would you consider sacrificing some of bed 3 for a bigger laundry and, although you said there is no privacy on the north side, is there an option for landscaping to screen bad views on the north side without losing light inside and would you sacrifice the sliding glass door off bed 4 for more space in the new dining area and/or a bigger laundry mudroom between garage and new dining area? ...some photos would help

Thank you Louise, good questions. We'd prefer to move the laundry into Bed 3 (guest bedroom only) and put an external door there too to access hanging space but we have been advised against this. The idea being it is extra expense and reduces resale value as the bedroom will be compromised. I'm not fixed in my thoughts though. We own no land on the north side of the unit beyond that on the plan. We would like a mud room though and the sliding glass door in bedroom 4 is not a deal breaker, but it is dark in that room too. Thanks again.

How many will be living in the house and why are you showing the large Living room as the Office instead of perhaps Bed 3. Are you able to fence off the North side shown or plant for privacy, can you add pergola's

is the bench style dining due to limited space or a personal preference as extending into the extra square of external space makes a much bigger potential dining area but my initial thoughts include these two option: a new laundry mudroom is only the existing distance between garage and original back door with no sliding external door to bed 4 and more space in the dining area, the laundry in bed 3 is virtually a Euro laundry to combine back to back with new kitchen sink location and i wouldn't add an extra external door to allow the utility room to retain multi purpose use and assume that you already access rear garden through the garage? (and check out illume and arcol solar skylights that are much cheaper than traditional skylights and more can be added in multiple locations without compromising the roof) and would an extra window on western side of living room be an option and what about high windows in the new dining area on the north side?

What space do you have at the rear of the building, South side

Thanks all, there's my wife and two kids to cater for. The land to the north of the dining area is a roofed carport not on our title so pretty restrictive (including west facing window from the living room). We have 2m to the boundary on the south side. Mudroom would be well positioned where you suggested except for it cuts out most light to Bed 4 and the patio area needs to be sufficient to have a dining table and BBQ. Also, we could swap bed 3 and the office but we work from home and prefer the larger space and light and keep the pokey bed 3 for guests!

renovations are always about compromise so what about the alcove in bed 4 accessed from the garage for the new laundry? and that leaves generous pantry, kitchen and dining space and central placement of the opening for the new sliding back door will retain more useable space for a barbq and bench and bottom of window into bed 4 and dining area should be above 75cms to allow for built in seating and furniture inside and out (although a simple extending dining table would fit the new dining space more comfortably) but a non full height western window will be more flexible for furniture placement and easier to screen against fierce western sun and you may find that a retractable awning will also make the patio more comfortable in hot weather...

Hello Richabbey, It is a dilemma when the kitchen is central like that and it does make it very dark. I do not mind the new arrangement except the laundry is too small: I do not think Euro laundry work except for two bed units. However I like the walk thru laundry from garage to dining area: much better. It will make the court smaller but I think that is better. and the pantry could work well with two benches for appliances to be used in there and maybe there is room for another cupboard for coats or linen? Looks good: Enjoy! Margot

The cost of the small extension won't give you any advantage, I would work within the current foot print.

Use the bathroom plumbing to add a large laundry cupboard and make the entry more interesting.

Open up the wall between the kitchen and lounge, use highlight windows above dining alcove, with sliding doors to alfresco outdoor living this could have a pergola

Add a sliding door to the guest bed 3 for access to rear of property and clothes line plus allow extra light.

The kitchen without a WIP gives more space and if it is fitted correctly will be very handy.

Lots of possibilities

Better

Can you post a google shot showing your property and your immediate neighbours so we can see what land is included in your property, thanks

This if I have misunderstood your property

With the budget you have, seriously consider working within the existing footprint of the house. You may need to forgo the pantry.

Keeping extension to the garage link for new laundry - connecting from ensuite plumbing

Thank you so much, awesome input. Not sure how to respond to it all but every post has an element we will try and incorporate. The red line shows the boundary of the building and the green is the boundary of the title. The carport labelled in red is not ours :(

Thx for posting the roof. Is the back bedroom and some of the main house in an extension? Are you spoken to the Council to see if you can push the walls out as your proposed plan?

Here is an embarrassingly rough effort including some of the input from you guys using the original floorplan. I like the idea of the laundry in the hall except smaller to make it symetrical (I can't put the laundry between the house and the garage as that would only leave a small highlight one the south side of bedroom 4. I also like the idea of the larger pantry. I like the idea of opening up the lounge AND I like the idea of a cosy booth.

I know it does not all fit together, but it is getting there

Here is a version with the expanded footprint (we could use the garage for the laundry - it is long enough, even if we did park there.

Thanks again everyone.

Hi can you add that carport belonging to neighbour on your plan. Where is the turning circle for the car to access/egress the carport? In your latest plan you are losing your hall cupboards and steeling space from bedroom for laundry? Where is the value there

Sorry. the laundry was terrible draftsmanship on myh part (as is the carport). I have no idea how someone was supposed to access the carport without reversing up the driveway or vice versa (even when minis were small it would have been impossible to do a three point turn).

One of the expensive issues you’ll need to tackle is if you’re moving or adjusting the original pre-extension back wall of the house. It will be holding up the roof. Do you need a larger laundry for doing laundry? Or do you just need more storage?

using siriuskey's excellent idea for the walk in laundry near the front door with a variation for a cavity sliding door and extra storage and no changes to exterior walls (except for new windows?) would allow for a new kitchen and meals area but there wouldn't be enough space for a walk in pantry plus reasonable sized island but still a generous kitchen with plenty of storage, big fridge, wall oven, double sink with DW, 1500 wide reach in pantry and space for a big island plus a simple oval table plus L shaped bench for the eating area which would be big enough for seating about 8 people but, as always careful measurements of existing space will confirm options as dimensions on the plan can be misleading ...eg what is the precise length of the three walls around the proposed built in seating??

There is def a better flow without the WIP.

With having minimal open space on your title of land already….would the council allow you to extend your property? You may go over the build to open space ratio. As shown by the improvements above from others, there is no real need to extend the property.

Thank you Louise, thats awesome (although sad no WIP). I like the idea of the hallway being symetrical, what do you think to moving the storage to the mud room? Note the laundry would only be 90cm deep so may not be walk in, but we have v high ceilings so we could have linen above that.

if the dimensions on your plans are correct the new laundry should be about 1500 deep and 1700 wide so (with a 90cm deep hallway to access bathroom and bed 2.. just enough space to stand inside the laundry while operating the machines

and storage in the entry hall could be a freestanding chest of drawers or cabinets and there should be storage space in the mudroom but if you carefully confirm measurements of every room we may be able to suggest other options but avoiding major changes to external walls could halve your costs so well worth compromising...

More suggestions for you, seeing what land is available your property is more a "Town house"

To open up the interior to your courtyard I would add a sliding door off the kitchen. The narrow entrance from the garage could be kept as is or closed off to form part of the master for privacy, as rear entrance into the house can be via the courtyard into the kitchen diner

Also suggest that there could be a doorway where the doted lines are to give privacy from the current kitchen dinner to the master as it's currently very exposed

The new kitchen Pantry is one that I did for a friend, it's open to the kitchen so no dark corners, the full height open shelves for food and easy access faces away from the family room so content won't be seen, the extended bench could have another sink or just be for appliances etc. You could also have another door on that end wall, but at the moment it gives you a great space to have a side table. with the skylight above.

In this floorplan I suggest using the 3rd bed as a Utility/laundry using kitchen plumbing which with a sliding door will throw more light back into the house plus ventilation with access to the clothes line For resale the front Living room can be multifunction and classed as a 4th bed if needed by closing off the double doors, access is via the front entrance and more convenient to the family bathroom than the current bed 3

Thanks for your lovely comment OKL,

thinking overnight that the 3 most important things to richabby. 1) Banquette dining. 2) WIP 3) larger laundry

So decided that I would use bed 3 for the utility as there are already enough rooms to replace it if necessary and felt this will make for better use of the rooms. The small entrance room outside the Master could suit most people as a study.

A wall of storage could be adding to the front living space with push to open doors the same colour as the wall. Unobtrusive and there a good amount of space for shelving.

Another thought still taking bed 3, as there are enough rooms to provide 4 beds if and when wanted.

Forgot to add the Powder room

Another option to your version, close off b3 door so everything shuffle across you can increase wip, i just prefered straight bench seat than corner, so hard to get in and out. Laundry near entry is a great idea , i'll just reorganised walls for flexibility of movement. Good luck!

Great to see all the variations as we know there are always many, your budget of around $100k will guide what you are able to achieve, cheers

Thanks again everyone, I was showing your suggestions to friends and family over the weekend and they were all heartened by the community spirit as well as the value you added.