The house looks very livable. I love that you have concentrated on creating one nice bath with separate walk in shower and a windowed tub! Since you have already thought of it, I'm going to assume that the attic is for future expansion and cannot be adapted for use as the current "away room." We are also in the process of designing a small house, and we've designated our study as the "away room." Ours will open off the dining room. If you switched the locations of the Study and Bed 1 on the same side, you could put french doors or an extra wide door with etched or decorative glass from the hallway into the right hand corner of the study. This would give you a really long diagonal view through the lounge and out the french doors, and from the lounge through the study to the window at the far end... The study window should be increased in width to match the neighboring window in Bed 1, and it then becomes ripe for a small window seat, either a clip on bay bumping out, or a "built-in" bay using narrow built ins on either side. Or both: build "in" for now, putting file cabinet drawers under the window seat, and angled corner units in for storage, and add the bump out bay later when you know whether your offspring would prefer a really cute desk, or a window seat, or a bed nook. You would, alas, lose the door from Bed 1 into the bath.... but honestly, there are lot of doors into that bathroom already, and that one has substantial collision potential. It might be best to make the single access point that door from the laundry. Either a glass panel set high in the bath room doors or a transome would make it easy to tell when someone is in the loo. Other ideas would be to split the nook under the stairs, so that half the depth opens to the lounge, and the other half to Bed2... with the wall thickness, you probably get close to 600mm or 2' on each side. Add a deep bookcase or other built in, and you're easily at a depth that makes both spaces very tucked in. Lastly, if funds allow a shallow bay window over the kitchen sink would visually expand the kitchen, particularly if you could arrange it so that the counter runs right into the bay.

I'd fire that kitchen design person lol. No such thing as a corner pantry being outdated. I would bet she is new to the biz and has no real clue. If you have the space, then go for it. I have a closet in my kitchen that is considered a pantry, but kinda wish it was just a large floor to ceiling cabinet. I have a base and wall corner cabinet that I started to use for mostly canned and dry foods and it works much better because it's closer to my stove. Whatever works for you the way you use your kitchen would be the way to go :)

Some inspiration, the last pic is clever with the bookcase, you would have a lip on the shelves to stop books falling off every time you open the door, but it sure serves two purposes

Hi Daryl, it sounds like you've got a lot of work cut out for you, but congratulations on buying your forever home! Regarding the kitchen, have a look at Blum's ideas for practical kitchens. There you'll find different layout ideas, storage solutions and inspirational ideas which will help with making use of the space available to you, without having to expand over the deck. Good luck with your renovations!