Was going to say the same thing. Keep upstairs for bedrooms only, and remove WIR from kids rooms. I wouls use guest ensuite as downstairs toilet unless you are having long term guests staying.

my suggestion also swap wiw for biw, reduces the void over the stairs and makes the upstairs bathroom easier for several to use at once...overall size is just over 330 sq m but my CAD program uses thicker walls so your designer should be able to redraw with standard 90mm walls to comes in under 330sqm ...where possible windows should be sized and located to avoid hot east and west sun and the northern rumpus window should improve light to the stairwell and downstairs entry..i've moved the alfresco to avoid making the family room too dark and to allow for a kitchen servery window and for shelter over the laundry door and you will see that some of the upstairs walls are only single thickness and downstairs could be double thickness brick veneer

I love oklouise’s design, as usual she make the house more efficient and with great flow, my only suggestion would be remove the kids zone and push the kitchen down into that zone, have the laundry backing onto the garage for easy access, and then put a dining room where the kitchen is now.

Oh wow - Thank You so much for the input all. As much as I really would love w.i.r. to all bedrooms- they are way too expensive on space. oklouise - you have worked some magic :) Thank You soooo much - I love what you have done. The only thing I have noticed is the downstairs bathroom does not have a toilet. Would it fit next to the sink??

great plan Oklouise, only thing I would do is remove the "Kids room" and use that for laundry and Pantry and possible powder room and push the kitchen back to the rear wall, MooM there is already a toilet in the downstairs bathroom to the left of the vanity

losing the kids' room and moving the kitchen could further reduced the house but i prefer the closer connection of laundry and kitchen to the alfresco/backyard but dimensions of the block would help with alternative ideas

as long as you keep paying for his time there should'nt be any problem with changes ..that's why you have a FIRST drawing but you can tell him that, until you received his plans you didn't realise the impact of the kids' wiw and you now have some alternative ideas to make the house smaller!! he'll better understand the legal requirements for correct set backs and suitable materials etc...look forward to seeing the final design

Moo M , that drawing does have a toilet next to the sink ( part hidden by numbers ) . oklouise also has one at the end of the laundry.

You've got to think harder about your house zoning and function. A master bedroom coming of rumpus room in the middle of a kid's zone is not ideal long term. You've doubled up with a rumpus and a kid's room. The laundry on the north is not the best position. I'd be considering rationalising the rumpus, media, kids & study areas as the more separate spaces you have the bigger the house will be. It's a generous brief that if not carefully designed will blow out to a 40square home very easily. BTW the originally upper floor plan with the majority of northern opportunity wasted with WIR positioning just shows you how little the draftsperson understands about design and lighting. and internalised rumpus room upstairs is a really depressing configuration of space that should ideally be connected with the outdoors.

Also, what's your budget? This is a $700K min exercise even at volume building rates

Thank you Paul. Hmmm definitely don't have a budget of 700k and do not want a 40sqm home either - more like 500k to 550k including knock down of the current tiny home on the property.

I sent the draftsperson my drawing and not much was changed from my drawing-I am worried now that we have picked an inexperienced draftsperson to do the job......

If you need to achieve a home generally along these lines, seriously, don't bother trying to customise some form of layout with a drafty or any form of designer. Practically you have little choice but to try and find something suitable with an off the shelf plans, (or version of) available with one of the volume building companies, some of which can be quite helpful with working through this process, but you have to accept a certain "formula". It's the only way to achieve something of this scale for that type of money. For what it's worth, generally you'll find most draftspeople have no idea about designing to budget - it's not what they do. They are a technical drawing service, nothing more nothing less and unfortunately over the years we've been doing what we do, we've had countless of examples of projects come into the office that have resulted from people trying to get a draftsperson to design something to budget thinking it's a cheaper road, only to be bitterly disappointed once the builder has come in and delivered the bad news, and then they're back to square one & we have to pick up the pieces somehow. This is why it's so important to have a robust discussion about budget limits as the first part of any conversation around a building project, to minimise wasting time and money going down path that will prove to be somewhere down the line unrealistic.

Good luck! PD

Have to say I agree with Paul, what we think we need and what can be affordable.

5 bedrooms

Rumpus X

Kids Play room X

Family Room That's where kids need to be so you can keep an eye on them along with apppropriate storage for quick tidy up

Media Room, Parents retreat, kids play, MFR

3 bathrooms

these smaller spaces aren't needed but a slightly more spacious kitchen Dining Living is, to balance the house. The pantry and laundry moved to the kids play will give better family space and gives better access to the laundry from the bedrooms without having to trek across the family room and through the kitchen to access the laundry, I have been looking at moving the laundry and have started on that

You have put things in perspective for me. Living in a shoebox (and thats what it is) with 3 kids who are all of an age where they need their own space and finally managing to start this process - I guess we are a little over excited at what we want vs what we need. All I really want is a home that is open living, for the kids to have their own rooms, a guest bedroom for my family who visit from both interstate and overseas and and plenty of storage. Aaaargh - back to the drawing board after contemplating your responses.

Thank you :)

Looks like a project home from a volume builders selection.

You may as well find one from a volume builder and build that instead as they're usually pretty competitive priced if you don't over spec it or make any changes to the standard design.

Note that a lot of floor area can be trimmed off this design.

I counted 4 living areas.... Kids zone, media, rumpus plus the kitchen/meals/living.

WIR's can use up floor space and in some cases have less storage than a standard built in robe.

Kids bedroom sizes are ok but don't be too scabby, as they get older they will need study areas away from others so need to accomodate a desk as well as bed.

Master bedroom/ens/WIR area isn't efficient design although generous in size.

Butlers Pantry, just a current fad in my opinion.