llucy - Thank you for your kind support!! I felt so much better after reading your post. You are right, having to sacrifice the nook and eat at an island is never something I wanted to do. It would feel like a sacrifice, but if I was getting something otherwise fabulous in return, I would at least consider it. If I could snap my fingers and have the perfect solution, it would be to still have a kitchen table and any island seating would just be 1 or 2 spots for perching, not for dining. So, the U shape really does start to make sense. Thank you for the link to the Houzz ideabook! That really helped me and actually got a few new ideas flowing in my mind. The pantry doors will be changed, so that section can be made to look very different. sena01 - Thank you again for more options! It is so helpful to see things in 3d. The one with the bar table actually looked good - I just can't see needing the duplication of another table. But, it visually made the most sense probably. I'm going to play around with your idea of moving the dining nook! It's something else that I never considered and at first the new kitchen looked quite small, but then I saw the section against the dining room wall, so that might give me enough storage. Thank you again! tracie.erin - Thank you for drawing out this layout idea. It's actually fairly close to an idea proposed by a KD I met with. At the time, DH was not open to losing the U shape, so he kinda nixed it, but I'm going to explore this idea further. I like that I can still keep the kitchen table as the more I think about it, the more that seems important to me. Thanks everyone for your continuing advice and ideas! I can't even tell you how much this is helping me. DH is very busy and doesn't want to be too heavily involved in the details, so it's so valuable to me to get to talk things out with all of you! I'm having a GC over on Monday to discuss. I will report back once I have a better sense of my construction limitations.

Thanks for that Jalcon Have seen this post before I think with a lot of these Situations the Choice of to Prune or not to Prune is in the hands of the Tree owner whether Purist ~ None Purist or Experimentalist I myself with this Tree have decided to remove the bottom 2 Branches before the Tree becomes too Branch Wound Envisaging what the Tree would look like with just a single Curved Trunk I would consider this the best Option,(In My Opinion as a Comparitive Beginner to many on the Gardenweb) Best wishes Stephen,Cheshire,UK

What a great home you have to start with!! I love the look of modern furnishings in traditional homes, below are some houzz photos that came up with that search. IMO it adds instant warmth and uniqueness. I think sofa and accent chairs will give you more flexability and a more open sight line will be achieved with a low back sofa. I think the art and decor you should take your time with and let it speak to you and your families interests and tastes...is the art modern and artsy, or classic with a love of nature, is it fun and colorful with a nod to the bold. The backs of the built in bookcases could be wallpapered to reflect this too, and lighting will add a huge statement about you and how you want others to feel in your home.

What are the measurements of the Anthropolgy mirror you are returning? I think it was a good size and would be inclined to get either the first or second choice RH mirror depending on your preference. They will both look great with your chandelier. The third is not worth whatever the additional expense and I don’t think the lines of the fourth mirror are hefty enough. When you refer to the green room pic, do you want to look for a paint color that shade or are you just referring to the pic in general? Also, do you love the fabric on your chairs or are you just going with what is there? I had the seats in my dining room chairs reupholstered a few years back and it was not expensive. I bought the fabric myself and gave it to my upholsterer, which also saved. He came to my house, unscrewed the seats and took them with him so he didn’t have to load up the chairs. I think your fabric is absolutely fine, nothing wrong at all. It just seems like you are looking for a bit of bold in the space and that could be any easy place to get it. Remember if you are placing chairs on either side of the buffet, they are very visible and the seats can add a lot of look, or not to the room. No right or wrong.