..what roarah says. but will be more than that. I'm 99% sure your house contains asbestos..so take cost of professional abatement into account everytime you're thinking of disturbing these walls. check first of course, maybe it doesn't, maybe it doesn't have it everywhere(like ours did..walls, floors, HVAC, you name it) but I'd be very very surprised invite a GC (several, really) when you close..let them walk the place, give you quotes on different scenarios for different scopes of your project. Decide what you can afford to do (and know that it will still most likely turn out to be more expensive because you'll find additional things, something will come as unexpected, etcetera. Most likely will also take longer. Than you think) Then enlist somebody that can design. Or you don't have to-we didn't-but just know it's easier that way. The more pros you have by you(the ones you can trust) the better. During such major reno it ll be very hard or maybe impossible to live in the house. I trust you have somewhere to live meanwhile? It'd be studs. As for it being small, ours wasn't also very big(under 1700..we did added a bit so now it's underv 1900 sq f) ..still took us 27 months(I think..) since purchase to moving in. We didn't count the money we sank into it as not to oversadden ourselves..:) and we still have the backyard to take care of (since as we added, they had to dig foundation and all), hardscaping etc. But it wasn't 100 K. It wasn't 200 K either. Maybe cheaper in Florida, I don't know. (we're in CA). Not sure as you have your own requirements, hurricane windows, and other stuff I don't know about. But everything you put in new-has to be up to the current code. At least here Having said that-the right for you and your family location trumps so many other things. Which is why we got into our remodel as well. And it's for sure anything but boring. But we were a bit naive as per costs and time, since I found this forum too late in the game..:) Be prepared, find good pros..will help with both expectations and execution living up to these expectations. If you want collective thinking beforehand, about design aspects-post plans. There are some very talented people here. Not me-I'm pretty bad and slow in reading plans and suggesting layouts. But many here are extremely talented and helpful in their suggestions.

If you choose to seek help from a qualified interior designer be prepared for a long delay in the project commencing. I think you could benefit from someone who can do 3D videography and space planning. That way you can see the future space and tweak it as you go along in the process. They can add your finishes (cabinetry, flooring, countertops, etc.) to give you a feel for the way the space will look when all is said and done. This helped me immensely. This will take time, and money, tho. My design took 6 months.

Realty photos are always a little stretched to make spaces seem larger, so it is difficult to get a sense of the room's scale. Is the front entrance in the stairwell area opposite the FP location? I'd say the light/wine rack area was originally designed as a dining area near the kitchen. Do you need to use it that way? For a family friendly corner, it could become the spot for a game/snack table or bookcases/rocker/reading lamp for baby time. Have the light moved or removed to your liking while you reno. You haven't mentioned or shown us your furniture, but a 3-seat sofa and two armchairs are a good foundation for any living room. These arrangements could work well around the FP, leaving the TV where they have itm as these are all swivel chairs. In the 4-chair group, you could do swivels only on the TV side of the grouping.

I wanted to suggest you try something in your dining room. Move your 2 upholstered chairs from the ends of the table to face each other in the middle, and put 2 wooden chairs on the ends. i would also move the candlesticks to the sideboard and while i know you are trying to update, i think a lace table cloth might look nice on your table And clip on mini shades for the chandelier