we built the house so that the main view is from the dining room. NO matter what we do we CANNOT seem to move people from the table--we have a comfy dining set but if money were no issue I would buy a dining set with actual chairs-like a smoking chairs--as that is where everyone ends up!

In our last home, the screened porch was used constantly when we entertained (unless it was winter). We will be adding one on to this house when funds are available, as we LOVED that porch!

In this home, the large L-shaped island is fantastic for entertaining. We can serve buffet-style on it for larger groups and when we have smaller crowds, everyone wants to congregate around it.

No, I can't think of anything I would change.

We cut a 6' door opening between our dining room and den quite a few years ago, and this one feature made our home so much more open and useful (better "flow"). I have to give my parents credit for the idea. They have the same floorplan, and had their large opening cut in the 70s, before people were gravitating to open floor plans. It made their home seem twice as large and much more useful.

If I were to improve on my home, I would add a large room on the back of my one-story home (much like Susans02's addition). It would be accessible from the kitchen, den, and also the sitting area off of the master bedroom, with a dual-sided fireplace (for both that room and the den). Can you imagine the parties we could have with that layout?

I wish we had a more open kitchen/living area design. Everyone ends up standing in the smallish area between the kitchen sink/bar and the back door. Not in the living area because all the action is in the kitchen, not in the breakfast area because there's not enough room.

As a homeschool family we use our dining room as a library school room, but with a table in the middle. In a couple of years, I'm going to redistribute the bookshelves and have a 'real' dining room. Maybe even a 'real' dining room table, too. :0)

Instead of the raised kitchen counter bar I'd like a wide area for buffets. With the narrow bar--not too much food can be put out there and if it is it is too high for children to reach. So a counter height wide bar would be great.

Of course, the best accessory to entertaining would be someone to clean before and after. GRIN

Here is a link that might be useful: Creative Soul