This is really long. So thanks for reading. Ok what I thought was going to be a simple '' oh, we'll just nock out this wall and open it up"" has turned into soooo many FABULOUS ideas, I don't know how to chose. You all are AMAZING at what you do. Thank you!! I have plenty of time to think about it, we aren't going to renovate this until we know exactly what we want. This is a total diy job. We are very experienced diy'ers. (I don't think that is always a good thing) So, if something needs moved to gain better flow, then unfortunately, we will do it. Except that dang furnace!! p.s my DH is an HVAC guy!!! he did that!! He asked me what I thought of closing the kitchen entrance and putting in cabinetry on the family room side, with a sink and small fridge for drinks and such. That idea is growing on me. We live in our family room, except to eat and homework at the dining room table, which is always a family affair. (I am a full-time nursing student, daughter is in high school, and son is 2nd grader.) That would remedy the ""I just want to get a drink!!"" problem I have with the walkway to the kitchen, while I'm cooking. I am greatful for all of the advice, and choices that are being presented!!!! Here is what I think I know I want: some type of entry seperation, I love this! (I forgot to put it in my drawing that there is a smallish coat closet by the front door, I will repost a picture including that closet.It's location(the wall behind opened front door at top by hallway to bedrooms) wont affect any type of entry,thank goodness) Except lavender lass idea. I would love a massive island, that doubles as and eating area for kids on holidays, or a buffet for cookouts,but not sure how big I can go. I loved the big island in my last house. I miss it dearly. It had no sink or anything, just an island with cabinetry. I have stewed over the problem of entering the front door and being able to see a mess in the kitchen, and I realized that isn't going to be a problem for me, but what about the next gal, right?! My father suggesting a tiered island or 2 level island, I don't like'em. So that means I MUST keep my kitchen clean. whatever... My current table (i plan to keep) is 72''x42'' fully extended, seats 6, can squeeze 8. I don't have any other furniture for the dining room, we've never had any space for it. This might just change. YAH!!!! We are an eat at home every meal family of 4, (every other weekend we add 1 teenage garbage disposal). As well as our very large extended families, that I would love to be able to include for birthday dinners and holidays. The DH loves to experiment healthy ways of cooking, (which we don't always enjoy, hehehe) I like to cook, especially bake cakes, (my weakeness), And our teenage daughter likes to dabble. The youngest is 7 and he pretty much just thinks it a fast food joint. We insist that our kids set the table for dinner and also help to completely clean up after dinner. They are wonderful about this. But it becomes so crazy in our smallish footprint (it's not really smallish, I'm just a person who has to drag out everything I need and have it handy) and I really need to make it a great environment to keep everyone wanting to cook, just not in my area. If you know what i mean. As for the load wall, we aren't 100% sure on which way we are going to do it yet. I kinda like the idea of a skinny wall and a header running to the other side, for the decorating aspect ( i have read way to many threads searching for help on this subject of open concept rooms.) This way I can paint each room differently if I choose. But there is always the possiblity my DH may want to go up in the attic and do it that way. As for the windows and exterior doors, they are all new, as is the siding on the house, but I won't say that they cant be changed yet. Except the 8' window in the future dining room, it matches the front windows in the family room and these are all street side. Thank you all again for your time and ideas!!!

As long as any structural elements aren't affected, should be straight forward. We always use a portable concrete cut-off saw w/ diamond blade. It has a 15" diamond blade and attachement for a garden hose. They also have a saw that looks exactly like a chain saw, but i've never used or seen one in our area. Most rental yards carry them and will get you through the majority of the opening leaving a little chip hammer work at the upper corners as well as at he base. Safety up! Here is a link that might be useful: concrete saws

Thanks for your input Starfish. Actually, the existing doorway I'm covering up is a 3' wide opening so I can't put 7' of doors in it. I don't want to remove any existing mouldings simply because they always seem to end up lost when you decide you want to put them back on. Best place for the original trim is right where it's at on the wall. I also can't do a transom type look because I need the screen of doors to be at the same height as the existing doorway. I need a screen 7' wide so that it cover's up the doorway AND is the width of my sofa so will make the wall looked balanced. As it is right now...the doorway is behind my sofa and the edge of the sofa lines up with the edge of the doortrim. So, I have the 3' wide door plus 4' of wall that I need to cover up for a total of 7'...the width of the sofa.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions everyone! I was afraid that we would be pretty limited on our options because of the placement of the door. I do like the making it a bookshelf idea, but if we were to close off the outside , I think we would just wall it off completely if we went that route. No railing is sort of a concern for us if we do decide to have children... but when i say "balcony".. its more like it goes out onto the roof of the kitchen. Its odd to say the least. I wish there was an old picture of how they had it set up with the apartment upstairs. It is pretty drafty and we chatted a bit with the renters before, and they had children in the room and they said they had to keep the temp turned up fairly high to keep them warm enough. We live in Minnesota so it can get cold! I never thought of the historical district part... its a smaller city, and the neighborhood we're in has a mix of old an new houses... but this house is definitely one of the older houses on the street. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check up on that.