I have had time to digest what you all said. Yes, that's a hallway. ... I caved! haha ... but at least it's not a pointless one at 1.8m we currently bear. We like our open central living area, and dining at the back of it, and will do so while ever there is no "upstairs". I have drawn in where a bedroom used to be in the living room. I've slimmed the bathrooms right back, to one with a bath, one with a shower, distributed the sizes to not interfere with the laundry door being opened up if the second bathroom was removed, and lined up the "supporting" walls between the bathroom and "our room". The hallway will offer the privacy for the end room that opens onto the garden, and at the same time it can be seen as the master with en-suite... not that we will use it for that. The location of the bathroom is and has always been awkward to get to, requiring a long walk... but at least there will be TWO... but I may very well continue to place the door off the living room and not the hall due to wishing to make the access easier for guests and the 3 bedrooms it serves. All this does bear resemblance to the original layout, but should stick with what works and not fight this awkward house too much. The additional bonus is it is the minimum building cost and effort entailed. I believe it scratches some itches in regards to better bedroom sizes, segregating the placement of bathrooms a little more, and the future flexibility of moving the living area towards the garden end of the house.

Tani H-S, you are not the only one who has been trying to do their bathroom for one year :-). I realised I have mis-read your post, I thought you were having a shower door as well rather than a just a fixed shower screen, in that case, it doesn't make sense to have the separate shower hose on the opposite side of the fixed shower head. How about having the separate shower hose and outlet come out of the same wall as the fixed shower head ( pipes behind same wall ) but with the outlet as near as possible to the corner of where the short wall and long wall meet and then have an additional 'hook' on the long wall ( like julesbird2014 ) so that when you are washing the dog, you can move the shower head to the side hook and you won't get wet when you put the water on as the water will spray away from you towards the glass. When you are shampooing the dog, you can put the shower head on the side hook rather than having to reach over the dog and put the head on the hook of where the fixed shower head is or leave it on the shower floor which means the water will spray everywhere unless you turn the water off. Keep the controls on opposite side of fixed shower head ( stud wall ). Are you sure a 1.1m shower screen is sufficient to prevent water coming out? I was told by several shops that it was best to have a 1.2m screen if having walk in shower and minimum 1.7m long shower. I know space could be limited to 1.6m hence the reason for a 1.1m shower screen but if screen is too short then it would be really annoying if you find that water keeps coming out after you have used it. Have you considered looking into having frameless sliding doors instead? Sometimes the glossy photos look amazing with fixed shower screens but if they are too short, it's not practical.

Christine, wow, that's a ton of ideas, thank you very much! We already thought of these sockets with USB included, and will definitely get those for all desk and bed areas. It's such a small improvement but I am so excited about it already! Also love your suggestions for hiding cables. I hope we won't have to (rather have all cables in the walls and have them come out where we want them to) but if that's not possible, in particular around the fireplace area then this will be very valuable, so thank you. Not so concerned about soundproofing the floor - we live in a similar flat right now, hardwood floors and underfloor heating, and we walk around in socks with no issues. It is more the kids' bedrooms that are facing the fireplace that I am concerned with. Son is playing online games with kids from around the world and well, yes, there is a lot of screaming that comes with that. Sitting right in front of the doors won't be very relaxing for us when he yells on top of his lungs "FXCK YOU!!!" (and yes, I do tell him off). I love the partitioning, wall slider, shelves gallery - definitely something to investigate later. I think we may have to move in first to get a feel of the space. I don't want to cram it with furniture and create a maze if not needed. But it may help regulate the space and make it cosier. As for the TV placement, if you have a look at the photo I just shared, we are thinking about either having a TV shelf with a smaller TV (not 55 inch as we have now) or maybe a bracket or pole solution which we mount to the side of the fireplace if the brickwork (I believe it's bricks, will need to check) does support it. This would allow us to move the TV set around so that we can watch from different angles. But when looking at the fireplace as it is right now I think the architect envisioned the TV mounted right there on top.

You have a lovely, huge space to work with- that’s terrific. Are the position and size of the 2 windows fixed? I’d suggest getting the ideal, functional kitchen design first and then considering window placement next.. it may be that a single large window suits the final design better. I would change the fridge position to get it into either side of the main kitchen run. Ideally it should have counter space immediately adjacent to it. Imagine yourself grabbing and pouring milk for cereal.. and immediately putting it back.. can you do it with nary a step? For your oven setup, consider whether you might want one (or even both) directly under your hob. It can make a huge difference to efficiency for the cook, especially if their meals tend to involve active use of both oven and hob. Imagine making spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread… how easy is it to bake, grill, and stir the sauce without burning anything? Or having to squeeze past any kitchen visitors in your kitchen zone to check? ( And for draining the pasta, how far is it to the sink with boiling water?) I’d also pull the wine fridge out of the main kitchen run. It might be lovely to create a bar in the existing Aga area.