This a beautifully considered solution, once again Dr Retro, you’ve proven why you are the master! For people thinking that render will make their 60’s and 70’s houses better, please consult with Dr Retro first!

you said you could extend towards the west to replace the laundry but what's the distance from the side of the original dining room to the western boundary and what are your long term plans for the old dining room, kitchen and the space behind the garage? if you expect to extend, as me me already said, it's much better to plan the whole house renovation and it can also be more cost effective to add new rooms than to rearrange existing spaces even if you have to do the work in stages but, as we can't read the writing on your plans, it difficult to make specific suggestions and i don't understand where you plan to add the new kitchen ...does the house have only original rooms or is part of the house an old extension? what are all the floors and walls made out and what is the height of the back deck off the ground? please show room names and dimensions on the plans in larger print and some photos inside and out would help understand the existing spaces but my initial thought would be to have a new kitchen,pantry and laundry on the garage side and use the old dining room kitchen and laundry bathroom as a new master suite..but depends on correct dimensions.

Hi Carla, what a beautiful piece. This may sound obvious but the first thing to do is to go through and declutter anything that you no longer need or that doesn’t/won’t live in the living room. That way you can see how much storage you really need. Next consider what you want to display and what you want to hide behind doors. This will guide the type of storage that suits best. Make the mid century piece the feature by moving it along to the middle of the wall. As this piece is on legs, using a mid century modular shelving style around /next to it would look great and add flexibility to your storage. Ladderax is a well known vintage version but other stores have similar - example from Freedom here- or if you are handy you could make your own. Another way to go is modern minimalist, floating cupboards from IKEA would do the trick. Either way I would not have and cabinetry going all the way to the ground. Keeping the space under the furniture will help the room feel more spacious. Finally if renovations are an option you could change to a sliding door entry which means you don’t have to keep the door swing space & could use for more storage.

I like the character and the bones . Personally , I'd do new light fittings and just plainish curtains , similar in 'weight' to the ones there , just in mid blues or reds or greens or similar . I wouldn't worry about honeycomb or sheers at this stage . The one thing I find strangest though , is the bedroom with the honey gold wardrobe , and the dark beams -- I'd stain the wardrobe darker to match the beams , or whitewash it and make it an ironic feature -- a lot of people may just paint it white , or change out the slatted doors , but I'd have some fun !