Bump the whole kitchen 300mm towards the back of the house adding the space to the ensuite/powder room-allows for a door from the hall although the coat cupboard would only be 900mm wide. I don't think that you'd notice losing 300mm from the living/dining space and it would be beneficial in the pantry and ensuite/powder room.

Good idea Deemaree!

Can I get everyones opinion, if cost comes down to it, and I had to decide between seperate toilet on the top floor with the WIL - or the ensuite/guest room arrangement, which would you choose?

I am leaning towards the guest room & bathroom on the main floor, and moving the toilet back to the main bathroom.. but not sure. This of course is only if both options do not fit within our budget.

I'd be keeping the downstairs ensuite setup-it would be much more useable and would mean that the upstairs would only have to be used by the family. Overnight guests would have no need to traispe upstairs at all!

same

thank you so very much guys!

now... anyone with experience in landscaping & sloped blocks especially... any ideas/suggestions on how to set up the rear yard/alfresco area... in the current image, you can see a raised area, with stairs down to a lower section..

then further back I will eventually do a retaining wall with stairs up to the higher level of the yard... or rocks, or similar.

I am currently drawing up an updated image with all the suggestions etc.

um....no

not me.

others are good with that stuff.

Thanks Kiwi - you're opinions are still always more than welcome! now to show all these suggestions to the other half and see his response...

ooow, so kind. thank you.
maybe start a thread in the landscaping part re sloping blocks and some ideas.

you know the other half is going to 'freak out' dont you when you show him.............................
he will put on all his uniforms at once!!

MOST RECENT UPDATE:

[ img ]

Changes from original plan:
- extension of "man cave" incl. room for bar/pool table, removal of second alfresco
- guest room in lieu of study on main floor, with ensuite & robe
- study on top level with ?cavity doors
- rearrangement of master bedroom / ensuite
- sloping roof to main living area (kitchen/living/etc)
- garage extension - storage & workshop areas


Things I'm still not 100% sure on...
- Master walk-in robe location (mostly the opening to the robe in comparison to the main door)
- Setup of alfresco/rear yard because of slope on block and the need for steps

I still really want to incorporate a cat area that can be accessed via cat-flap inside the house... originally, I was going to enclose one of the alfresco areas for this purpose but the current plan makes this impossible. Any suggestions from my fellow feline families?

We're getting there; slowly but surely!

Sitting down with our builder on Jan 7th to discuss the next steps, so hoping to show him what we come up with based on all of the above. Starting to get exciting..

if you ever have kids, that area by the kids rooms...perfect to set up a thomas the tank wooden train track..JUST PERFECT!

[ img ]

or a fairy castle/ dolls house play area
[ img ]

or a play station area with bean bags,

or just a chat zone

[ img ]

it can be a multi space, rather than just a loo and a cupboard, and will be cheaper $$$ cos money is going to be a bit more with this plan!!.

I'd enclose the top area for a cat safe area (we have a balcony our fluff bum likes). And if you can get the finer mesh thats like fly screen you could use it to make that part and insect free area.

I imagine the lower area will end up being a BBQ\outdoor area for when you have guests around and if we wet you move inside for fun with maybe a dining table behind the sofa's (we have a bar table and stool looking towards the screen in ours which has been popular).

Not sure there are too many alternative locaitons for the walk in either. But a cavity slider on the front will make it disappear.

I really like the guest ensuite layout now. Good suggetsion there and it really works. I'd put a normal door in though and have it open towards the guest bed wall. Will means guests can lock it.

It's all looking good now and if you give me a link to your landscape thread I might be able to pull out some ideas.

Generally speaking, very nice. I like the two large living areas and agree that the Great Room should be the "big screen" theatre, while the mid level Living area is more of the everyday TV. In the Great Room the lounges can push back further away from the screen to give you a nice amount of space.

I would leave the study on the mid level at the front. Having a bedroom there is not handy if you are not mobile since you still need to go up 7 or so steps. If you can do this you can make the next flight of steps to the top level.

The study at the front makes sense since if you set up a home business or want to talk to someone business person you can talk to them in the study and they don't have to walk through the house.

Could not find the rumpus.

The garage looks small. I can't read the figures but it looks like 5410 x 5500, which is not wide enough. I would go for 6000 x 6000 (or 6000W x 5500D). I would also finish off the walls in the garage. I don't like single brick walls. Ar you rendering the outside?

I would make the master bedroom ensuite smaller. A 1800 x 900 shower may be great, but you only use that space for 5 minutes per day. I would reduce it by 200 mm and make a larger parent's retreat area. Also, arrange the ensuite door so that the bed could go in on the right side as an option.

I would put storage under the high side of the mid stairs.

Check all the furniture has been drawn to the right scale. Everything looks spacious, but if the beds are drawn undersized it can give the elusion of space. So check the dimension of all furniture and see if it matches what you are planing.

When drawing the stairs, I believe the convention is for the arrow to point in the up direction. The outside stairs appear to have the arrow in the wrong direction.

A pullout bin next to the dishwasher is nice.

I would make the stairs from the mid level outside rear terrace to the low level rear terrace the full width of the area, but this is not a biggie.

Like the guest toilet near the entrance since you never know what might happen. i have the same arrangement and one morning an elderly man from the old people's home across the road, who was waiting for a bus outside my house asked to use the toilet. This was not a problem due to my Guest toilet being close to the front door.

The fridge space look lie it's only 800 mm wide. Check what your fridge needs. And it's a long trip to the pantry. Maybe a pullout pantry near the fridge for your everyday items.

The Kitchen, Dining, Living, terrace areas flow beautifully together.

For the Great Room, the bar looks longer than it needs to be. More space for the pool table would be nice. I would knock off 50 mm from the length. Also, make sure the sink is a bit more central. The bar bench is only 600 mm deep, this won't allow bar stools to have any leg room and they will stick out into the passage way. Maybe 100mm shelving, 700mm walk space, 800 mm bench space (tight walkway, but nicer bench). Of course 200 mm shelf, 900 mm walkway, 900 mm bench would be perfect, but you don't have the space. But then if you make the garage wider then this area could be bigger. Actually it will need to be bigger since there are 7 steps and even at 250 mm per step (tight), this is 1750 mm, but I measure only 1600 mm space.

Oh, and a double vanity in the main ensuite.

Rumpus / Great room - the name has changed a few times, but this is the area I was referring to!

Study area - I have reasons for liking it in each area, but ill discuss with the other half and see what he prefers. You are correct with the comment re: a home business, not a bother for us but for re-sale I can see it having its benefits. I also like the idea of the guest room with ensuite as well. I think our budget will be what decides on this one for us..



I do prefer a wider garage as well, and when this is drawn to scale I'll check the actual size but yes, if we widen the garage a little, we can also widen the "great room/rumpus" to make a better area for the bar as you mention below.



You are absolutely correct - a lot of this isn't quite to scale as I've been editing in photoshop. I was going to get my ideas together and then have our builder draw it up to scale for me, as I am not very good at the various software programs available.



Yep, my bad there. The ones in the house were drawn by someone who knew what they were doing. I just copied and pasted to suit what I needed, and didn't notice the arrow was the wrong way.. ill fix that up.



Both good points - the rear is a very rough sketch at this stage, and yes, under bench bin is on the list of things I want.



By widening the garage, hopefully the above can be addressed. The bar will also be a 'later addition' I would imagine... but good to have it in the plans so we have all the room we need when we are ready to add it in.

Casa, thank you kindly for taking the time to provide us with all of the above suggestions! This forum is such a wealth of knowledge...

oh & ..



I don't actually like double vanities. There is only ever one person in there at a time, and I prefer having more free bench space for storage. I have a wicker basket with some essentials in it (make-up, perfume etc) or a vase... by having a second sink, there is no room for any of this. Personal preference there I suppose!

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=53250

Thanks!

If adding the Great Room bar later, make sure the plumbing is in place. (This is what I did with my bar in my "Great Room" - waiting for funds to finish off the bar.)

Double vanities are great. There will be times before going out when you will both want to brush your teeth and get ready. Two basins make it so much better.

Not much to add but I liked the set out of the original bedroom ( master) would you have the room to do a walk through closet?
In the downstairs bathroom could you separate the toilet? As it will become the main toilet it I would not want to see the shower every time I went in there plus it's annoying having to lock 2 doors (for guests) or very embarrassing if they only lock 1 and someone walks in the other door.
Could you remove the window in the pantry and fit in extra shelves? (never have enough storage)
Do you have any storage up stairs?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The downstairs "guest room" can always be utilised as a study for home business purposes at a later date-or resale. If you are having clients coming to your home a toilet close to the office area means that they don't have to access the rest of the house.

Re: double vanity for Master. I think that this is a must for resale! In a home of this scope any potential buyers would be looking for a good master ensuite setup including double vanities....

Re: Pantry. I don't think that it is too much of a hike at all-although I would get rid of the window. Much of what is stored in a pantry should be stored in a cool,dark area-so a window isn't needed.

I would consider adding a door ( cavity or otherwise) where the dotted line in the entry is near the fridge area-again, for either guests or home office uses it allows that area to be fully closed off-great for privacy!

[ before reading, please note that all measurements are approximates ]

After designing the dream house in the above posts, we had to make some decisions, and unfortunately had to cut a few of the great ideas off in order to stick with budget...

So this is what we have come up with:

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I have decided to keep the "great room" as a theatre only - with a view to maybe make a man-cave at a later date, separate to the main house for a bar/pool table etc. That way I also get my cat run in that lower second alfresco area.

Kept all the bedrooms upstairs, as I couldn't afford to have a third full bathroom, so decided against the guest room idea all together. Study to remain at front with powder room for easy toilet access if it was ever used for business purposes.

Toilet has remained in the main bathroom, as we have two other toilets available if needed, and I really wanted to keep that small space outside the end bedrooms. I know its not a huge area, but as Kiwi (i think?) pointed out, it is a great spot for a dolls house, bean bags, or kids play area. It also makes the top floor seem a little more opened..

We also added an extra robe to the Master against the end wall - you can never have too much wardrobe space! I also added the second vanity against everyones suggestions - even though I am not so keen on two sinks personally.

I've also extended the laundry a little, and added cupboards/shelves both sides (yet to decide on exact configuration but i want lots of storage in the laundry, still with a potential drying cupboard or at least an area to hang clothes).

Still havent got anywhere with the outside plans - they are next on the agenda. We have a meeting with our builder on the weekend so we'll see how we go, but we're hoping to get a 3D version to have a look at to see if we are happy with what we have come up with...

Thanks again everyone for your help - everyone's suggestions were great, and I just wish I could afford to include them all!

Jo x

that looks a really lovely home now, so well done!! adding the 'lounge' to the back of the home has really made that space a lovely piece of real estate and you will really enjoy it to its potential now

in our family room/ dining we dont have a tv, only in the 'theatre' (which is really a tiny tv room compared to yours!) so the family room is just that, a hang out space.

you dont have kids yet but I recon the bean bag area...will one day be their tv area so pop a sky arial point in the wall..just in case! and if not, no harm done (good for playstation, so it frees up your tv's downstairs)
also put a small high up slim window in, as it faces west. and you dont want too much sun coming in,.

anyway, congrats, looks fantastic and I think you will really love living there.
and the study can have a sofa bed and people can go upstairs for a shower..no biggy, so win win really.