Hi Patricia, thank you for the most amazing description and thought. I truly appreciate it. I thought it might have been a ceiling beam as I must admit there are no architectural details.

We’re actually thinking more of an integrated downstairs master (for my mum) so our young kids can still see her.

I love what you’ve mentioned in terms of leveraging what we’ve got. I really don’t want to be wasteful if we don’t have too. And that’s a great idea converting the dining room into a tv room. It’s never really worked as a tv room. Which means our current family room can double as a dining, crafting/ painting, homework, work from home space.

We need more storage practically everywhere (a mud room is on my list, they are finally making their way to Aus), more line of sight - with two young kids, the kitchen is a total nightmare/ blind spot, more outdoor indoor integration (the outside needs a tonne of work from paving redo, to fencing, to new roof, repainting and more). So a lot of our budget will get chewed on things you don’t see. But equally there are things we love and are thankful for: our balcony, sitting out the front of the study in winter, our dining table, movie nights, s’mores, sports in the yard, swimming in summer, dance discos.

Ps I was thinking of pushing the suite off the study so the en-suite would be added as part of the new slab, and the suite would have its own courtyard (off the lounge) which overlooks the pool.

Hire an architect. Have a 200K + budget.

Thanks @macdolan We hired an architect. They ignored half the brief as it didn’t fit their vision. We’ve since engaged a ID but it still leaves a gap in terms of what is best from a build perspective. Sqm est based on their design is circa 350/400k. In that instance a new build is better value

On your first drawing , those dot-dash lines are beams. They are labeled with B# and correspond to a beam schedule. On your third drawing, the dashed lines show the roof above.

Note that does not mean you actually have what’s on the drawing.

And sorry no idea what happened to the text. Thank you. I have heard that can be the case

If you find what you want/need, it is probably cheaper to buy than to improve your current home. I say that as a serial remodeler - it is often a losing proposition unless you do the work yourself. Here, I notice all your plumbing is in the D wall so if you can keep the new space near that you will save on cost and time.

Hi @Pam A gosh deep down that is my fear and new builds here seem so much cheaper. It’s a hard line to balance. Thank you so much for the heads up. Hubby and I both fairly rubbish when it comes to being handy. Thank you re D wall too