Well there is one thing I think is pretty unanimous - the doorway between the dining and living rooms will get moved over to the west about 20", allowing the space under the stairs to be better utilized either for storage or a little reading nook/desk spot. Got the toughest decision out of the way first :) I really don't want to mess with the plumbing stack that is behind the built-in.....so unless that's really the only way to make things work, there will be no passageway along that north living room wall. I had thought about moving the heat pump away from the laundry room window and over to the west, on the other side of the garage door, and then converting the laundry room window to a door and having that be our main entry on the back side of the house. I'm afraid it may look funny though to have two exterior doors right next to each other, and I don't want to lose the exterior access to the garage, so that door will have to stay put. I think the laundry room window will need to stay as it is and the dining room door should be the main entrance. We can redo the landscaping & put in a sidewalk that will direct traffic to that door from the driveway. One thing I'm not sure of is if I should do sliders or French doors? Is it weird to have a slider as the "front" door? And how do I handle privacy - the door faces the back yard, there is no house or anything back there that could see in, but I still want something to cover the door at night. Maybe built-in blinds would be best? I love the idea of moving the kitchen to the nook....it would be so nice to look out into the yard while working in the kitchen, but that would mean that we have to use the dining room as THE dining room. I don't think that will work if the dining room door is the entry and even if it weren't, that room is not really suited for a dining room table. It's too narrow and too much of a passthrough room. I tried it out briefly a year or so ago and it didn't work very well. bp's suggestion of closing off the current laundry/kitchen connection and moving the washer/dryer there looks good - we could open up a doorway to the right of the sink and shift the sink/stove/kitchen to the south. Opening up a doorway to the living room from the kitchen would let in light from the big picture window in the living room, so the kitchen wouldn't feel as dark. The rest of the laundry room space (north end) could be used as a mudroom and normal household traffic could go from the garage to the "dining" room and then on to the bedrooms or living room. The one thing I'm not sure about with that plan is where does my pantry go? I would like to have a decent pantry as we do a lot of gardening and canning in the summer and I don't have a basement or cellar to use for storage. Maybe it would have to go somewhere in the laundry area. Thanks again for the terrific suggestions and the kind comments about our little house. It's not perfect and definitely has its idiosyncrasies but it's also got a lot of character and charm - thanks for reminding me of that, I tend to take it for granted sometimes!

I really like the idea of comfy chairs, except I like them for both of the sections of the room and I'm not sure which way to go with it. If I put them in front of the fireplace I can create a sort of semi circle with them and I like that idea. But I need to have a bigger couch (loveseat at least) somewhere in the room for my 16 yr old as she is physically disabled and can't sit in a comfy chair, she needs a couch to lay on in the room. I think part of her chair is in one of my pictures :) My biggest complaint about the loveseats facing eachother is that it wouldn't allow me to put anything on either side of the fireplace. I really need bookshelves for storage, books and toys. So for the back of the room where the tree is now, how does this sound? Brown bookcase on the wall with the screen door. Two comfy chairs, maybe something like these? http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S49932547/ http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40300431/#/30305617 and a table in between them. Or, should I do a small loveseat back there? http://www.worldmarket.com/product/erin-cute-as-a-button-loveseat.do?&from=fn And then for the space in front of the fireplace. Loveseat and chair? Or 3 chairs? One more side note, I plan to paint the room green and finish the trim in white. Does all my furniture need to be the same color? Is it OK to mix white and brown stuff? They were in different rooms in my last home.

groveraxle, I was more concerned personally about actual size of the sideboard in terms of how large it is on its own, and then we are moving it up into an alcove... Maybe I'm making myself paranoid about this, but the piece is 54"W x 17¾"D x 29½"H. Good point about the distance between the screen and console. We can always move the TV screen up as it's on an arm. Here is a pic of the 4 panel sideboard. This one is much wider than the 3 panel we photoshopped in, however the height is the same - 29 1/2".

Definitely go with comfort first. I would look for a 3 or 4 seater sofa to face the TV, with either than many separate cushions or one long bench cushion, so that nobody is stuck sitting between cushions If you decide to get a 4 seater you can get more wall space by skipping end tables and instead using plug in wall sconces or swag lamps, or an arch floor lamp For the other wall, not facing the TV, I would go with a swivel chair. It could be really relaxed and beachy. Colourful or neutral depending on what kind of sofa you chose.