Hi Suzanne, Here are a few ideas that will give you everything you want with the least impact on your budget. Please understand that I'm only working with a floorplan and a small write-up of preferrences, which limits some of the imput without pictures. Starting from left of your floorplan and working our way to the right: Current Office = new 2nd reception Taking advantage of your southfacing garden with best views: Convert current office into the second reception room/snug/tv den/second closed off living area that you wanted. Knock down wall between office and breakfast room. Add wall - deviding breakfast area in two - this will give you a triple aspect room, taking advantage of the light and garden views & access. Depending on preferrences and your fence line, change windows to double doors and-or enlarge window space on south-facing side to add concertina doors out onto the garden. You mentioned you didn't need an office downstairs - put added a desk in this room if you keep that window as a window rather than convert to doors in case it is helpful. But of course, you can configure your furniture in any of the rooms for how it works best with your lifestyle. This will be a narrow room - hence a snug, garden room, extra tv lounge. A chaise lounge type sectional will give you the snug seating along with a chair or two. However, if you do want to do any extention work, you could think of adding that to the left side of your home to make this room wider and more all-purpose. Breakfast Room = new 2nd reception lounge & utility/hallway As already suggested above, divide the room into two to gain a triple aspect snug/enclosed lounge board up the doorway, or put wall where the doorway is not impeeded (as shown). Convert the rest of the Breakfast room into a tidy (appliances hidden behind cabinets or closet doors) utility area. You'll want to make this room look more like a hallway when not in use as a utility, connecting the rest of the house to your second enclosed lounge. Leave the wall and door between the current kitchen & the current breakfast area as is - which will hide this utility area when in use and muffle any noise from appliances. Garage = Garage you mentioned your partner wanted to keep the garage. moving it seems silly as doing so would possibly knock-out some of your light & views. also by keeping this as is, you will get the benefit of having access to the rest of the house via the garage & 2nd reception lounge, rather than having to go outside. Kitchen/Dinning Room/Hallway = Open Plan Kitchen / Casual Dinning Placing the kitchen cabinetry from the front current dining room window - along the wall shared with the garage & on the opposite wall traveling out into an extended countertop/breakfast bar. This will create a galley shaped kitchen that you can use a number of triangle patterned work stations to make this kitchen functional & beautiful. Put your casual dining area where the kitchen now is and add double doors to take full advantage of the views and the days you'd like to have the doors open onto the garden. Enjoy the double aspect light & open plan space. Keep your privacy at the front through the new kitchen with appropriate window treatment or frosted glass treatment if necessary Living Room = Open plan living room / dining room + kitchen / casual dining By placing a support in and partially removing the wall going from the new open plan kitchen / casual dining into the current living room, you will get the open plan lounge - kitchen - dining that you want. Open the wall from almost to the door next to the downstairs w/c to almost to the stairs (where the current living room door is now) (as shown). The current living room is very large, and can house both a living room - lounge area and a more formal dining room (if that is what you want) or a hobby space - music area or other ??? (there are many possibilities). Keep as is = Porch, Downstairs w/c, stairs with closet underneath for storage Porch gives you extra insulation, privacy & storage Downstairs W/C allows you not to have to move & install new large toilet waste plumbing which is often a higher end budget item Closet underneath stairs - storage! (cleaning stuff like mop & vacuum or coats or whatever) Stairs - by not changing the layout or location of the stairs, you won't have to do costly renovations upstairs (just do any cosmetic updating you desire instead as you didn't mention wanting to do major changes to the upstairs) and can use your budget more wisely downstairs. This plan should give you everything you said you wanted on your list and give you the most bang for your buck without needless spending -- or at the very least give you a few new ideas to jump off from. I've added a picture here. Sorry so un-professional. I am retired, so just keeping my hand in. Best wishes & good luck!

Yes, that could work for sure. In order to give yourself a bit more work top next to the stove and balance out the two tall units on different sides of the room I’d suggest maybe moving the fridge to the side of the bifold doors and the oven to the corner (where the fridge currently is). It also might be an idea to consider a long narrow picture window above the sink so you can get a run of storage on that wall above the sink (see pic); you could even add dish draining cupboard which Ikea have, a Finnish idea which means there’s somewhere to put the washing up liquid, sponges and the odd dish that always gets left drip drying on the countertop! It’s not a huge kitchen so every bit of storage will be vital. What is measurement of the space between the island and worktop, do you have enough circulation room? Just a small aesthetic adjustment may be to line up the edge of the island with the end of the worktop (i.e. closer to the dining bench) and make a little longer if you can. Might be a nice spot for shelves on one side for cookbooks etc. I’d also rehang the door (so it opens to the right) from the hall to dining area so you could keep it folded back against that small section of wall if you wanted a nice view through to the garden when you open the front door.

Hello Sam, Yes, I think you would be right to open these two rooms up. This wouldn't be a problem walking into the space. To visualise it it may be worth booking a concept planner or designer to do some layouts with 3D visalises. I find these are really beneficial to our clients in the early stages like this. There would be a few options the back door, but one would be to move it to the main wall in the kitchen/diner space (or as french doors) and close off the one to the utility room allowing you then to make the most of this space as a closed utility, walk-in pantry or what ever you need. It's hard to tell accurate dimensions from this but I am confident there's plenty you can do - depending on key things like budget etc. Best of luck and hope it helps. Gina

Yes, the family room may not be large enough for its traffic line. Could you go without the downstairs bed+bath? This opens up the family room, separate laundry/office and a wc. (And perhaps make peace with the circle, plenty home have it, even the smaller ones.) Also consider a bit of kitchen rejig, as the kitchen walkway could be open when all appliances are in the U-shape.