Great discourse, everyone--thanks so much! So many different issues that we all deal with LOL. This is a friend's home and it's a house full--my friend, her daughter and 3 active grandkids (13, 9 and 5) and pets of course! I was wondering how we could make it easier to navigate from the living room to the rest of the house the only pathway being through the dining room. With the table smack dab in the middle, it gets crowded. The light fixture is a fan/light combo and isn't going anywhere soon. oakleyok, your idea of putting of the table (end) against a wall with a lamp at that end is what I was thinking and would work beautifully! It would free up a lot of space. The table is rectangular and they could seat 5 easily. There just happens to be a window there, too which would be great for school work or just hanging out. I saw a few homes on Google images that were gorgeous but the dining room light wasn't centered over the dining table--funny thing was, had I not been looking for it, I probably wouldn't have noticed that! Thanks again, in my own kitchen I'm going to use the *swag to the center* idea when I get around to it. catkin

We completely redid an existing house and had to work w existing front upper window exterior that was in a weird spot. the lower ones couldnt be shifted more centered in room than what we did. you can see the ceiling drop in the pic and I am planning to move it a few inches to the left but not centered bt windows- to allow the table (96" normal length) and I planned to put a buffet (72" long under windows and slightly longer on right side to visualize space better. Opinion on that? Length of space from the left to right (to built in) is 15 1/2ft. but as you can see, if table enlarges, it will just overflow which is fine into open space. what do you think of the chandelier choices- would like to go w 9 light, but think 5 light is better sized for space...opinion on that? The picture is taken from the direction where there is a large island in kitchen area.

During the planning stage we went back and forth several times with the direction of the vault. The porch outside the big glass doors is a gable and we played with the idea of having the vault run from left to right and through to the porch. We kept changing the proportions of the room to accommodate dining, seating areas etc. At the end we 'forgot' to change the dimensions back to 22 x 26. You look at the plans so much that you don't 'see them'. The room looks massive yet it is not long enough for seating and dining - and its too wide. I didn't notice it until the foundation was already poured. Originally we had planned that the room to the left of the main entrance would serve as a dining room. I was advised to put the dining table in the main room and so we made the original dining space smaller by adding space to the office. I'm old school and always liked a dining room and breakfast space in the kitchen. Now I'm building a very expensive house without either. Lesson: decide on the things that are important to you and stick to them. Ignore the advice of people who might live a different lifestyle than you.

Typically the electrical box would be centered in the room, and on the CL of the fireplace. Maybe that works with your current layout but maybe not. I lowered the art over your sofa. Some type of lighting over the art could be a good thing.