I think it would make both rooms too dark. Maybe go with a lighter floor colour?

We are also building in Christchurch :) So also had to look at these kind of requirements for sun, but we had a much smaller section to work with (800sqm). If cost is OK ideally a 2 story would get light into more of the rooms. You also saod the street frontage is 35m but the plans say currently the width of the house is only 15m, so you could run more of the house along the frontage to get it aligned with North. Its a big section are you setting it very far back from the street? Or are you worried about privacy? Is there a view Northwards, otherwise if you can set back from the street and add hedging or plantings to increase privacy I would try and align as much of the living space to get the North and west sun. Depending on what your roof is like you could also add a clerestory to get light towards the back - we are using skylights as well for our back hall and bathrooms to make sure they get as much natural light as possible.

It sounds like you've been through quite the rollercoaster with your building project! That's really frustrating to hear, especially when you had a vision that you were attached to. Construction dilemmas can be a lot to handle, and I can only imagine how the stress might have piled up over time. If you're feeling stressed (and who wouldn't be in a situation like this?), you might want to consider working off some of that tension. Since you're into home design and creating beautiful spaces, you might appreciate the aesthetic and functionality at Hitsona's fitness studio. Sometimes a little self-care and a change of scenery can inspire new ideas for other areas in life, including home design.

We are late 50's couple with 1 adult child living at home. The house design is unusual because of the unusual shape of the section. We are using the maximum coverage of the section at 40% The views are to the North out of the 2 lounge windows and 1 floor to ceiling window. We want this to be a house that has clever storage and all space to be utilised. Hopefully this is the house we retire to soon. We'd really like suggestions how to better use the space we do have. We have never built before and want to get it as right as we can. Our long term plan is to use the 2nd bedroom as an air bnb space with access around the back of the garage through sliding door into the bedroom. The bathroom and bedroom 2 can be locked off from the rest of the house. We have a medium sized dog and cat that share our space too. Thanks in advance for the suggestions.