Sliding glass doors do not save space, there will be the same amount of circulation space needed to travel through the space. If the swing of the door gets in the way, make the room bigger or locate the door to make the circulation more efficient.

Honestly I'd be concerned with furniture placement with the two sets of french doors to the porch. Can you make the side closer to the stairs windows into the porch and just have the french doors on the upper side? Have you tried placing furniture?

Also which direction does the rear where the sliders are face? Which direction is the backyard?

I will probably be in the minority on this one, but I would replace the slider with windows. In the event you go with a pool, I would not want people having the option of entering my great room soaking wet. If they enter the great room through the french doors by the fireplace, they would have had the opportunity to dry off inside of the screened porch.

Mark -the house is mid construction so I need to work with the space, I will be honest I dont get how not having to swing the door doesnt save space? The room is 27" long. I laid out a sectional couch on graph paper and it fits nicely but just about 3' of space between wall where slider is located, but the couch wouldn't completely but in front of the slider at all-

cpartist-- Yes I have laid the furniture placement out on graph paper. The wall opposite the fireplace will have the tv, couch etc. I planning on placing 2 chairs in the fireplace area. The backyard faces North.

kalenangel-- I agree that is a good thought, I would think I would route any pool people through the screened porch to the kitchen. Also the pool area has outside steps down to the walkout/basement media room with a full bath down there. Just not sure if we are entertaining on the patio will it be inconvenient to use the screened porch for entry? Or will it not matter? I would think adults will mostly hang out on the screened porch, only on patio if we are using the pool.

Multiple thoughts:

I'd go with the 12' sliding door -- it'll give you loads of light and good access to the back yard.

What I would NOT do is mix a slider (even with grids) and true inswing French doors in the same room. I think it'll look hodge-podgey.

Of course a slider/glider will save space. It doesn't need inswing space; thus, people can circulate through that area even when the door's open.

Note that your screen porch, not a huge space, is interrupted by FOUR doors. I wonder if you need them all. I'd think about the two circled in red:

- The second door in the great room I suspect could become a window without any loss of function. It's only about two steps away from the breakfast nook door, so it's kind of unnecessary ... and note that when it's open, it blocks the pathway to the kitchen ... not cool. I think it's only there to provide symmetry ... which could be provided just as well by a tall window ... yet a tall window wouldn't prevent you from placing, say, a chair or small table in this spot of the porch. As it exists now, you'd have to line all your furniture up against the outer wall, which isn't conducive to conversation.

Final thought: When I was a small child, my grandparents had a fireplace flanked by single French doors, which both led into a sunroom. It was a lovely set-up.

Final-final thought: Be sure to consider what type of window treatments you'll use on these doors /windows. While lovely, they are expensive (and a bit of a pain) to cover. Keep in mind, too, that for a 12' curtain, you need to allow space to "park" the open curtains.

MrsPete---You have given me much to think about and touched on the one thing that keeps nagging at me, how the french slider will look with the french doors. Also did not think about window treatments, not even sure what I would want, if any with a 12' slider.

I agree that there a lot of doors going into the sunporch it is 10 x 22. We did eliminate the 2 windows by the door in the nook. And the nook is set back past the porch so the table will not be in the way of the door. I think your final thought nails it for me I just love the way the doors look surrounding a fireplace, even if the space is not perfect. I think mainly we will enter the porch from the nook, the doors will open when we want fresh air in great room etc.

Can anyone suggest what type of windows would look good instead of a door? Also having several windows , what would I do about window treatments? I like a pretty modern looking window treatment --

What are the rest of your windows? Do you need them to open for ventilation or can they be fixed for light and view only?

How private is it? We don't have ANY window treatments in our public spaces because they face woods. I do however have window panels that 'flank' the window so it doesn't look stark but they don't close. We have a slider to the right of this picture that leads to the screened porch and no window treatment there either.

In the great room, the only ventilation is through the doors to the porch and the potential slider. If I get rid of the slider, I would want windows that open. The other windows in our house are casement. The backyard faces trees, its not wooded but does face a neighbors yard but not the back of their house.

I would do casement then.

are the fireplace walls built?

Lay a piece of tracing paper over your living room floor plan. Do the following:

1) Draw, to scale, every piece of furniture which will be in the living room in the proper locations. Include rugs, small tables, free-standing gizmos--everything the way it will be.

2) Indicate on the tracing the direction of major views.

3) Indicate on the tracing the direction and angle of any direct sunlight into the living room during the day from sun-up to sun-down.

4) Indicate anything on the exterior which would cause you to want to exit the living room, and go outside to that thing(s).

Now, look at your tracing and decide the best location for doors, windows and their respective sizes. You will have your answer.

I'm guessing that having exterior doors on two of the four sides of your living room isn't going to work well.

no the fireplace wall is not built, will start framing this week

I would remove the 12' slider. I would install a double set of long casement windows on each side of the outer wall leaving enough space for a sofa and side tables in the middle.

As Mrs. Pete said, I like the idea oft single window doors on each side of the fireplace. That's a charming idea. A twist on that is fixed windows rather than doors, or only one fixed, one operable. That allows a number of furniture options. All access to the backyard is through the screened porch.

That's one option. Another option would be to put book cases on each side of the fireplace with high windows along the top to allow light.

Do what Virgil said and make a tracing of the area. Play with different placements. Consult your builder about cost. That big slider is very expensive relative to its' usefulness.

I'd keep the slider, but lose the french doors flanking the fireplace. Neither will be able to open fully (to 180 degrees), so I'd swap those for nice large windows and just have the nook door instead.

I like the idea of the bookcases and high windows into the porch. Maybe transom windows that can open to allow light and breezes?

I would keep the living room slider. I might even make it longer than 12. Make it a wider pocket slider.

I'd center the fireplace in the wall - right now the screen porch width is roughly 9' at fireplace and that is borderline unusable as you need circulation space. There is no room for cabinets as you need to allow circulation from stairs and hall to great room.

I'd go with fixed French doors at fireplace wall

Great room: I'd go with a

Naf_naf - like this?

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Naf Naf's plan and suggestion is a good one, but you still have a lot of the living room devoted to circulation, which greatly reduces your options for furnishing the living room. I find it odd that your screen porch is oriented to the right in the floor plan, but your living room sliding door is oriented to the top in the floor plan. Are you desirous of views and access to the exterior in two different directions. Seems odd...

NafNaf--Forgive me I am not sure what is different in what you are suggesting?

Virgil-- I am not good with the descriptions, but the the house sits in a hill and the sunporch is above the basement patio at least for part of it, the garage is under the house. The lot is pie shaped with the great room facing the narrow end of the pie.

I have been working on this all morning and moving furniture in my current living room and measuring and graphing again to double check. Right now my plan will fit a 7.5 x 9.5 sectional facing the west wall, that wall will have built ins and house the tv. The far end of sectional will be about 8' from the TV, this is the exact set up we have in our current home and the configuration is very cozy but nice, also the "L" will be open to stairs, hall etc so not closed off.

On the fire place end, I feel like I can set furniture(possibly a pair of 4' settees arranged opposite or a combination of smaller chairs and a settee) about 4' from the back of the sectional and comfortably flow between the sitting areas on the stair side---I measured with the swing of the doors etc. I am keeping in mind that yes its tight if the doors are open but that will not be often.

So with my furniture arranging I realized that the slider will just not fit, its much better with large windows that open. I am thinking 4, 6' casements.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and making me rethink everything--

In case anyone is interested, I just finished with the window guy and I am so happy and even changed things further--

I deleted the 12' slider and added 4, 6' casements that will be located 2 to the left side of the room and 2 to the right side of the room. Allowing me to put my flat screen with a small media center in the middle of that wall. Allowing more room for sectional and chairs and flow in the room.

The west wall will have built in bookcases for art and books!!

The east wall, I removed the french doors and went with a single full view glass door that is 86"tall with a 14" transom on each side of my fireplace that is now approximately 6 1/2 wide as opposed to 5'. And it saved so much on my budget I upgraded my windows;)

Thanks everyone, for weighing in on my first dilemma. All your advice is so appreciated!

I think that's an excellent development. I'm going to take credit for the 4 casement windows.

What's neat is sorting through the possibilities and finding a solution that you are obviously excited about. Looking forward to the completed reveal pictures in a few months.

We have a room very similar to yours, although a story above-ground because it's on a hill. Our French doors on each side of the fireplace are one of the things we did right. They open out onto the porch so don't interfere with indoor furniture placement, and we have them open whenever the weather makes that a nice thing--including while it's raining. Lovely! Naf Naf's suggestion would, of course, work well also, just a greater separation between spaces and different possibilities for porch furniture placements.

Since any slider would require a very long first step to the ground, that was not an option. I can say for sure, though, that furniture placement--all possible living room groupings I might want over time would come first, then door placement.

A very good relationship between inside and garden was a priority for me, but the door itself would not need to be particularly wide. We're not hosting fundraisers for 50 or hundreds at a time. A 48" pair of doors would do, a 30" or so single French possible. It would require some careful design juggling, but I'd be considering centering the door opposite the doorway at the bottom of the stairs; it could make a very attractive view in, and on out, from the hall.