One more vote to explore raising the ceiling instead of lowering the floor. In addition to lowering your home's value and making it a "definite no" to a lot of future buyers, you would make your house more dangerous to young children, older visitors and completely off-limits to anyone with accessibility issues. I live with brain injury I sustained at age 32 caused by tripping. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time, but it ended my career, as well as any potential to do anything else. It wouldn't take much for a guest to trip and crack their head. Would you be able to live with that if they sustained the damage I did? Could you afford the lawsuit that might be leveled against you? The increase in your homeowner's insurance if they knew you had that danger in your house? PLEASE don't do this. I apologize for the strong response. I just can't stand the thought of someone living with the headaches, vertigo, nausea, blurry vision, memory loss, etc. etc. I face every day. Especially if it can so easily be avoided.

lavender, thank you, and thanks for the vote on the stair spindles. When I have a free minute I've been taping off where the spindles meet the treads, so after the ceiling trim is up, it's a go. marti, I think she was more than half in jest, but the room is painted, so it must have worked! shadygrove and shades, thank you. Do you all realized that you get to see my new stuff before almost anyone else? I just want to say that I really appreciate everyone's encouragement. I've been busy the last couple of days, routing and painting the new ceiling trim. I put up the filler on the top of the DR cabinet this morning, then my father wandered in with a bucket of cherry tomatoes. Lol, any idea how many cherry tomatoes one has to halve to fill a dehydrator? A bunch--but aren't these the cutest little things?!

Hi Susan! That seems like a really long room- def. a challenge. Do you feel like you can spilt it?... let’s say the sitting area toward the window, and the dining toward the kitchen/bar? If that’s possible, then I sketched out an idea... Swing the sofa to the center as the divider. Either use the sofa you have (it may be too large/wide for now, scoot it to the left side) or find a two cushion love seat. The coffee table in front. The rocker in the corner. Move the charger from the entryway to the right side wall... (that cleans up that entry too). The dining table- if round now- might work in the dining space. Personally I love stools at bar height spaces, and they take up less space visually. The entry area with the sconces and the mirror will be less cluttered... maybe find a low seated storage bench? I didn’t see much in the playroom area- but that beautiful ladder shelf could work in the sitting area, maybe? If not, I’d at least move it away from the window a bit, better spacing. Maybe? ...just some ideas! I’m working on the kids room myself... and a wine bar area... and a library... and a guest room... and an office!! So doing a LOT of idea work too!

Since the dining table + play area will likely be changing over time, I'd put the large piece of art over the sofa, where it has the best light. For the dining + play area, I'd suggest installing a picture rail at ceiling height, then hanging the pictures from it. That will let you move things around as your needs change, without filling your walls with holes. Maybe row of black and white photos, not too small, would look good across that wall. You can buy all sorts of systems and hooks. https://www.decoraid.com/blog/best-picture-rails