Hi I am a little confused.

1. Upstairs have you made a master with large walk through wir and ensuite and a powder room, that are now new and fixed?
2. Do you get evening breezes from west?
3. Do you need extra indoor space, my friend in Brisbane spend a lot of time on their verandahs and would not loose any outdoor undercover space.
4. Upstairs do you need a 2nd room or can it all be open plan
5. Could the stair go where current kitchen or is laundry fixed downstairs. Putting stair there would abut the steel column.
   6 how big a butler pantry do u want - existing kitchen?

HI Kate,

Thanks for taking time to read my post and share your thoughts.

1. The only thing Ive done so far is replace the upstairs bathroom as previous was damaged so water proof membrane was compromised. I renovated it with the idea in mind that it could become an ensuite one day as per advice from the clever people on Houzz.

2. Yes, i think so

3. This is definitely good food for thought. If I dont enclose the verandah, to maximise outdoor undercover space, as you say, I still have the dilemma of where to put internal stairs. Its my preference not to change too much upstairs, as it is already lovely.

4. The second bedroom upstairs needs to stay, for both guests and office. I have a big extended family out of town I like being able to accommodate.

5. Nothing is fixed on my working drafts, this is an interesting idea. HOw would you see the stairs going in that location?

6. i dont mind a small narrow rectangular or square butlers pantry.

@oklouise @siriuskey @kate

Am i missing something from this quandry to spark interest?

why was the option to enclose original rear stairs rejected as that seemed to be the best use of space both up and downstairs?

Can you sketch in how you previously has upstairs furniture set out. I had trouble trying to fit in lounge dining kithchen and stair

Or is table to be on deck and a breakfast bar in kitchen.

It was like this @kate.

@oklouise both builders noted significantly more expense with enclosing the external staircase, because the foundations are already in place for the foot print of the house. One noted problems with joining the roof lines as the pitch on the roof is already quite low at the point of the external stair case. One also said that it was important for the flow of the house to have them internal

@kate this is what I’m concerned about with my current positioning of them- that Im robbing too much space from the dining area. I dont really have a concept for how the layout would work - open to ideas. Would it improve things much to make the stairs straight along the back wall, rather than L shaped?

I’ve based these on the length of external stairs Only a sketch so would need it drawn accurately

I like the last option best. The stair could run the opposite way if the front door is to be downstairs it may flow better.

The reason I questioned enclosing the external staircase is because a friend had an Architect suggest this to her with a very similar house to yours. I would follow up on this idea, you could remove the dining windows to reuse in the staircase, leaving a hip height wall between the existing dining and stairs, Enclosing the stairs not only saves much needed floor space but also expands that room. (my friend has since sold her house)

@kate Thanks for these ideas. The last one will be hindered by the steel beam running along on the ground floor plan. I have wondered about fitting a U shaped stairs in the WIW somehow though, so we're on the same page. MOving the kitchen forward and running them along the back is something i hadnt thought of before.

@siriuskey Yes I appreciate that the more I try to find a good internal location. Its very hard.

Enclosing the external stairs to include that as valuable extra space, I would suggest the following floorplan.

What not move the kitchen downstairs What are you planning for all that space?

The views are all upstairs - its where all the living will happen.

MY idea for downstairs is its an eventual teenagers retreat - two bedrooms, rumpus, main bathroom and laundry

@siriuskey - its a really good floor plan. Im not quite ready to give up trying to find an internal option, but this is definitely my go to when I do :)

@kate what is the circle around the support beam representing in your second version?

I'am not a builder and haven't seen your house in person but I would think that a Flyover roof on the external stairs could work really well, depending on the condition of the stairs you could just wall in the stairs leaving it open underneath, or just a flat roof. You need to have an overall plan that includes the downstairs, this can be done in stages when you are ready and the kids need extra space

I was thinking a little built in bar height table. To give the column some oomph.

The flyover roof only needs a little clearance to give extra height over the stairs

the dimensions on your plans are still inconsistent and upstairs doesn't match downstairs and you need to emply a professional draftsperson to create accurate plans of the existing house but, subject to accurate measurements, the only location that i can suggest for internal stairs is a central location to allow for easy access upstairs and down ..

but i can't understand the need to knock out extra walls to enlarge the kitchen and living which imo would detract from the original Queenslander style when you plan to add so much extra living area downstairs ... extra pantry storage could be added with free standing cabinets and what do you plan to do with the rear outside stairs

After seeing your ground floor with two bedrooms facing the front of the house, I suggest that you could use the 3rd upstairs bedroom for the stairs plus space for an ensuite for the master bed, this could also allow for another bathroom below the ensuite sharing plumbing. A basic idea follows

@oklouise Thanks for these ideas. I did employ a draftsman to do the drawings- I’m surprised to hear the measurements are out, I paid good money for them. I have them on tracing paper so I can line up the levels and they are in sync when I do this but I will go back to the draftsman to correct - thanks.

I haven’t made it clear in my post that downstairs bathroom and laundry stuff will be best placed where you have the garden storage, from a plumbing/drainage/ waste perspective. This comes from the drainage plan which I have from council and builders advice

This is a great idea for internal stairs! I notice you haven’t put connecting doors between the bedroom and bathroom this time- any reason?

I also appreciate your comments about why would I go knocking out walls. I have been oscillating back and forth about whether I like this suggestion.

@siriuskey thanks for the flyover roof suggestion. I will look into this further! Also thanks for the suggested layout. Good new ideas here for me as well and another interesting internal stairs location too !

as long as you have accurate dimensions then the error must be in my interpretation, but the discrepancies include the kitchen shown as 2900 and bathroom also shown as 2900 and the walls don't line up?? but the garden store and laundry/kitchen is easily amended and i haven't shown the connecting door between bed 1 and potential wiw as you may need that room as a bedroom until the kids are older but i haven't added all the fine details as that's very time consuming and was focussed on my suggestion for best location of the internal stairs but i would only remove the absolute mimim walls so if you don't need the entry door for the new small bedroom/wiw then that wall could be left in place and only the minimum opening created to allow access to the stairs

Oh you’re right, That was a transcription error of mine when adding in the measurements in large writing - I will delete and replace that pic.

Still absorbing your comments about the entry door

and rough plans for the latest variations and i would invest in the most comfortable location for the downstairs bathroom not necessarily the cheapest

and if you want to transcribe dimensions maybe use the nearest round number as that's easier to understand and some variations can arise with different wall thicknesses

Siriuskey, that’s where I placed the stair in my friends Queenslander. The stair and ensuite is a future project and they use the external stair still.

" The views are all upstairs - its where all the living will happen. " The dimensions are a bit hit and miss but I will leave that to your local Pro builder to sort as they are responsible for this at the end of the day. We are only here to offer suggestions that we think should work give or take. The external stairs would be the more expensive option so my suggestion to use the 3rd bedroom for the stairs positions them for great access on both levels and still leave rooms for a study/single bed or future ensuite

Personally I would bump out the wall of your timber Queenslander for a better kitchen and more space for where all the living will happen, this would be done to compliment the existing house, please excuse my very bad attempt to draw the Fret work. The ground floor is just one of many layouts to work with the new internal stairs. And always important to add furniture to show how much can be fitted into spaces.

Thankyou @siriuskey and @oklouise @kate.... I really appreciate your time, effort, ideas and opinions! So much food for thought here. I will come back with questions/clarifications.

After another look at your Fret Work and having not considered that your ceilings were taller than 2.4, I noticed that the Fret works were attached to the bottom of a lower wall, so I have redone at 2.8 and then decided to match the openings between the living and kitchen to match.

Thanks @siriuskey - the ceiling height at the back wall of the house/kitchen is 210 and the ceiling height at the peak (also where the support post needs to stay in the kitchen) is 310. Apologies for omitting this detail. I had wondered about what might happen with the fret work

Gotta love those tall ceilings

After looking back at your original post and the photos that were included, I see that the fret work isn't the width of the. living dining. You mentioned a 3100 tall post had to remain but not it's size.

This new plan includes the post within a pantry next to the fridge in the new position, which works for dining and access from fridge to sink. Oven and sink are basically in original positions. I have maintained the window in the kitchen and then hoping to reuse the stacker window between the kitchen and verandah as a second window along the cooktop wall. That would mean reusing both this and the French doors

@siriuskey, thanks so much. Were you able to view the video I posted in this thread? I hope that was helpful, but I realise now I didn’t show the ceiling. The builder said the post would be 120mm by 120mm from memory

Hello Raised in QLD, This looks like a wonderful Qlder! And with heaps of potential to play with! I suggest planning both ground and first floors even if you are not able to build it all at once... you need to know what you are doing in both areas before you do anything. No spending good money after bad! Therefore knowing where is best for bathroom/laundry placement and kitchen plumbing too is great and best ideas to be followed. However it would seem that the best plumbing corner is also the best north/west corner for the sun entry. The existing family room around the (need to keep post) corner from kitchen does not look very large... is this a problem for you? If you have a master, robe and ensuite, with kit/din/fam upstairs will three bedrooms and bathroom/ laundry down stairs be fine with a sitting area? If this is so then either the the north east or west corner bedrooms could be sacrificed for storage... read pantry and stairs too. I do not know: I am just asking questions.... Trying to gather a firmer idea of how you want your home to function. This sort of playing about with plans is actually my forte' and I would love to assist you further by presenting you with lots of options on paper for you to see and think through. To this end I invite you to look over my website and contact me through it. Plenty to read and pix to look at there and the contact details too. I look forward to assisting you further to create the lovely family home of your dreams for many years of gathering memories!! Cheers Margot

Hi there! Thanks for taking time to read and comment on my post! The olympics are swallowing up all my late night renovation planning hours but I shall come back to you with questions/answers when I can