Not keen on tiles ... prefer a smooth surface with no grout lines to try and keep clean

Thanks Mel. We'll see what we can do to make the rumpus enclosed - it's probably more of a "man cave" at the moment :) Grandad had a dining table in his current place (which is bigger) and got rid of it because he never used it. He also wants more bench space than he currently has. So, this was a deliberate choice rather than a compromise due to lack of space. You've reminded me now that someone did warn us earlier in the design process about the back and forth between wardrobe and bathroom becoming annoying over time. We don't currently have an en suite so it feels wonderfully convenient for us by comparison. However, that feeling will change if we realise it could have been even better. We did have the en suite off the wardrobe in some designs but have been warned this can lead to dampness in your clothes no matter how well ventilated the bathroom is (especially in Auckland's humidity). Would love to hear people's experiences of this configuration - good and bad. On top of that, there are lovely private bush views to the south so we've tried to make the most of those.

Hi, I would like to convert our existing garage and carport space to a second dwelling (2 bedroom+ toilet+kitchen). I am not sure if it can be called a granny flat. We use our garage only for storage and believe if we convert it to rental space, it will benefit us in many ways. And ofcourse, I want to do it with proper consents, but we have a small budget for it. I have checked with Auckland council and our house is situated in a mixed Housing Suburban Zone, so there are no restrictions for building this. I need to get a bank loan to do this conversion. We bought the property this year, so the CV hasn't changed much. All banks wants me to draw a plan for this conversion and have it evaluated it by them. If their evaluated value supports the loan+20% equity, then I will get the loan to proceed. The cost of drawing the plan seems to be around 10K (based on my initial research) and this is a huge amount to take a risk. I am really new to this world of construction/renovation. And any kind of guidance, advice or recommendations will help me heaps. Thanks

I'm not a builder or an expert . The downstairs looks easy -- obviously you want exactly the same width and profile -- take 1 or 2 boards off the end of the house , add new boards , paint the entire thing . The garage will 'hide' the existing side wall , so that can be left as it is , relined , painted , whatever you want , as its now an 'internal' wall . Upstairs though is trickier -- I assume there are horizontal weatherboards along the side of the house , so adding across and 'around the corner' would be more difficult , but not impossible -- it will take more labour and a bit more materials . At the end of the day , talk to your builder -- they are the one that will asked , so if they say No , pretty much the end of the conversation -- you accept , or you look for another builder , who hopefully says yes , and even more hopefully , actually can do it haha !