Having lived for years with a front loader in the kitchen under counter and now with a good sized laundry I am resenting the laundry for the space it wastes! I would rather have a "european solution" and a good en-suit and walk in :) really it is a matter of how you want to live, in reality if you spend your life considering resale you won't enjoy your home, prospective purchasers will love or hate whatever you do, those that don't want a space solution will be the ones who want the big ensuite and robe anyway! Do it with love then others will love it too, good luck

And the following, because space is critical I have thought that the small court on the western boundary off the kitchen could be included into the floorplan just using high windows? As OKL has previously mentioned possibly relocating the master suite which you responded that you were understandably wanting to keep costs down. It's still vital for you to get the best possible floorplan so that things flow. Without most dimensions my suggestion of a possible floorplan Changing the end bedroom and Rumpus rooms into a master suite, the kids bedrooms side by side and the rumpus off the bedrooms, The study opening off the kitchen family so you can over see them using computers and doing home work, plus its a lovely space to do anything that you would normally do on your computer. I also like the idea of seeing the fireplace when coming down into the house.so I would personally prefer keeping to to the left of the room which could help with better furniture layout

Thanks Margot, north is to the right of the plan above, but the master and theatre (east) face natural bushland, and the master is not to the right of the design due to cars entering on each street coming towards that corner (street to front and right). Being a corner block we wanted to keep as much privacy for the master if possibly. We plan on a full fence to enclose the back bedrooms and following that a white picket fence or other permeable fence around to the front, with trees planned on the north and east sides. It can get quite hot in summer here so not hugely worried about heat and sunshine etc. Also wanted the master to face the natural bushland. The garage could go on the boundary, though adds more cost and there is a small power dome so the driveway would need to curve around that. We have taken on board feedback for the bedrooms and powder at the back. Will have a play around and see what we can shift to make the bedrooms bigger etc. Thanks so much for the help :)

I hope you don't mind... seeing the external pics I have a totally different idea! But don't worry I don't expect you to actually use it, and it's just a rough sketch. You don't need to extend the footprint at all in my opinion. based on the picture of the front of house your drawing is a bit out... the entry stair actually sits to the left of the front door I think. so there is a little more room there, but i'm not sure if its wide enough. So maybe there is enough room to put a hallway back in and create a master suite upstairs? The front deck becomes a private retreat and I put the bath out there! It's only accessible from the master and bed 4. If you don't need that many bedrooms maybe even leave the master and bed 4 combined and have a huuuuge master area. there's still the study downstairs that could also be a spare bedroom. I thought as the front deck is so private it could be really luxurious. The old kitchen becomes the walk-through robe and ensuite. The new kitchen goes straight under the old, and the kitchenette becomes the bathroom,accessible from the pool. the downstairs kitchen is connected to the dining and living, but the posts define the areas. The kitchen can have a halfwall with a servery-style opening between the posts, and will still have that connection. I didn't draw it in on the downstairs picture, but the entry needs to be pushed a little forward and then the stairs run up from the left corner and arrive where the original entry was upstairs. The downstairs living is accessed straight from the entry at front and opens onto the front patio, under the back deck becomes the back patio. I feel like you have less new to build and retain more of the original layout. in fact the upstairs bathroom is entirely intact.