If you are lucky enough to buy this home at auction…..then it looks like a good solid BRICK home. The side of home where the lounge, dining, and family living windows are is the north side. I would not be blocking that beautiful winter sunlight for a pantry or new kitchen. With a structural engineer advising on which are load bearing internal walls, you could knock the wall between the dining and family room down. Keep the kitchen in the same position just elongate the kitchen, instead of the square. The south solid brick wall that you want to knock down would definitely be load bearing as it is an external wall. The family room is a wonderful size already. If you want to extend then structural beams would be required to extend this room into the patio area. If your budget is big, then anything is possible.

Or this….again your budget will dictate your load bearing wall removal etc etc.

with minimal structural alterations my suggestions would be to add a raised enlarged deck at similar height to inside floors in the patio area, add wide sliding glass doors to connect to inside and add new internal wall and shorter windows to enclose the generous pantry and new kitchen with enough space for a study nook accessed from the living area...removing any of the walls (except adding a standard doorway between entry and new family area and between kitchen and pantry) is a huge expense for not much gain and before considering any wall removal it's always a good idea to test furniture arrangements ... my suggestions should be possible without a permit but always best to check with council to be sure but if necessary ask about enclosing the new alfresco with the connecting sliding glass door to inside rather than removing the whole wall

Good suggestions above. Rarely will the paperwork/ permits/building costs be worth it for such a minor extension.

Agree close off lounge from fining and opening up dining to back area. I would also look at moving the kitchen door around to the entry hall. The kitchen can be redesigned to suit. You could also swap the entry hall cupboard to the opposite side of hall and move the kitchen door further west. This would allow cupboards to be located on the wall where the door OPP bathroom is closed off. How this makes sense. Basically you have the space now. Unless you want and extra room like a study.

Hi all, I am overwhelmed by all your kind and helpful advices. It made a big different in how I approached the situation.

Yes I would like to close off the lounge as I want to turn it into a big bedroom for my 2 daughters.

Also, turn the bedroom 3 into WIR and Ensuit for main bedroom.

I plan to use bedroom 2 at study/playroom for my kids. Do you think I should change the door for bedroom to face the hallways.

Again, thanks so much for your advices, really appreciated, love to learn more from you all

Regards

Yes, I love to have a big and opening family room, as I already satisfy the lounge into a bedroom. But 6 months for permit and 5,000/m2 for that small extension really make think twice on it :)

Adding a bathroom is going to require permits and paperwork also. You can include the small extension also even if you never build it. Most permits will last two years and sometimes an extension is possible. Doesn’t avoid the rather large construction costs for a small extension but at least you’d have the option. Are you in a slab and do you know which boundary the sewage connection runs along?

If you are successful at the weekends auction, then you can get busy planning. Will be very exciting.