Just wanted to post the most recent plan that incorporates all of the suggestions that I have received from the very helpful people on the Internet! Changes made: - added an extra bathroom on far left of the house near kids bedrooms - changed the toilet/main bathroom to move the shower over to the toilet room so that we could have 2 separate kids showering at a time (without coming into our room - although that remains and option) - moved the door to the library so that it doesn't look into the toilets/bathroom - optimised the space in our bedroom by moving walk in closet and bathroom around. This modification even allowed us room for a tub in the bathroom a so thankful for that suggestion! Now we just have to find room in the budget lol Questions: - when you walk into a bathroom, do you prefer to walk into a shower (from the door) or into a toilet? What would you prefer visible from the door itself? Logically you are going to use a toilet 9 times out of 10 so you would think that should be there first, but there is something odd about walking past a door and just seeing a toilet there... Thoughts? - is there enough room in the 2 bathrooms we created by joining the toilet and main bathroom? Dimensions are 3m by 2m (roughly) and with a shower coming out about 1m and the vanity about 550mm, that leaves more or less 1.45m to walk around, surely sufficient? If there are any other suggestions or thoughts on what you would do if this was your home we would greatly appreciate the feedback. Thanks you all so much in advance!

I agree with emily. if you want leave connections and/or a little extra room for what you don't want, but feel you may need for resale. I think the tub is a pretty important item. wet room not at all, and shower is give or take. i would prefer a big shower and a tub for soaking in, but I have always had the combo. I remember my mom built during big wet bar craze, she did not care for one. had space built, capped off connections and use as a closet. Now it is 35 years later, everyone wants to buy and tear down. Darned if you do, darned if you don't. i agree, I would also really like the separate toilet, we are not share everything people.

Thanks for the replies! My wife suggested we talk to a local real estate agent, so i think that is a good idea... just that Im not sure how helpful they are likely to be if we arent selling yet :) As for saving for our dream house, I dont disagree, however if doing this up nicely over the next ~5 years or so while we live here nets us some extra in the eventual sale, then that of course will help us as well. Interesting thing happened today actually. I got a knock on the door and one of the older neighbours asked if he could take some lemons from the tree. I of course said yes. Anyway he was telling me he had lived in the street for 40 years. I asked him if the house had always looked like this, and he said no that ~30 years ago the old old owner did a massive renovation and pulled off the timber and put up the bricks and gutted the inside of the house. Interesting stuff!

I would clean up first. Especially the stuff growing in the paving. Then get gardening with pot plants and start experimenting with different plants and the positions. See what you like and if you can keep it alive! Our house has the sun setting over the back fence and we've done a few inexpensive things to reduce that issue (most expensive were outdoor blinds around the verandah) but for most of the year we just don't want to be out there. It is hard work to keep the plants going in summer, there is a lot of sand due to the difficulty in keeping lawn alive and it is just bloody hot. So, that's why I'm saying clean up, start gardening small and see how you go before committing to structures that might not address the real issues you have with the yard. Just my 2 cents! :)