I think you have to decide if you want true open concept or you like that spot to place furniture since it looks like you have a sofa along that wall.

If you have the room you could take down the half wall and put a row of upper cabinets in its place with a nice top. You still will have a place for furniture and will gain extra storage for the kitchen.

I would remove it and change your layout a bit. I think your sofa is disconnected to the rest of your seating now.

Living Room · More Info

School House Eclectic · More Info

i like space definition but i think you can remove that half wall. you could do better layout wise in your living room, and you have pull out space for the chairs on that side so they wouldnt look on top of each other.

but if you are short of storage, having shallow cabinets there with a stone top, whatever, would look nice.

I would definitely remove it. It creates a visual barricade instead of being simply a divider, IMO.

We had a knee wall in our home and had it removed when updating the flooring. I couldn't be happier. I think that concept is dated. It opened up the space.

Remove it. Once you have the flooring in, if you still want a divider, that can be accomplished with a piece of furniture. You'll have more layout flexibility that way. A sofa table with 2 lamps (or a long, low bookcase) would make a much nicer divider than that wall. Get floor plugs installed before the flooring.

I do that with my living room/dining room. During most of the year the DR is rarely used, so the sofa table and couch slide back for a bigger LR (and the DR still looks normal). When it comes time for enlarging the DR table for holidays, we just slide the couch and sofa table forward a couple of feet. Presto!

We kept our half wall. It was spindles and we sheetrocked it in. I like the definition.

We added cabinets on the kitchen side and topped it with a counter top that was table height and metal supports underneath and a 15" overhang. I added my desk and the wall end.

It made the eat in kitchen larger. Moved the desk from the kitchen to the periphery. And added extra storage for all of the stuff I should be getting rid of (a nod to Jan!!).

kathi_steele's ideas · More Info

I have a half wall similar to yours. Although I'm not in love with it, and sometimes wish I could accommodate a longer table in my dining area, it really does help separate and define the areas a bit while still keeping everything open. My cat dishes are on the kitchen side. In the LR I don't have to see all the table and chair legs. I probably wouldn't design a new space this way, but whenever I think of removing the wall, I don't see how I would be better off. I'd still want to divide the space.

I'd probably seize the opportunity to remove it, since they are out of fashion and it you even come to selling the half wall will work against you. Plus I don't see any real downside to taking it out, since you could easily put a freestanding room divider in its place (like a bookshelf) to keep the separation if you prefer. It would give you flexibility to separate using furniture or not, as you wished.

The two chairs could move in front of the window with a small table between.

Then the sofa moves to the big wall. There's no need to have the sofa way back against the half wall.

It is a great time to remove the wall.

Another vote here to remove the wall. I especially agree with Tatts above. This is an opportunity to use a bookcase or a buffet table or whatever else will be most useful to you, to divide the space in a more flexible way. For starters it may allow you to move the couch closer to the chairs and fireplace -- it does seem a little too distant -- and maybe you'd have room for a desk backing up to it (an arrangement I've always wanted but never had space for). I do agree with Leelee about the arrangement of the current furniture.

No knee wall = Tons more options!

Thanks to all for the great input! I’m going to remove it!

I like it, but your dining area does look cramped. When you take it down, you can't really put any furniture there--you can't just back up a couch or easy chair to dining chairs.

As long as you have a plan for where stuff goes, you'll be fine removing it.