Thank you siriuskey. Yes that's what I was referring to, but I think I wasn't giving credit to the island sink, which would also serve for food prep. I was thinking about efficiency from my perspective. Euro bins next to sink in island, would be beneficial for ease of handling waste. Another consideration is: when using cooktop and extraction fan, will noise from fan interfere with person in study? Also, will steam from say, boiling water steam bother anyone using the study desk? I am not trying to throw cold water on the plan by my questions, I'm merely trying to imagine diff scenarios so as much as can be taken into consideration is. I have a glass splashback behind induction cooktop and a very effective extraction fan; however, when a large pot of water is at full boil, the glass steams up something chronic and I have to constantly wipe it and the underside of exhaust fan or else water drips down onto the cooktop (and any food I'm cooking).

Lets start with logic -- if you want to add more stuff , within the same walls , it will be more cramped . The only way is to take space off something else . Without knowing load bearing walls , directions , window sizes , etc , etc , etc , I'll make a couple of POSSIBLE suggestions , but neither may be suitable for a whole variety of reasons . One would be to cut a door from the Master bedroom into the Living , wall across and create an ensuite . The Living isn't huge , so then you'd have to keep going , and maybe open the wall to the kitchen AND take out that back hallway , from the door in the existing hallway . You should then have space to swap the living and dining rooms , but without even getting into the engineering side , you will have a bedroom and bathroom opening off the living , the studio and laundry may be a bit funny , etc . But heres an off-the-wall suggestion -- that Bed 4 looks small . Split it , make it part WC , part laundry . What to do with the existing studio/laundry/WC ? You possibly have space to add a shower , and presto -- you have a new Master with en-suite ! Now , it does look like that may have been an addition abyway , it may not work materials wise , you may not want to be at that end of the house , BUT its an idea . Got you thinking ?

The wow factor can be achieved in many ways. You have a big parcel of land at 700sqm. At the moment you have a big box as your house plan with, in my opinion, too many rooms for only 3 occupants. You obviously have a decent budget, so look at a plan that has multifunctional rooms, that will offer the same use but not vacant rooms not being used. You have 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and 4 living areas, for 3 people. Do you have a view, will you ever actually sit at the balcony or just have to sweep it when dust accumulates. Build smart not necessarily big. Are you needing a house with all these rooms, or are you trying to impress friends and family. We all want to impress our friends and family, but a nice looking home with a wonderful FEEL and the WOW factor doesn’t have to be lots of rooms that may not get used.

Just thinking about this more....because it is better than doing my overdue tax or taking palm trunks to the dump... :o) ......All of the designs have such great features to them and in some respects I need to just get a builder to look over them to let me know which would be cheapest for what I need and would like. Once the technical things are sorted (cladding, electrical, plumbing, insulation), the things that I like in a home mostly are inside/outside living (seeing views) and a bright, light filled space (natural light). I find it depressing ...literally.....to be in a living space that is dark. I wanted the living area to be maximised in this space due to the work that I want to do in future with girls with autism; a small open plan kitchen with this and this area that we use have the higher ceiling to make it feel bigger.... then I need an office space, which could even be largely shut away within a cupboard if necessary. I will lose the view and a bit of light from the back sliding door because of me putting a privacy screen with gate between this building and the pool area. I have a slight view and good light from the big sliding window at the back (I would have to close blinds though, if people were using the pool area). I definitely need more light coming in from the East where the leaking colour glass window is, but I would like for them to be high so that I cannot see the neighbour's house. I think the windows on the western side are sufficient because it gets very hot on that side of this building from about 4pm (earlier in summer). Then the sliding doors at the front bring in light, but at the moment it is not totally private becasue it looks onto the road from a long driveaway. My main bedroom can be small as long as it has room for queen bed, good storage, and room for a dog bed for a golden retriever sized dog. I like the idea of having the dogs going on the deck...however, they do bark at possums at night.(They have a lot of yard to use too during the day). I do need a room where a mother and new born pups can be isolated from the other dogs). I like the idea of having a toilet and basin of some sort, separate to the main bedroom, if there is only one toilet, because it provides separation from my personal things to the main living area. I guess the second space for the dog and pups could be a laundry or a "bedroom" or "office" or "storeroom". The area for the dogs has to be on ground level and I think I would prefer my bedroom to be on ground level too as I am not getting any younger (and want to think about future needs) and ideally I would to be here til my early 70's if all works out well. It doesn't worry me whether the main bedroom ceiling is high or not, because I spend so little time in there. However, it would be good if the other spaces (except bathroom/laundry) had the higher sections of ceiling to make them feel bigger. I am only saying all this, because when I look at all the plans, I think the best one may end up being mainly from one, with elements taken from another. Thanks so much for your help. I still have the option (one day) to maximise the use of the big attic space in the main house as with the non-compliant stairs to it and only two tiny windows in it, and it being so hot up there, it is not really useable at the moment, but the pool house is highest priority because until it is liveable, then I can't recoup any expenses by renting out the bigger space (the main house). (It does look like a demo site though in many rooms,)