Hi fb57, Great charming federation house, retain the front and fix the back, then maybe later you can put in a granny flat - depending on cost and local council bylaws. I would not put in an attic - stairs are a good place for mishaps and as we age it might have limited functionality - but if its something you have your heart set on it might prove worth while. It appears that you are competent enough to do a decent measure up plan, going from what you have posted - you might need to take a few photo and a few other dimension to get a good design from someone working online. The idea is to get a design that you are happy with and then get a local competent Drafts-person to do your working drawings for a Building Permit and then get it built with a Builder of your choice. This would result in my opinion in a significant saving and a design of your choice, especially if you are willing to do some of the legwork with council and other authorities. To get a good design that you feel is a solution to your requirements, you need to produce a variety of design schemes (plans elevations perspectives etc.) and this can be done online with any competent Building Designer that you can get along with. It will not take one go at it - and it will not be quick, as you need time to digest every scheme but generally it works out in the long run. These are some of the things I would look at: 1. The possibility of breaking up the build into stages - maybe stage one do the renovations at the back and the stage 2 place in a granny flat. 2. As you have good access on both sides of the property I would place a new garage on the largest width and possible gate and walkway on the other side to give individual access to the granny flat. The new garage would be as closely to the front as possible, with the new fence an gate on the other side it would greatly improve security. 3. Depending on budget I would provide a bathroom shower and toilet with a walk in robe to the main bedroom and redo the kitchen and laundry if required. 4.The area next to the lounge area I would develop into an external entertainment area. 5 Since you mentioned that you have a "Fibro Extension" it implies to me that you may have asbestos on the property - get an expert in and determine if you need to remove asbestos when you renovate - this is a dangerous material and you should take all precautions possible to avoid long term damage. 6. An indication of the position of your neighbors windows and setback might also help in providing a design that complies with your planning laws and respects your adjoining neighbors. Like all things it will take a few revisions to get it right , but if you are willing to work at it, it will payoff in the end. The first thing is to draw up the existing conditions to scale so that an initial proposal showing possibilities can be worked on. I would be willing to work on this project with you online, I hope this is of some help. Regards Michael Manias mm407p@gmail.com

Just to confirm I have taken the great ideas presented here as advice only and have no intention to do some dodgy diy reno's. With the exception of a couple of quirky exposed timbers as you can see in my pictures there are no other exposed beams. As you can also see from the pictures there is a large roof space on the right (east) side of the house but the ceilings themselves are flat with a slight dip on the north wall. Based on my own personal experiences I would have to agree with Two's Company that there is a tendency towards rendered brick in WA (although there are still many exposed brick houses in my suburb) while double enclosed double garages are also highly desirable. I would also agree that toilets within the main bathroom and non traditional laundries may be considered unusual by many (but not all). Ensuites with toilets however are still very common. Also due to the nature of our work we would prefer the laundry separated from food/kitchen area. For a 4x2 house it is only around 155m2 excluding carport/alfresco which makes the rooms feel quite cramped, hence the desire to open up the family room. However, as Two's Company suggests we will need to first get a builder/eng in to check load bearing walls etc as this will undoubtedly affect what we can achieve within our budget. Having said that I still excited by many of your ideas and with luck hopefully can work some of them into the budget. Cheers all :)

Going in as an owner builder is a false economy. It takes a builder years to develop the relationships with the right subtrades to ensure the project is built to budget and on time. I can fully understand that you are concerned with cost blowouts, so i will let you in on a little secret to help you avoid this trap. Find a builder who charges for quotes. I know this sounds counter intuitive, but here is the upswing. A builder who charges for quotes is legally obliged to give you an accurate quote, will be less likely to lowball you on PS and PC items, and will take the time to audit your plans to ensure there are no issues. Ask in advance to see a sample of their quotes - it should include a full list of inclusions, BoQ Exclusions, and timeline or Gantt chart as min. There are many brilliant builders in Australia offering this service, and i can recommend a number of them in every state in Australia who will give you exemplary service. good luck!

a bathroom is a very challenging place to learn about renovating and needs a range of qualified trades people to do the skilled work in a complex sequence and is very difficult for a homeowner to organise unless you can wait many months for a completed job so it's much easier to employ a builder or specialist bathroom company to organise all the work for you and well worth the extra cost to save your sanity but, before looking for a bathroom builder, i would start by 1. as already suggested.. first learn about the existing spaces ie make a rough hand drawn plan of the existing spaces including all adjoining rooms including lengths of all walls, location of windows and doors and any existing builts ins (measure distance from corners of the room to the outside edge of the architraves around window and doors from both sides and up from the floor, include location of existing bathrooms fixtures and any restrictions like a brick chimney etc.. and what are the walls floors and ceilings built out of? 2. start a HOUZZ ideas book of suitable bathrooms and wiw and visit display homes for ideas ...especially useful to help understand what size spaces feel comfortable and to see the latest ideas for taps, screens etc 3. post your plan on HOUZZ and ask for ideas then 4. once you have an idea of how you want to arrange the spaces contact all the local bathroom renovating companies for a consultation and they will help guide you to find suitable tiles, taps etc...and keep in mind that a builder/bathroom company can easily do the measurements and suggest a floorplan but it's useful for you to first collect ideas so that you have a better idea of what to expect and what you would like to achieve.....