I actually like all the doors and windows in the Family room they could be much bigger facing north and opening out to a Vergola pergola along that side.

The long wall adjoining your neighbours is heaps of space for storage and wall mounted TV

You mention that you have two young boys are there likely to be more children?

Do either of you work from home

Visiting parents or family staying over?

going by these photos I would try and install the TV above the fireplace, you would need to get expert advice for that, what type of fire is it. Google Vergola Pergola, opening and closing they work and look great. An L shaped lounge with it's back to the kitchen and the other part facing fire, possibly a couple of single chairs in front of the bifold.

This is classic case of a residence ticking the boxes in terms of spaces, but functionally falling short and not aligning with how you wish to live/zone for your family requirements long term.......primary culprit is the laundry smack bang in the centre of the main zone (that's the big fail of the previous reno) and then the main bedroom/ensuite similarly centrally positioned between the other separate bedrooms that are extremely uneven in regards to size & proximity to main bathroom......that said I can see how it ended up that way......

Whilst the actual fit-out quality is reasonable, the lack of attention to the function is where it has let itself down.....

How to fix it? Well it comes down to how far do you want to go to get it right.....

We deal with this all the time, but to resolve you really have to go through a professional process where you consider options and stack up numbers and clarify where the priorities are with understanding of property value/context and what we have to work with in terms of budget.....

Sometimes, by the time you muck around with bitsy and compromised changes here and there, it's actually cheaper/better value long term to bite the bullet and rebuild cleanly with a much better considered and re-configured solution.......you have to look at it as a long term investment....

If we were on the job, probably would have pursued/explored the kitchen being positioned on the south west with a laundry/pantry possibly connecting the the garage, and the north courtyard/external aspect completely opened up and exploited/focused on/centralised with access/focus from both the original part of the home and the new - it would feel much more open in the central area and functionally better..... as for the upper floor well similarly it's not easy to sort this out to be properly zoned for a family without a serious re-jig which potentially requires the bedroom/sunroom to be combined for a main bed with etc main bathroom area becoming the ensuite, or a complete reshuffle of the beautiful front two rooms for master suite with then reshuffle of secondary bedrooms/bathrooms to the rear etc....but it's big big change and and expensive one, which then in turn begs the question of what is the opportunity to knock the back off completely and just get it right once & for all.....my instinct is that either way the costs will pan out similarly one way or the other, or there are some serious "compromises" in regards to layout that you may have to accept/live with.......

Happy to look at some options if you're interested in contacting us directly to potentially assist you.......this one requires a bit of experience and understanding of how to manage/negotiate the scale of these "terrace" or semi-detached types of scenarios

Cheers PD :

my suggestion include a serious investment in rearranging existing spaces to create the flat upstairs hallway, extra bedroom and bathroom, a kids' lounge, laundry upstairs (where 90% of the washing accumulates) and more comfortable family rooms and kitchen with storage under the new stairs a multi purpose room and opening the living area to the entry hallway

I'am not sure how big a budget you have, but to buy in Sydney and having a young family I would be trying to do the best with what you already have, a charming Federation style property. Working with keeping the downstairs plumbing in the same position is a good start. I would keep the upstairs the same layout for the next few years and then move the master suite downstairs into the two front rooms (drawing to come) Upstairs the large front room to become a Rumpus/ Media/guests.

This is the pantry style that I used in my drawing

https://www.kaboodle.com.au/products/detail/1000mm-blind-corner-pantry-cabinet

By saving on the house you can afford things like this, a pool for the family

Hello everyone,

We really like the suggestion by Oklouise and Siriuskey using the dining room as a 4th bedroom for when guests come to stay and potentially moving the kitchen to the south west side. (Am looking forward to planning out a functional and ergonomic kitchen!)

Back to the guest bedroom, would you then build an ensuite off the dining room and a separate WC? I am not keen on a shared door between the guest ensuite and the family room as this affects the privacy of guests and the rest of the family having access to a toilet on the ground floor during their stay.

Oklouise I agree the majority of laundry accumulates on the first floor but we like to line dry our washing and it's just easier to do that on the ground floor.

Have also attached photos of the existing stairs, there are 13 steps from the ground floor to the landing then 6 steps to each split stairway. Not sure if it's still possible to make the stairs one?

The previous owners had fixed glass panels put over most of the bedroom windows probably for noise reduction. They also had these shutters in the sunroom and study (please see pic), would you keep them?

Thanking you all for your wonderful suggestions and being so generous with your time. Ee :)

with such high ceilings there'll need to be more space for the new stairwell but by rearranging the entry to the dining room there could be space for a separate powder room and laundry under the stairs and and ensuite still keeping the external doors from the new guest room

without changing the stair case I would suggest the following, the laundry where the old kitchen is behind bifold doors that stack back to the outside wall (can't get the program to show that!)

A new powder room and separate ensuite with external access. The guest bedroom and living room can become master suite and parents retreat giving over the upstairs to the children and guests.

Thank you Siriuskey! The grandparents will love having their own private retreat which is another good reason to turn the dining room into the guest room. Stairs are a bit hard on their knees and they will prefer not having to climb them :)

Great suggestion to put the laundry behind bifold doors, although I am wondering if we'd have to put in wet flooring? On top of the existing floorboards? I could have the broom closet there too, that would be handy!

The attic space is long in length but not high. It's highest point is around 1.8m and slopes downwards on 4 roof angles (the center of the attic being the highest point). The lowest end of the wall is similar to the picture attached, will post pics when I climb up there next time. There are 2 skylights in place already, small ones but sufficient given how low the ceilings are.

Oklouise, thank you for your brilliant drawings. I have attached a pic of the current space under the stairs, the width of the step is under 850mm. There is more room in the doorway next to the existing laundry so I'd love to explore the option of having the wc under the stairs.

Originally we were going to make under the stairs a shoe closet. The entryway is just too narrow to fit in a shoe cupboard. Will need a mudroom to the back as well. Haven't quite decided which doorway we will use when coming in from the garage, as it depends on where we put up the pergola/cover from the rain. Was considering this section which joins our neighbour's wall for cover from the garage into our home when it rains. It leads into the southwest side of the family room/potential new kitchen. The lower part of the wall is quite short around 1.7m.

Thanking you both for your wonderful contirbutions, it's been very helpful in helping my husband visualise everything. Many thanks, Ee :)

The Little House · More Info

Adding these pics that didn't upload with my previous post.

I'am not a carpenter or plumber but I would think it wouldn't be difficult, you would need a floor waste in the laundry area and maybe even remove the floor boards to drop the floor by a very small amount. Love the upstairs passage ways and separate stairs, archs etc, that's a lot of character that I think is very important to keep. Must say though that I still prefer the kitchen in the old position,

consider the mudroom access at the new kitchen with a covered area between garage and kitchen

Council permitting I would suggest the following

what a great idea siriuskey!! i wonder about the distance from the back of the kitchen to the garage wall and the number of steps up from ground level to the garage and kitchen floors and what shape is the roof over both the garage and kitchen so we can make a scale plan

Yes it is an idea, I didn't include any stairs or other details as I don't have access to levels and how many steps up or down or roof lines etc but an on site inspection by their chosen builder etc would sort that out, as with the width of the garage and courtyard there is plenty of scope to follow this idea through.

I love the idea mudroom between the garage and home Siriuskey. Oklouise, there are 4 steps down to the garage. I was using Siriuskey's pool measurements 3870 x 4100 in the pics attached (alas, it will be quite tight and the husband is not keen on a pool, maybe at our next forever home)

So there is approx. 3870mm from the top of the garage steps to the first set of french doors (south west side) and lengthwise approx. 5900mm from the wall to drainage grate. The roof over the garage is flat and some sort of clear cover? I think we will need DA approval to construct this.

Many thanks to you both for your suggestions! Ee ;)

Missing pic attached

subject to council approval if you can build on the south boundary it appears that the space would be ideal for the laundry mudroom and, as the garage is below the courtyard, the new laundry roof and steps should be quite simple to arrange and maybe the barbq could move to the outside of the new laundry with undercover across the back courtyard and keep the side courtyard open to the north

This would be a good chance to re roof the garage and include the laundry in this roof, a metal roof would look great.

Pic didn't upload again

If you look back over the previous drawing I had a 1200 blind corner pantry a 600 wall oven and a fridge on the other wall, how big is your fridge. The kitchen space shown in the photo is ridiculous . What are the measurements of both current kitchen walls between doorways and the size and position of the window

Missing pics

Thanks for that, I will check measurements. I had already added a long narrow window/splashback along the benchtop wall cheera

My kitchen layout fits your walls, check it out.

If you were to keep the kitchen where it is, with a wall oven you would lose the pantry and with under bench oven you would get a wall of pantry with the fridge. The island is 2m x 900mm

Convection ovens are much smaller now , you can have draws in the island opposite the oven cooktop., looks like moving the kitchen to allow for the things you want. Any idea of what the budget is for doing the house

I have decided to go for an extension which would have the same roof as the double garage, new kitchen/mudroom laundry/Media room

Thought I would try it as your lovely house has lots of rooms but nothing with a lot of space for a family with two growing boys. Any ideas on how you want to proceed

Funny you should mention the boys and the ball, my idea was to extend out to the side to give you a bigger Kitchen/ Family

I agree with letting the stairs stay as they are it's part of the charm of the house, the master bed was most likely placed where it is to get away from any street noise. I love the glass side extension, as I think that the current living space is too small and it would be very expensive to try and open into the dining.

how far, I had approx 1300

Love small narrow gardens, is the neighbouring house built to the wall. I would put a wall across from the house near the old verandah. This courtyard will become part of the family room, the boys are gunna need a bigger space to kick that ball very soon,

You could reduce the width of the extension by a small amount so as not to make the kitchen family too small once again. That's great that you don't have a two story duplex along that boundary