Thank you Rosie and Mtnrd for looking at this layout. Rosie, you bring up some good points, and you've made me realize that I can treat that French door wall as if it were solid window. I had to go back to the architect 3 times to get the door from the bfst room to the porch, since she'd originally envisioned that as a window and didn't seem to want to change it out to a door, since she kept "forgetting" to change it. I envision using that door to the porch most of the time, but I think, because we're in the South Carolina Low Country, that I want the option to open the room up as much as possible when the weather is nice. What you can't see is that at the end of that 8' wide run of porch is a round gazebo type room on the porch that is where we will actually have our main porch furniture and spend our time. We're on a large lot on a river and look out to Live Oaks hung with spanish moss and a small pond. I'll post a pic of the whole plan so you have a feel for the rest of the space. Re the built-ins. The built in on the north end is a wet bar, and on the south end is a bookcase. I gave our KD/cabinet guy my inspiration pics, which are all balanced built-ins, and he's a genius. He came up with a plan that beautifully balances the different functions of the sides and makes it beautiful. this is one of my inspiration pics [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/formal-living-area-traditional-living-room-chicago-phvw-vp~151875) [Traditional Living Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2107) by Rockford Interior Designers & Decorators KannCept Design, Inc. - the space is very similar re the upstairs - and I note that the window wall is solid. I will take that under consideration. This was one of the other pics. We are ending up with a darker blue cabinet design going it. [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/cherry-hills-transitional-living-room-denver-phvw-vp~572005) [Transitional Living Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/transitional-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2112) by Denver Kitchen & Bath Designers Exquisite Kitchen Design Mtnrd, the two objects are a small table and one of my extra dining chairs. The other is against the wall in the dining room. I think I misspoke about the trays defining space too. There is a tray in the dining room, dropped headers and posts around the kitchen area, a "balcony' upstairs that overlooks the living room space which actually has a vaulted ceiling broken up by a windowed dormer to bring in some natural light into the living room. It does all serve to define rooms, although if you followed all that I give you kudos! It was easier just to say trays. :) This post was edited by mlweaving_Marji on Tue, Oct 29, 13 at 22:29

Seems to me that with this being off the DR, it could serve as a place to have drinks before dinner or even dessert afterwards if you were entertaining. I am not sure I see the either/or proposition of everything clumped in the middle OR everything stuck in the corners. Without pix or a layout, it is hard to say for sure, but I would think a pair of chairs with a table between them, and perhaps an ottoman to share, could be placed by one window wall. You could then have a curved-back loveseat or small couch opposite that, floating in the room a bit, with a cocktail table in front of it, something perhaps with a glass top and iron legs to not take up a lot of visual space. Ideally I would think that you would want the entry to the DR open, not have it blocked by the loveseat, so the layout would work around that.

Well, if you watch a lot of tv, then I'd make a main furniture grouping around the tv/fireplace and just put a couple of comfy chairs with a small table between, either to each side with a table in front of the fireplace, or facing each other in front of the fireplace with a table between. Just a little reading or wine sipping area. like this: If you mostly gather without tv watching then I'd do the opposite and put a couple of chairs on the tv side. You could think about using a backless chaise/bench as a piece of furniture between the areas, so people could face either way or lie down to watch tv. Like this: If you don't use the electric fireplace, I'd still think about mounting the tv lower, in front of the firebox and putting some nice art above the mantel, for more comfortable tv viewing. It's a challenging but beautiful space!

@njseventyfour I meant put the two adjacent in the corner - it looks like your chimney is to the right of that first window, correct? Couldn't you put the second window to the left of the remaining window? Might make for a nice spot to sit.