Horizontals do take more work and cutting. I'm sure that is why he didn't want to do it. I just read online to expect installers to baulk. I am not modern contemporary, I am traditional. I wonder too if diagonals might look out of character with the furnishings. I found a picture online of a room with the length of table against the floor boards, but with a long area rug underneath and I liked it. I think it was the long rug underneath that made it look good. Most of the time my table is round, but during holiday season it has 3 boards to lengthen it dramatically. I have not had much luck posting pictures. I've already started to tear up the room and baseboards anyway so I'd be ashamed to post pics of the mess. The house is a condo with the entrance into a hallway. The opening to the living area is just off the hallway and the room is not very visible until standing right in front of the opening into it. The fireplace is to the outside corner. The dining area is not visible until walking most of the way across the living area. The dining area is pretty square all around. Thank you for your replies.

I know you said you did not want to switch rooms; but since you like the look of the sink in the bay (the outside views are awesome), it may be worth exploring. If your DH is like mine, change is hard, but he comes around eventually. Perhaps posting another thread that asks people to weigh in on the two kitchen locations with a mock layout for each might get DH to consider the possibility if he can read what others have to say concerning the positives and negatives of each kitchen location. Many people are remodeling to get a larger kitchen space by eliminating two sit-down eating spaces in their homes. Thus, If you switch the rooms, I do not think you would have to “stage” a formal dining room if the time comes to sell. The larger, well designed kitchen would be a major selling point. Keeping the kitchen in its current location does not gain you a whole lot more space for the kitchen because of the traffic patterns; moving the kitchen to the dining area gains you much more kitchen space. You gain the space for family friendly island seating, and the kitchen does not have to be in a location that “fights” with the traffic patterns of your home. The generous dining space combined with the larger kitchen space would be awesome to entertain in. One negative would be carrying groceries a tad farther but not a whole lot more. ;

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Thank you. We set the desks up that way for esthetics and so we wouldn’t have our backs to the door and instead would be perpendicular to the door. When you say two rugs, do you mean one rug under each desk and chair, or one rug for the desk and chair area, and a second rug for the other section of the “L” (the section immediately inside the door to the office)? If two rugs for the desk and chair area (one rug under each desk and chair), should I then leave the rest of the room without a rug?