what is the length and width of the block and please describe your climate

The blck i’m looking at is 20x35 and i’m outside Melbourne

based on the size of the block this narrow house plan with long hallways doesn't make the best use of the available space and would easily fit on a much narrower block of land ..my rough copy of your plan shows how much extra land is left over

a plan with a longer access facing north would be more comfortable and allow for better use of the block...check yourhome.gov.au for information about passive Solar design and consider alternate starting plans to suit the 20m or cosider a smaller block and i'd be happy to add your personal variations to suit

Thanks oklouise, i see what you mean. Even if i stretched the bedrooms and garage etc, it would still be very narrow and probably look odd on the block. I essentially need to rotate it, so the length is around 17-18m, and then open it up at the back with a long living/dining space to let lots of the light in, bedrooms & master at opposite ends and minimise hallway. I sort of have a picture in my head...how well i’ll be able to sketch it is another thing. I guess that’s why we pay designers!

happy to convert a rough sketch into a basic plan for you

I don't like the idea of the laundry in with the guest bedrooms. Could make doing the washing difficult if you have guests staying.

I agree with oklouise, this plan doesn't take advantage of your block (it's a plan designed for a narrow block, which are so common nowadays).

You've been blessed with a northern backyard & a wide frontage, take advantage of this.

Stretch the house or towards the side boundaries. This will increase the northern aspect (great for natural daylighting & winter warmth), & decrease the western/eastern aspect (keeping the house cool in summer).

Definitely have a very good read of the Your Home website oklouise linked. This is the section on orientation,

http://yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/orientation

Aim for the garage on the west, plus wetrooms if possible. Living areas to the north, minor bedrooms to the south. Master to the north, east or south.

As you'd mentioned, a north facing alfresco may rob your living areas of sunlight. So try minimising it's northern aspect. It's probably better to be north of the master or kitchen, as there's require a bit less light than the dining, living room. You could also look at a vergola roof over the alfresco, or a pergola covered with deciduous vines. If the alfresco is to the west it can help shade the house from the hot summer afternoon sun. Though it may be uncomfortably hot itself (vertical shading is ideal).

Maybe it could be considered to be important for resale, but do you need a second living area? If it's removed you could save money, or up the spec to a very well designed & built home.

Oh, plus stretching the house out will mean you'll have more rooms overlooking the backyard, & less rooms looking at the neighbours. So you'll increase your sense of privacy :)

Thanks everyone for the comments. Ddarroch - I'd like the have the seperate living space as I may rent out rooms (I live in a regional area where a lot of backpackers come to do their rural stint) so it gives them an area to watch tv/ sit & chat without doing it in the living area.

I've had a play around the with the first plan and made it wider by having the two bedrooms next to each other. However it means that I don't have the L-shaped living I wanted (although this probably could still be done). It gives 7m of south facing wall at the rear that can be glass/sliding doors etc but the proportions on the room seem a bit off - it's too square. Actually by putting in a cutout so it becomes more L-shaped, but keeping the 7m overall width might be better.

The second is a different plan altogether, but strangely enough I've ended up with 7m of rear south facing wall again for windows and sliding doors. However as I have it, it's too wide as I think it's pretty much 20m wide. I don't get a rear master with this layout, but the master is separate, however I like the kitchen/living/dining layout better than the one above (in it's current form).

Input and suggestions would be great :)

will study these new plans asap but looking through the GJGardner designs there's one called the Portside that may have some potential ..this is an unfinished mirror reversed plan that is 18 m wide with rear garden north views from the master, ens, family dining, kitchen and second bedroom and perhaps bed 3 and front living area could be used with the main bathroom as guest rooms with a potential separate entry and with the house placed further back on your block could have a front courtyard garden to retain privacy for your rear garden?? this needs further work but might be worth considering NB external apperance can be changed but floor plans to suit the block is first priority

a basic copy of your plans show that one is too wide and the other too narrow and both have lots of space used by hallway and there garage usually needs to be setback further than the front of the house but all these last three basic plans will be around 200sqm using basic modest dimensions for all rooms with no allowance made for extra thicknesses for external walls

Wow, thankyou so much oklouise.

With the one based on the Portridge design, can we move the powder room so that it doesn’t back onto the living room wall? I’m also not 100% sure of the very long guest lounge. My parents have one just like that (must get out the tape measure!) and its awkward to furnish.

With my one that is too long, what about moving the master/ensuite/wir to behind the garage?

the 3rd plan, making the front 2 bedrooms to 4m wide x 3.5 so the width of the house is now 16m which is getting closer to better for the block?

Love it awesomelouise :) another cracker xxx

and here's the shorter version of your long plan with the Master suite behind the garage but you'll see that this arrangement blocks external access to the laundry bath and powder room and, although there's a much longer living area, there's less separate multifunctional space and/or bedrooms

and widening the bedrooms on the other plans blocks an entry door into the bedroom and makes the roof more complicated although some courtyards between the house and side fences could be good

there's always so many ideas to consider and custom designs can be fabulous but if you like the quality of GJGardner or other major builders it can be easier and much more economical to work with a carefully considered variation of their basic floorplans and the goal isn't just to make the house wider but to maximize northern light to make a more comfortable house and ecomomise on heating and cooling

That’s brilliant oklouise. Of the three you posted i like the first and the master looks big enough to give me a little passage entry to make it more private. It would also make my dad happy as he thinks i should be having 4 bedrooms!

the last plan, i’d also push out the wall so the bedroom has a door, making that overall living space a bit wider as a result as well.

always good to make your Dad happy and you could steal some space off the garage to make a separate hallway to the master bedroom and garage

a copy of the plan without furniture makes it easier to read and showing available space for front and backyards...by placing the house further back on the block there's more room for off street visitor parking, an optional front courtyard garden and plenty of room in the backyard for a future pool and gardens

this basic plan including the garage is 210sq with a covered barbq area built separate to the house and much more economical than an included alfresco

Hi oklouise

could you link to / show me how you adapted the gj gardner portside to come up with the plan you did? The portside one that i found is designed for a much narrower block. If i can show then the adaptations to make, rather than a full ‘Custom’ design it will work out easier.

thanks :)

we can't use GJGardners plans for a private custom build and i understood you would be asking them to build a variation of their Portside design......talk to the GJgardners staff and show them an enlarged copy of my suggestions and their designer should recognise it as a variation of one of their plans and be able to make any necessary adjustments to suit

Is this the one you used for the variations? https://www.gjgardner.com.au/bowen-home-builders/house-designs/portside-270-14734.aspx

I took down the plan you had mocked up based on it and they didn’t recognise it, although i didn’t say it was based on that either. The staff member did briefly open the portside as she was going through various plans looking for options for me but quickly discarded it, so thats why i was wondering if your mockup was based on the one i linked

it was the Portside 270, mirror reversed and rotated to use the original laundry as the front entry and, all the other rooms tidied up to fit your block...this is a rough version of their original

and this is the final variation as posted on 040918

Thankyou! I can see it now :)

Just wondering what other layouts i could have for the master/WIR/ensuite combination so it doesn't involve walking through the WIR to reach the ensuite? Is it possible to maybe have a long WIR coming off a the little hall way and then maybe the door to the ensuite over near the window?

Current dimensions are:

master - 3.5m wide x 5m long...I don't mind loosing some of the length as it is a long room

WIR - 2.4 x 2.4

Ensuite - 2.4 x 2.4.

The other thing I was wondering, is it possible to somehow move the toilet to into the bathroom (in its own separate area) to make the pantry (marked as a closest!) bigger? I don't need a bath in this bathroom, just a nice shower space & vanity obviously!

Finally, if I want cupboards on both sides of the laundry wall, how wide ideally should the laundry be? Currently it is 1.8m wide.

depends on how deep you need the cabinets and if you want to be able to do more than walk through the laundry but in order to have cabinets on both sides of the laundry you would need to lose space from somewhere else BUT by moving the toilet and enlarging the pantry there more room for a giant linen cabinet that would be much better than changing the laundry... either way in order to have the bigger pantry and separate toilet there has to be some space taken off somewhere else and this suggestion still includes generous laundry storage as well as the separate door for the ensuite

Thanks, i’m really liking that linen cupboard! What do you guesstimate the width is between the opening to the wir & ensuite...i prefer my bed on the other wall.

also can you just let me know the measurements of the hall & linen as i can’t read it.

i’m off to some display homes on the weekeknd to measure widths of laundries etc...i find it easier ehen i have something to compare to.

the wall between the ens and wiw is only 2.2m and not possible to rearrange the doors without losing the bath and the bed on the other wall gives more direct access between ens and wiw but if you can live without bedside table a queen bed will fit between the doors

in order to create the bigger pantry and linen and keep a separate toilet next to the bathroom space had to be taken off the laundry...making the laundry bigger again will need space to come off somewhere else

the measurements for bathtub, shower, vanity and toilet is the space allowed and no bigger....

another thought to consider would be have lockable doors to close off the hall to the laundry and you could have a kitchnette and entry in the laundry space and use the lounge and beds 2 and 3 as a self contained rental and keep paying guests out of your part of the house including the entry living, master suite and MPR and share the laundry...extra privacy and security that your dad should approve

the distance between the ens and wiw doors is 2.2m enough for a bed if you don't need bedside tables but having the bed on the other wall allows more direct access between the wiw and ens

moving the toilet to enlarge the pantry and linen means space had to be taken away elsewhere so the laundry is narrower (or you could take space away from the MPR instead?)

by keeping the widest laundry bench there would be underbench space for a washer and bar fridge add a microwave. kettle, crockery, toaster etc your paying guests could use the laundry as separate entry kitchen and locked doors could separate your private spaces and allow for rentals to include one or two bedrooms and lounge...separate lockable private accommodation would be better for privacy and security and should reassure your dad as well .... this is the latest variation with simple gable roof, brick veneer outside walls and no furniture

thinking about tenants ..with an outside door and plumbing included in the garage you could have a washing machine and sink in the garage for a shared laundry and then the separate accommodation could be completely self contained for a long term tenant that can easily be restored to a family home by opening doorways and moving the washing machine inside to the original laundry...you'll notice i've rearranged the linen and pantry to have more storage from your side or perhaps some extra kitchen benches and wall cabinets for dining room storage and left out the extra door from the MPR so that the hall door can swing into the hallway ...half the garage with use of laundry for your tenant could be an optional extra and make the flat more attractive to a long term tenant and achieve more reliable rental income

Have you considered picking a totally different GJ floorplan to better suit what you want, you'll end up having to pay a lot more with all the changes that won't be anything like the house you selected

There’s no gj gardner plan that suits / is what i am after. Fortunatley they do custom builds which is what they are treating this as, even though its based on the portside plan.