworking it myself, but havent come up with anything great.

the size of your slab may measure differently as it probably doesn't have any external walls but it's time to start talking to a local builder.. we can imagine all sorts of great ideas but it's time to talk reality with a builder about both the upstairs bathroom and options for downstairs

Absolutely. Have had two builders through for the bathroom already, with third one coming on Friday :)

Ok, I can appreciate I may have exhausted everyone's interest.

JUst in case I havent, though, I had a builder on the ground floor this morning, and after talking with him, wondered about whether i can have a floor plan that works with the existing support beams, and incorporate a self contained area and doesnt bother with the garage. ( i can build one of these out the front).

Hi again, @oklouise, I have been poring over your ground floor proposed design, and wondering if you can resend with slightly more pixels? I find it hard to read some of the numbers at the top of the plan . Many thanks in advance :)

what did the builders suggest for downstairs???? and you need to confirm with council that a garage or carport can be added (having enough space doesn't necessarily mean that it's legal) and do you expect to build under the verandahs OR only under existing upstairs rooms as that makes considerable difference to the options (and costs) and what do you mean by "self contained areas" ?

I asked what he would do, if he moved in himself. He said he'd move the steel beams, but that it would involve engineering and putting the house back up on stilts. He said he'd do car port out front and build under existing rooms (excluding kitchen). He also said the engineering and putting house back on supports would be an expensive undertaking, which I dont see the point in doing, as one of the reasons I bought the house was that it was already raised to legal height for building in under neath.

SO I am hoping to work around the steel posts, there are only three on the inside.

I expect to build under the existing upstairs rooms (excluding the kitchen).

And i'm wondering if I can have the plan, get devt approval, and do part of the work before we move in in about 18 months.

Im a single parent with full time custody, so i started thinking while the kids are small, maybe underneath could just house a nanny/au pair and I could have some live in help. And then when i dont need a nanny, the part that they inhabited could go back to being for my original intention, a teenage/young adult hang out zone.

I wondered about bed 4 (of your plan) being the living area and bed 5 (of your plan) being the bedroom for the live in /nanny and then the laundry temporarily doubling as a kitchenette. (happy now Ive resolved to keep the landry upstairs for now :) )

Thanks for the tip re the car port needing approval - such a steep learning curve with so many things to consider :)

I have plotted the LHS part of your design onto my slab along with the 3 internal posts here: Smart draw ground floor with steel posts

I doubt you’ll be able to complete works requiring a builder and permits in an 18mth period unless you already have everything ready to go and can start tomorrow. It’s always way longer and way more expensive than you think.

your dimensions are inconsistent as i have a different outcome than yours...this is why it's now time to have a local professional draftsperson draw up plans of existing floorplans as they will be able to allow correct sizes for dividing walls and local building regs etc and the builder will be able to understand those plans much better than anything we can do but, based on my understanding of your dimensions, i would include space under the upstairs kitchen to allow for a reasonable sized rumpus plus combined bath laundry, kitchenette, two bedrooms and study (this is the best way i found to accommodate the posts but should be suitable for self contained accommodation for live in staff or older kids... there are always many variations to achieve a good result, but fine details (like window placement etc will depend on how you would like to live in the house and budget

Thanks oklouise. I appreciate that. Thanks for this version too.

appreciated

Hello Raise InQLD,

I have not read all the comments above so pardon me if I am repeating what others may have said, I think you could repeat the three way (with separate loo and vanity areas) bathroom plan downs stairs under neath the top one so plumbing is easier and there is then a bathroom down there for the toddlers when they are young adults (It will feel like next week...) And they can be independent. The laundry under kitchen will also be good for the plumbing considerations. Then a few bedrooms and sitting/rumpus area in the center would be great. But also include a laundry chute maybe from the bathroom to bathroom: just so easy for every day living. It is a gorgeous home and one that will be very suitable for all the years that the children stay at home forever for too. Cheers Margot

@oklouise - is there a rationale for putting the kitchenette in the rumpus room? Is this the way to retain the single dwelling definition of the house?

a downstairs kitchenette is just for convenience and because you suggested that you might want separate living quarters downstairs for older kids but legal definition of a single dwelling needs to be discussed with your local council