It's hard to tell without seeing the full scope from an outside exterior shot. With that said, it's looking like a nice size to me. Are you worried about the appearance from the interior or the exterior? Are you afraid they look too stubby (for lack of a better word) in relation to the rest of the exterior?

Hi Palimpsest! Nice to see you over in Decorating! The lower right corner of the house would be the new Living Room. Sorry I forgot to label. We would like to keep both the Family and Living rooms. Bmorepanic tried to talk me into one big seating-type room recently. DH and I have thought about this many times during our 11 years here, but it doesn't feel right to us. We entertain A LOT and everyone seems to like to spread out and get separation from other guests when necessary. Rhome410 drew a different arrangement over on the Kitchen Forum as I posted this there also. I think it could work. Funny, this house is definetly NOT contemporary. It's just a house. No style, really. Just a house. It was built about 40 years ago in a solid neighborhood with great amenities, but is very basic. We're trying to give it some style and charm. We have/had (now torn out during demo) a very large brick woodburning fireplace stack roughly where mine is drawn with a firebox on each side offset from each other. It was a monster and took up too much space. We'd really like to keep a fireplace. I thought the double-sided one was a great idea to provide some separation b/w FR and LR, but yet keep the rooms more open than they were.

thanks for all your feedback. I agree there is too much couch and the couch is too close to the piano. I know ideally the piano should not be on an outside wall but the walls are all outside walls, (one on the right is adjacent to a cold garage so it might as well be outside). I'm strongly considering getting rid of the sectional (that is currently dismantled) and getting a very modern couch and two chairs. Any suggestions on the couch and 2 chairs?

Ok. Been awhile and I'm making progress. Sorry, we're painting and repairing walls so ignore the stuff around. New nubby rug and a great coffee table. We are planning on ordering the 80" media console from West Elm. For now we've been doing the chair in front of the fireplace but I think it needs to be farther away if we actually have the fireplace on. If they are together by the window, do I need something on the opposite side or do I just move everything farther onto the rug? Did the SW color consult and planned on skyline steel in the entry, office nook and LR nook, with elephant ear everywhere else. Skyline came out horribly yellow up next to the fireplace (the picture is the second color we tried - Stormy Weather from Ace - that also doesn't seem to work). I would love to skip the grey altogether but it's all open and I don't know where to stop as it extends up and down the stairs... I love this new art piece and would love to put a color accent behind it, but that would mean a plain color for the entryway. The bench I bought is too blue-grey but I cannot return. The office adjacent to the entryway is a deep orange-red color. Will the stupid bench look okay against grey once I get some art up? We are planning on a pretty aqua/mint for the backsplash - you can just see my samples on the far right middle. I think it will look nice with the orange, and keeping the dining room the river way or something similar (maybe needlepoint navy). What should I paint the rest of the walls? One grey all around? Grey with lighter accents? Colors everywhere?