Lots of options.

Depending on slope of block the living room could be to south of dining opening up more to east

what is the width and length of the block and approx distance from house to all fences, what are the walls floors and roof made out of and please share a Google earth image of the roof and some photos of the backyard would help

Block is 20x50
Approx 1m off East boundary, approx 5-6m off West boundary
Tiled roof, double brick walls, limestone foundations with T&G substrate
Backyard is pretty overgrown but will be cleared as needed

the challenge will be to connect the old and new parts of the house...assuming the old laundry sleepout and alfresco were additions to the original house ..what are those floors walls and roof built out of and are they in good enough condition to be renovated or better removed to make way for a new extension?

Yep agree, the tie in is true challenge. They are the same as the main house. I will have to have a look at the foundations to see feasibility of removing the back but I would be inclined to remove them if possible

Kate has given us something to think about that we hadn’t considered with the extension of the hallway. I like it 👍

Given length of block and roof extending with kitchen dining living in a long room along west boundary would prob be best.

We love a link idea. So much easier if you leave the existing roofline as is. And easier = cheaper

Love these ideas! Thanks team 😍

I think we want to keep most of the building on the eastern side so have come up with a basic plan. However we want to try and have 4 bedrooms so may replace the laundry with a bedroom.

How big are people making their kitchen/living/dining? I’m thinking 13x6m, raked ceilings in that room.

I wish my drawing skills were as good as yours Oklouise 👍👍

plans depend on accurate dimensions and basic drawing skills that can be achieved with a tape measure, ruler, paper and pencil my CAD program just makes the plans look neater but your new plan assumes that the original laundry, bed 4 and old alfresco has been removed so i've redrawn your plan to scale (with queen sized beds and minimum sized bathroom fixtures) and you will notice that there is limited walking space in the ens and bathroom for the fixtures arranged as you have shown, there's enough space for wm, dryer and sink but no broom cupboard or mudroom storage in the laundry, no space for a handbasin in the powder room, steps down from the "upstairs" are too close to the rear windows and sliding glass door which can be dangerous, the kitchen is very cramped, the island is only 2m long without enough walking space for stools, the pantry is generous but there are large areas of unused space in the extension and no obvious location for a new bed 4 ... the roof will be super complex and expensive without the LINK as previously suggested not to mention the cost of removing the old parts of the house and where will you place the pool with safety fencing, kids' play area, clothesline, new shed and extended driveway?

my original suggestion was about 75 sqm extra and retained the old rear section of the house and has 4 bedrooms, generous kitchen and storage, laundry mudroom and pool change room ...your new plan is about 80 sq m extra plus open outdoor areas

What I also like about oklouise's plan is the external windows. I know that in apartments you often have to put up with internal bathrooms, but personally I don't like that in a large house.

Thanks for the suggestion oklouise. I should have mentioned that plan is definitely not to scale, just quickly done up on MSPaint for some ideas.

The graph paper and ruler have been getting a workout 👍

Yep I agree ideally we will have a link between new and old, but we do want to keep the extension on the eastern side similar to the plan attached.

Appreciate all the feedback guys, given us lots to think about👍

Suggest flip the back half of Louise’s back plane from the bed rooms wall, ie laundry where change room is and kitchen on the North East. It is a much economical use of space.

another variation but having the extension closer to the east means a different location for the central hallway and not enough space for ens plus bathroom so my original master suite fits better with a central family bathroom plus LINK for laundry/mudroom and pwdr and a central courtyard... keeping the original laundry alfresco and part of bed 4 allows for a new bed 4, the old laundry can be used as pool change room and the old alfresco can be used for wet weather kids play area and/or enclosed (plus ventilating skylight to bathroom) to create a study, rumpus or bed 5..the extension plus link is still about 80sqm plus patios

and another variation with alternate uses for the old laundry and alfresco

Oil could the bed5 be the courtyard allowing extension to wrap around it linking to ensuite

That is directed to oklouise not oil.

if the old afresco/new bed 5 were pushed out to make the room bigger with window facing east the LINK could be wider but that would exclude windows from the NNE side of the new dining room and the hallway through the link...not impossible but do they need the extra space....the challenge with this extension is all the changes in roof, floor and ceiling heights, shapes and levels without making the old alfresco, laundry and bed 4 spaces useless and the easiest cheapest way that i know how to connect old with new is to use a narrow hallway LINK with steps and a weird shaped roof and then the separate roofs over the new laundry, carport (and potential roof over the patio) can appear flat with minimal slope in the most convenient direction for drainage without impacting the main roof over the new family room that can be a gable with internal raked ceilings and north facing triangle shaped windows above the new patio roof.. something like this but where i have shown the big asterisks * could also have a pushed out window or wall to create extra room and or boxed window seat under the eaves but my vintage CAD program can't make a true 3D image and fine details will need to worked out on site with accurate dimensions and levels

Could this work?

Thanks guys!

So much to think about, our big issue seems to be adding the 4th bedroom and tying the new extension into the old house. The 1.1metre drop is proving to be an issue because it is creating wasted space.

We will get an architect through to give us an idea too. It’s a beautiful house with lots of character and potential so want to get everything right 😊

Both Jake and I really appreciate all the help

anything is possible depending on accurate information but Kate's last idea assumes that the old alfresco from roof to ground is completely removed and walls installed to make a complicated big new hole in the old roof for the sake of having a window for a bedroom in a location where a bathroom with skylight is suitable and plumbing already exists... the old rear section of the house appears to be under the main roof and not an add-on that can be easily removed and, if parts of the old rear section of the old house roof is removed, it would probably be more cost effective to remove the whole old rear section (and i would update the whole roof and replace tiles with Colorbond) and then extend without a courtyard or LINK and lose out on the bonus rooms that can be created out of the old rooms... best solution will depend on condition of original building, long term goals and budget

Thanks.

Yep you are right the current house is exactly as it was build in 1951, no rear extension all one roof space.

I do love the idea of split level living to allow for indoor outdoor living in the extension

Cheers, really appreciate all the feedback and ideas, a lot we haven’t thought about. Have a couple options in mind so will speak to a few people about how easy and costs to do so.

Really we need to choose where we want the link ( would prefer near the eastern side) without losing rooms, and were we want the stairs (link hallway, split level living, external).

Big thanks

I have put together a suggested floorplan using OKL Master suite and kids bedrooms, the study space could be open to the new extension with the stairs coming off that. This could reduce the overall size of the extension. The pool would then possibly be able to fit between it and the driveway

The new roof could be some kind of tall gable with glass at both ends or Skillion . cheers

Bit of plan been playing with. Doesn’t get the nice straight hallway from the front door but it means less walls to remove and build, and gets rid of the original bathroom which was pretty small. Not 100% on the new part, happy to move around kitchen, laundry, dining, etc.

New part is quite wide 8m, so at least the stairs are coming in central with the ridge line