Sherylee from Western Australia writes to John and Matthew asking for advice on her home.

“We are looking to build a strawbale house (bungalow) in southern Western Australia – this is what we have come up with so far. We have 3 acres of land so will have good solar access. My main concerns are how the front and rear doors line up, and I have no idea how to layout the kitchen. These draft measurements are in meters,

1. Thoughts about the front door area? Should there be a dividing wall to separate the living area? Australians seem to love open plan (which I am not against either) but I wonder about heat loss in winter.

2. I was thinking of a freestanding bath and freestanding shower in the bathroom?? Thoughts on these? The bathroom will also open to the outside (porch/deck) area – we love the inside/outside room idea!

3. I’d really like an opinion on a roofline – at this stage we are thinking of just a single gable with wraparound porch – we need it to be simple to minimise bushfire risk but daylight into our south rooms might be compromised without clestory windows???

4. As the environment is our main consideration, small is good – so the one bathroom is definitely our preference and if any other space savings can be noted, that would be great!

Thanks so much, Sherylee”