Lovely sense of style! Bravo! We investigated porcelain marble look-alike tile but we decided on real marble which we will have to care for without any acidic products. Beware that there is a repeating pattern in marble look-alike porcelain tile like (on wall paper which will give away the secret.) We found great deals on Amazon and at Lowes for Bianco Carrara subways, pencils, chair rails and floor and shower floor hexes (1/3 the price of tile stores). We found a gorgeous remnant for our shower bench at a marble and stone shop at an amazing price. I can't wait until it's done to post photos! But back to your house... it's gorgeous!

great thoughts, folks, thank you!! rob, the "sunroom" space is now going to be the only LR and DR in the house, so I definitely want it to read as interior space. If it was still going to be a sunroom, and there was a formal DR and LR elsewhere, the in/out materials connection would be a good idea... but I think I want to be really "interior" space. I'll post some exterior pics in a sec, but remember we haven't started the exterior yet! That's the late summer/fall project ;) bmorepanic- good point about code. Hmmmm. I just showed this to our code enforcement officer yesterday and he didn't raise an eyebrow. But maybe I should point it out to him and double check? Actually, I originally had that wall drawn as solid, like you have it, about 18" just to cover the end of a piece of furniture. But then my architect stepmom suggested this as a way to keep the open feeling. smilingjudy- after I had it drawn as a solid wall (like bmorepanic's), I also drew it as a column morphing out of the wall, just as you describe. Stepmom architect still changed it. And I definitely don't want to fill in the area between the two columns, even though it makes more sense architecturally. The impetus for this whole thing was to make the house feel more OPEN and be able to see the view out that big bank of windows..... It's a small, low, closed-in house otherwise and that's a feature (the windows and big huge yard beyond) we definitely want to take advantage of. Right now, just the window and door mullions in that space constrict the view and open feeling, and we're REALLY trying to make it as open as possible. (The original renovation plan was to keep the kitchen in the corner where the mudroom is drawn, which would have left that entire wall open. Now, while I LOVE the kitchen in this space, it does close it up more with the counter and backsplash... so I don;t want to close it any more.)

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful suggestions. I’m compelled to follow the majority opinion and go with the layout where the tv is on the couch wall and I build out the left side to match the right bookcase. As far as the fireplace, I think I might want to build it up with stone Vanier and a thicker more rustic mantel. Thoughts? Also and thoughts on furniture style/ color? In some of the photos there were window treatments. Thoughts on how to treat the window, if at all?

I'd be weary, even if they're a good brand like Hunter Douglas. we have two different brands of cellular blinds. one cordless, one with a single loop cord. they each had totally different problems. the cordless ones were fine at first but went slightly slack on one side, making them crooked. the corded ones are not slack at all, but the strings seem off balance so they're also crooked. The reps told us there is no way to fix them. I can fix old school mini blinds by pulling different strings, but when it comes to these newer shades, the string winding mechanisms are contained inside the header and I couldn't find a way to access them. granted my brand was cheaper, so maybe Hunter Douglas will not do that. but be sure to ask your rep what to do if they go crooked. will they fix them? (if they say that they can't be fixed but they'll replace them, run away. do you want to ask for new sets of replacement blinds every couple of years, and then toss the old ones in the landfill?) as far as cordless -- I wouldn't recommend that for really wide shades. it's easier for one hand to go up higher and make them crooked, and then you have to stand there and adjust. imagine how annoying that would be on super wide shades. the loop cord is easier to operate.