Thanks so very much for the kind words! I can hardly wait for my lamp and framed print to arrive! The tiles and vase were really just ideas for the style direction I'd like to bring to my new office space. Now that I have a couple of items as a starting point, I can bring in a few more things over time as I find those items that truly work best. I have been a fan of mission/arts & crafts-era furnishings for a long time, and am crazy for the Stickley pieces I was able to purchase "in my past life" when funds were a lot more fluid. ;-) (I can't touch Stickley now, but there are lots of fine "non-name brand" items out there.) I appreciate all of the suggestions in helping me come to a decision!

I'm glad you're thinking about room layout at this point. I'm seeing a major issue with viewing the TV from the dining room if the layout is as you suggest. In order for that to happen, the TV would have to be parked in front of one of the windows which is not optimum. If that was really a critical element, then perhaps you can put a separate TV in the dining room. The beautiful new windows will be too nice to obstruct with a TV and TVs still are easier to view without a lot of daylight around them. Beyond that, it's really putting function first... including the flexibility of having the room grow and change over time with the family wants and needs. With 3 little kids right now, I can see using the furniture arrangement to make a defined play space that would be separate and apart from the conversational cluster which may or may not be centered on the TV. I wouldn't worry at this point about designing the room for when your kids are adults...that's a little far afield...make it work for your needs today.

I agree with moving in and considering for a time, but here is something to consider while you're doing that: What drove this idea is the first room you enter into from the front door doesn't seem suited to anything but being a dining room. As a living room, it's odd that it's so small compared to the other living spaces, and, as you already said, there's no good wall for the TV. You also wouldn't want that room to be a kitchen for many, many reasons. However, that room would be a perfectly functional, reasonably-sized, not-weird-seeming dining room. If that room is a dining room, that also means the nook under the stairs would be a very logical area for a buffet. If that first room when you enter is the dining room, then the next room on your way into the house should be the kitchen because you want your kitchen and dining room handy to each other. As it happens, the current-dining-room-suggested-kitchen space is large enough and offset enough from the current-living-room-suggested-dining-room that it would be possible to funnel all traffic past the kitchen rather than through it. So your work zones in the kitchen won't be inundated with unwanted visitors. Furthermore, this suggested location for the kitchen is still handy to the back deck for outdoor eating. If those first two rooms become the dining and kitchen, then that leaves the current kitchen space to become the living room. It's a little unorthodox to have the living room as the room farthest from the front door, but it actually makes a lot of sense for this house. The other two rooms really do lend themselves to being the dining room and kitchen, and the current kitchen space is a good size for a living room and has two walls that could be the TV wall. It's also handier to the back deck/yard than the current living room, which I think will actually be a real upgrade. With the exception of shortening the two dining room windows (which isn't a structural change) so they're above counter height, none of the above requires any changes to any of the walls at all. That's nice because I think you'd get the most out of your space if you do bite the bullet and move some walls in the left half of the floor plan. The way it's currently laid out really, REALLY isn't as good as it could be. Since you don't have a guest bedroom downstairs, you don't need a full bath downstairs. You just need a half bath, and the shower space could be allotted to something else that would be more useful. Furthermore, you also don't really need deck access from the left side of the house, and having that deck access means unnecessarily losing a lot of space to a long hallway. On top of that, you have such an odd, circuitous entrance to the master bedroom that is (a) weird, and (b) means unnecessarily losing even more space to walkways. And lastly, there's a couple chopped up, not-optimally-shaped closets. Moving walls around quite freely in that general area, I was able to fit in a large master bath, a large master walk-in closet, a dedicated laundry room (that is accessible off a hallway, placed where the dryer can vent directly outside, is handy to your room, and yet is still far enough from the room that you won't be hearing the machines while you're trying to sleep), and a bonus hallway closet. Note that I shifted the doorway to the hallway from the current-dining-room-suggested-kitchen slightly so that you couldn't really see either the half bath or the master bedroom from the living areas.

From this point forward, please have an overall plan before you get or do anything (for a unified look). First order of business is to figure out what style you have. Put in top search box different styles, one at a time. Examples are casual and transitional. I don't know about you, but if I had the choice of looking at a blank wall or looking at a window view, I would chose the window view. Therefore, I recommend that you flip that couch to the other wall. How about some tiny side table on each side of the couch, and an upholstered chair? How many people usually sit in this room? I would add a rug as well. Make sure it's big enough to have at least the front legs of each seated unit on the rug. Lighting is often an afterthought, but it's actually very important for atmosphere and practicality. I recommend a table lamp or wall sconce in each corner at chest height. Do you have any inspirational items to give you ideas, such as a favorite clothing item, accessory, or knick knack? How about some art for the walls? Get from your local artist, art gallery, or art.com. If you get a print from art.com, get it framed locally. If you like to match the interior of the house to the exterior, here are some ideas: https://www.houzz.com/photos/query/cape-cod-interior/nqrwns