Please read the following recall before you buy EA. Ethan Allen "American Impressions" and "New Country" rectangular dining tables Could collapse and cause injury. Products: 7,071 wood tables sold from 8/03 to 1/05 at Ethan Allen furniture stores nationwide for $1,069 to $1,199. "American Impressions" table bears model number 24-6414; "New Country" table, model number 33-6404. Model number is stenciled on underside of table. Hazard exists because table may be missing some of the eight small wooden blocks that are supposed to be located on its underside to add stability. Ethan Allen has received 33 reports of incidents in which tables may have collapsed as a result of missing blocks. No injuries have been reported. What to do: Inspect underside of table for stability blocks. If there are fewer than eight, call Ethan Allen at 888-339-9398 to arrange for free in-home repair. For information, go to www.ethanallen.com or e-mail company at recall@ethanalleninc.com. Ethan Allen says it is sending recall notices to all known customers who bought the tables.

I love having a dedicated INformal dining room! Yes, it's 'The Dining Room,' but it's not formal. Long farm table, comfortable chairs, warm lighting, flooring and surfaces that won't get damaged by kids or spills. A really warm and welcoming place to eat meals as a family or with friends. The 'breakfast nook' has just never been my favorite. Even when the space is nice, the furniture is rarely of a caliber that brings joy to the users... I'd replace that with two comfortable wingback chairs and a tall side table -- the kind of place you could have a cup of coffee and read the paper, or sit with a glass of wine while your spouse makes dinner or cleans the kitchen. The other great use for a 'breakfast nook' IMO is as a kids' homework area or auxiliary baking table. Another great use for an unused dining room is (if you can close it off) as a TV room. Get the TV out of your family room and reclaim that space as a family gathering area without the constant racket of a TV.

I vote for hardwood or engineered wood through the whole space, including the kitchen. Opening the wall would be nice, but I suspect your appliances are arrayed along that wall? I'd paint the wall the same pale color as the living space, and hang a really big mirror on the wall if you can't open it. Then you open the wall visually, and reflect the light from the sliders back into the space. (I know...me and mirrors. They are great manipulators of space, particularly when you commit to making them big!)

True story: I used several bedrooms in a 6 bedroom house as offices, and when I put the house on the market, the realtor insisted I convert the offices back into bedrooms, complete with beds (I piled up books on the floor, put an air mattress on them, and then "made"the beds! --- decorated with kiddie stuff). The house sold the first day (location, correctly priced) and it was bought by a childless couple who needed to run their business from home and needed more than one office in the house. Go light on making permanent changes so you can switch things back.