First step - house plans and so it begins

Existing house layout

We did it, we finally agreed to the house plans given to us by our designer. This has been at least a year in the making.

Before we even approached a designer, I drew plan after plan myself, I was a little obsessed. Some were dramatic, moving all the front of the house around to give the house a long hallway like in a double fronted cottage (the house is actually a typical 1950s layout), that then ended in an open plan layout at the back. Others I kept the house basically as is but added more family space and then bedrooms upstairs (didn't want to loose too much garden space).

But in the end it does come down to money as well and our designer after a number of iterations, came back with a great plan within our budget. The existing house is staying fairly much as is, with the existing bathroom becoming an en suite and walk in robe being added.
At the back the laundry is being knocked out and so is the back wall on the kitchen side (to save money, the kitchen is staying as is for now, with the exception of knocking a hole in the wall above the sink) to give us more living space (will be our new family room), two more bedrooms, new laundry and family bathroom. We will also build a new deck, including an alfresco area on the dining side of the house. So with this we will loose a bit of garden but in this current climate, with little water maybe not a bad thing.

Current family room (dining on plan), looking back into lounge (which we also use as a study)

Starting Point

Six years ago we bought a 1950's style two bedroom weatherboard (with brick casing, weird I know) house in a beautiful green suburb of Melbourne. When we moved in it had green carpet with brown swirls, first thing to go - it now has beautiful hardwood polished floorboards. We have also done a lot of other cosmetic work like painting, painting, painting, oh and doing up the front garden including putting in the prerequisite picket fence.

So as it stands we currently have two bedrooms (so our two kids share one), one falling apart bathroom and (the thing that drives me nuts) a toilet through the laundry, inevitably the messiest room in the house thanks to two kids and two cats.

To add to the mayhem we also have regular family visitors from Adelaide sleeping in the lounge / study and not much space for all the toys in the other living area.

So over the past six year as our family and therefore the amount of 'stuff' has grown, I have enjoyed coming up with storage ideas that fit into the style of the family area, trying to avoid too much clutter making the space seem smaller and looking at how we can multipurpose rooms.

I am starting to feel like the house is at bursting point though and so the plan is to do a renovation / extension over the next year. We have just started the design process for this.

What we have to work from - the good thing is the open living space, though a little odd in shape and so a bit pokey, does face North so gets great sun and the best aspect from an environmental design perspective. The flip side to this however is the South facing lounge/ study and main bedroom have thin windows and little insulation. The kids room faces West and is a heat box. All things we want to address.