Hi Dim91, a slow Monday public holiday, so I have been sketching. This would be a full home renovation and extension. Above your budget, but food for long term thought. Front bedroom would become new entry and storage, through to brand new extension which include living, dining, kitchen all assuming facing north. Study becomes the new walk through into new bedrooms and living area. Kitchen becomes bathroom. Laundry stays as is. Car space stays as is. Current front door filled in as window. This is just my thoughts on paper. As you haven,t given measurements it is completely my interpretation. But, as others have said, an architect would give you information on the potential of your home, as you have the land space to extend.

Might be helpful if I talk through the parts we like and dislike with the existing rooms: - Lounge: gorgeous old fireplace and morning sun through the windows, great natural light. We spend a lot of time here - Dining: no windows and existing walls block off indirect light from the other rooms, thus why we thought it would be great to knock down some of those internal walls. If that becomes too difficult we'll need to at least do a skylight - Family: my least favourite room, mostly due to the coldness. As mentioned before, its really just being used as storage atm and long term plan is to replace it with something warmer/better constructed - Kitchen: pretty pokey, would love for it to be open with the living, dining and outdoor areas. Great view right onto the backyard from the current kitchen sink windows - Bed 1: gorgeous morning light, pretty happy - Bed 2: gorgeous afternoon light, not really used atm - Bed 3: pretty small, ok natural light. We're using it as a study currently - Bathroom: pretty old and feels abit cramped (that may just be the layout), but doesn't bug us as much for some reason, so happy to leave for later - Backyard: Flat. Very leafy and overgrown. 2 or 3 massive trees, but otherwise mostly shrubs and weeds. We're aiming to tame the weeds, plant some veggies and fruit trees and keep a few chickens for a permaculture/food forest kind of feel :) @oklouise - the block is about 16 m wide and 45 m long. From the front bedroom wall to the front fence is about 10m. From the "Family" room wall to the side fence is about 2.7m. We're in Sydney in quite a leafy suburb so I guess moderate/warm climate? And yes, we are looking into what we can do with the trees with council @Kate - thanks, we had actually thought about rotating the house initially but it turns out with the current orientation, the windows in the Lounge Room and Bedroom 1 get gorgeous morning sun, so definitely keen to keep that. We're doing laundry at the moment in the outdoor shed, which is fully plumbed and yes, existing bathroom is quite old but not bothering us too much at the moment. We're checking with an electrician and a plumber on the general state of things there Thanks for all your suggestions and questions so far - let me know if you have any great ideas!

Cute house, these little cottages are really great little homes mostly. They are just little. For best value for money I think you could make gains here.... Remove the awning. Change the verandah roof so it's more sympathetic to the house. If budget allows change out the carport skillion roof for a nice low gable. Paint the trims the same colour as the rest of the house. In a house this small keeping trims neutral will help it appear more substantial rather than pokey. Put a new rear deck on that goes all the way across the back of the house and is at least 3.6m wide. That will increase your living space dramatically in summer. Use a cafe blind or louvre roof to allow full sun in winter. The cafe blind will be cheaper overall as you may not need a DA for the deck without a hard roof structure. Depends on your area and council but in general certain decks without solid roof can be exempt development. Of course if it's a high wind area louvres will be better. Use freeform and oval garden beds in the front yard with a path that winds in between them to the front door. Adding informal interest to the garden will make the house appear more substantial and add interest and detail. The home is fairly plain. Use any style of planting that appeals, architectural foliage, floral, low maintenance etc. Just ensure you have nice varying heights and interesting foliage colour. A tall shrub or two would be good. The backyard is already quite shaded so either create a woodland garden or perhaps have some of the tree's out the back pruned to enable more light. Plan out your outdoor spaces, veggie patch, relaxation zone, fire pit etc and define them with plantings. Gravel paths are cheap and effective. I would also be inclined to create a euro laundry and steal the existing laundry space for your kitchen.

You have an ensuite and an identical bathroom around 3 steps further apart. Can't see any advantage for this. You could lose the ens, relocate the WIR and end up with a bigger bedroom, bigger WIR and save money. Your roof has these eaves all close together over what appears to be some upper level windows, but these walls aren't reflected below. If I've understood this correctly you've added significant build cost for little gain. I think the room sizes are ok but I would suggest a design professional to polish it up.