Colieennc - I built an open plan where the living, breakfast room, and kitchen were all together. Our dining room was in another space by the entry. We loved that plan. Yes, it did get loud at times. We had to sale that home due to my husband getting another job. We decided to purchase a house that was more closed off. Well, that didn't work out too well. We would scream across the house to speak to each other, lol. After three years, we still hate having our kitchen separate. We just sold and are ready to find a more open plan. I think I will keep the dining room separate now, because I can picture my daughter leaving all her junk on the dining room table and things looking messy. Plus, I have a formal dining room set which includes a china cabinet and china that my grandmother left me and a very nice gold mirror my other grandmother left me that is worth several thousand dollars. I also have three formal sets of china that I would like to display between seasons. So, I think I will lose the formal factor if I put the dining space in the den. My husband and mother have been the ones that have pushed me to find a totally open plan that includes the dining room. I just really wanted the kitchen and den to be open. I do not want a breakfast room.

I am so sorry for you and your family experiencing such a traumatic event. I see in your Ideabooks, exterior elevations that seem to lean to a two story farmhouse kind of style. Of course, you need a licensed architect to bring your new hopes to fruition. However, you can do some good homework first. Start a collection of pictures from Houzz, magazines, home tours and get a large 3-ring binder and save as many hard copy pictures as you can to help “communicate” these looks to an architect. This is very helpful. Your architect will need a survey of your property and a trip to your site to help determine “siting” and then h/she can begin designing rooms and overall layouts for your new home. There are a thousands of decisions you will be making over the span of many months so having as much definition as possible will help ease that crunch. Start also interviewing architects and vetting their references. You want some competent but also someone compatible with your personalities. You will be spending a lot of time with him/her so make sure it feels right. I have developed a document I call “New Homebuilders Checklist” that I would be happy to share with you. It will give you a kind of roadmap of how many items are coming toward you. Just email me at manganflo@gmail.com and I will send it to you. Hope it can help.

Sounds like a gorgeous home. Function informs form. You are going to need some type of lighting at night when the sun won't help you out through your lovely windows. The traditional fussy chandeliers are not as popular as they once were. There are so many options available now. It's hard for us to recommend a style without seeing photos and knowing what type of style you are after. I like to point people toward Visual Comfort & Co at Circa Lighting just because the quality of light from those fixtures is extraordinary. I wouldn't skip putting in lighting in all those places, but if you pick similar styles, then they should blend. No one really looks up at your light fixtures much, to be honest, so it's the effect of the light itself that is critical to get right.

I feel like this is a family room type look. But you can use as dining room if that works better for you Many will ask for more pictures and a floor plan. So if you can post those. But I guess to answer your question, if you do end up using this as a dining room: There’s not much room for much so a rug, table, chairs, maybe a bench on one side, what’s your style? Maybe wallpaper on the walls.