can you show all the downstairs floor plan and is it necessary to have the hws in such a prime location?

thanks Dr Retro, that option is something to consider.

oklouise I have attached a photo of the exterior where the powder room is planned to go. You can see the wider eaves overhang is where the ceiling of the powder room would be. We can not extend the roofline here without it being a tack on. The hot water system is already here to so it makes financial sense to keep it in the vicinity. The plan shows all of the downstairs area. It is a split level home - head up stairs for bedrooms and downstairs for playroom, study etc.

What is the space between the stairs and the family? and any measurements of these spaces

Hi Siriuskey. This is the existing floor plan. The distance between the wall the stairs are on and the partitioning wall between living and family is 1585mm.

Just a rough idea for your powder room which also includes sliding doors(Barn doors) to close off the living , dining & kitchen from the entrance, which I think would be important now that you are enlarging the kitchen family cheers

Wow the house of toilets,as much as it is a lot of WC's this would be great for guests, arriving home and for those arthritic feet not having to go up and down stairs. I have a feeling that once you enlarge the kitchen family the Living dining won't be used as much, it will be more of a parents retreat/ guests/ Media room.

Will access to install the Powder room be easy

we need to know the internal room sizes of the dining, family and living room and what you plan to use the rooms for...will the old dining room still need space for a dining table, will the family room have a lounge and a dining area?...best way to plan the spaces is to plan furniture to suit and my suggestions based on approximate sizes takes space out of the family room for the powder room and small pantry and leaves the HWS and surrounding walls in the original location

Without actual room sizes I will just sketch what I think is possible keeping the family room as large as possible as this is where all the action will take place

I too recommend a powder room on lower level for reasons already mentioned.

without dimensions it's difficult to be accurate but keeping the dining table in the old dining room would allow space for an extra lounge in the family rooom depends on how many you need to seat together at any one time

Recommend using acoustic drywall or double thickness of drywall on interior walls of powder room.

Hi Lumpets, I had been looking at ideas for your powder room which was difficult without some of the measurements but this what I thought would work best by using some of the entrance space., I feel it would be a mistake not to include a WC on the main floor.

You also mentioned having lovely views from the living room so the possibility of large sliders between it and the family could be amazing. good luck with your reno's

I just want you to have a few options, and this another with the fridge and pantry built in making it a galley kitchen

It seems a shame to have the indent for the hot water system protruding into your new family room. It looks like there would be enough room for it at the foot of the external stairs without recessing it.

Another thing in all this discussion around where to place the powder room: I really like the suggestions for placing it between the living and family rooms. If it is a suspended timber floor then that's fine. However, if that is a concrete slab on ground, (which I suspect it is) without any crawlspace under to run the new drain it would be a huge and very fraught job breaking up the existing slab for such a great distance. Not sure what the answer is to that.

Hi DLA, I was thinking that there would be access from underneath the family by the following statement.

The plan shows all of the downstairs area. It is a split level home - head up stairs for bedrooms and downstairs for playroom, study etc.

Hi Siriuskey, I thought the playroom and study were under the bedroom section only. The plan doesn't show any external stairs up to the porch and front door, so they look like being at ground level. Lumpets would know if my comment has any relevance or not.

If this is a real issue I would recommend not having the L return bench in the new kitchen (corner cupboards are always impractical expensive compromises IMHO), and instead use that space for the powder room. then the drain can go through the outside wall to the right without cutting into the slab.

If there are no problems running that drain under the floor the other position that you and Dr Retro have suggested would definitely still be better, with the door to the powder room off a more neutral space opposite the internal stairs.

Your the Architect and are mostly likely correct, I took my assumptions from the number of rear stairs, hence the slope of the block. Without more info it's really difficult to know.