I don't think that you will have a problem without building a study........ The extra garage space will be a valuable asset...........and can do double duty.....

Blum have spent years studying the most practical and ergonomic workflow for all types of kitchen layouts! Kitchens can be divided into five different zones , shortening distances and keeping everything when and where you need it. Visit blum.com to find our hints and tips for your kitchen renovation.

Hi IdaC, I had the pleasure of living in a California Bungalow many years ago now that had almost exactly the same plan as yours apart from a few modifications that your house has had. The living and master bedroom were switched and the ensuite was just a bathroom from the hallway. The problem with the house plan is the blocking of the rear of the house by the kitchen wall to the hallway and so the circulation goes around through the dining. If you want to alter the layout for a more modern lifestyle with good access to the back yard, I would make the living room another bedroom and put in a new long but narrow bathroom occupying some of the current dining room or possibly part of the existing living if you don't mind a smaller bedroom. The new bathroom can be just 1200mm wide having a 1200 long shower against the outside wall with a high window in it and then the toilet and the vanity near the door. Put the plumbing on the new living wall unless you install full length wardrobes on the wall between it and the new front bedroom. Then I'd delete the back bathroom and make that and the laundry into a walkthrough scullery and laundry and keep the outside door. Put a galley kitchen along the central back wall of the house with an island facing a new dining area where your current kitchen is with double glazed doors to the front hallway. Then make the back bedroom and 3/4 dining room, the living room and open that up to the rear yard. Ideally you'd want the living space on the North side of the house and the plumbing areas on the South, but that might be an expense too far. You could build a really great outdoor entertaining space outside the living room that links with the backyard bungalow if that became an overflow living area/man-woman cave!!!! or just a granny flat or office. If you want to do it in two stages, start by builing the new bathroom and opening up the back bedroom and 3/4 dining into the living room. That way you can start with the three bedrooms where they intend to be. Then you can look at doing the kitchen, scullery, laundry and dining when you are ready and either set up a temporary kitchen in the living space or eat out for a few weeks between when the old kitchen is removed and the new one becomes usable. Good luck, Christine.

I can't get the picture to blow up big enough to see much , but unless you are running a backpackers , I would suggest 1 bathroom for 3 bedrooms would be all you need , in fact unless you are having a 'grannie flat' or similar built in , I would think that 2 bathrooms and a 3rd powder room with its own handbasin would be all you really need . Of course , more is more luxurious , so having a second ensuite is good , having a shower and WC in every room has advanatages , mind you so does having another with a bath and twin showers , 3 seperate WC's in case you have 100 people visit , a seperate spa room with its own shower and toilet , a sauna , an outside pool with its own male and female changing rooms with showers -- in other words , do what YOU want once you get past the basics . And I'm not a fan of two doors from 2 bedrooms into a bathroom -- especially if there is a bath or shower and a toilet -- it relies on everyone working together , but also on everyone pushing the right combo of locks so that there's no accidental walking in on someone .