I vote for hardwood or engineered wood through the whole space, including the kitchen. Opening the wall would be nice, but I suspect your appliances are arrayed along that wall? I'd paint the wall the same pale color as the living space, and hang a really big mirror on the wall if you can't open it. Then you open the wall visually, and reflect the light from the sliders back into the space. (I know...me and mirrors. They are great manipulators of space, particularly when you commit to making them big!)

Is another living room the greatest need you have in your house? Will it be for the kids to hang out in? Or a quieter adult retreat? We turned our dining room into a home office with matching desks facing each other placed in the middle of the room, so together they are about the same size as a dining table. It looks like it might be large enough to fit a modestly sized sofa in there, with a small round table with 2-4 chairs that you could use as a gaming table. Any musicians? What about a music room?

I moved some things around and I think I like it better. I know the rug is too small and it shouldn't be "floating" but I don't want a new one until we get the other changes done. I moved the dresser into the dining room and hung (probably too high but couldn't convince 6'3" hubby to lower it and he had a point about being out of reach of the tornado. haha) the sign and pictures that had been on the mantle in the dining room. We also took off the ridiculous trim board they had up because we will be replacing the slider soon. So many things in this house like that silliness. I organized most of the books and moved the bookshelf. And grabbed a few canvases (I know they are small but can't remember where we left my big one) I did the flower, my dad painted the one on the right in Vietnam in '68. We need to fix the coffee table my dad built that's in the garage, I'll put it in front of the sofa, it's a little under 6'long, so it might be technically too big but, again, it's what I have. How'd I do?

It's the scale of the lamps that you need to concentrate on the most. I've found that most homeowners tend to purchase lamps that are too short/small. I use 28"-30" as my guide. I rarely use shorter than 28" unless maybe in a bedroom or for an occasional table, and over 30" starts to look odd in most homes. If you're looking at a lamp in person, rather than online (which has the measurements) just measure from the top of the shade down to the table. Also, purchasing inexpensive end tables and lamps first can really help change the look of a room, while you're saving up for the more expensive items (sofa, nice coffee table). Here's a before/after of a living room I did for a homeowner, where all I added were lamps, end tables and throw pillows (just reworked her other items). The end tables I used are really great, they work with a lot of furniture styles, plus they have a shelf and they're less than $100. I use them with a lot of clients! Since end tables don't get a lot of abuse, a "cheaper" one is a real budget saver. Great End Table As you can see in the Before, this furniture is large and overstuffed. A too small lamp would look silly. Using the above linked end tables and 30" lamps: You can use an end table like those (they're 24" high) and the proper size lamp, and it will work with just about any sofa you choose. Also, when choosing throw cushions I would get rid of the two red cushions on your sofa, and replace with a neutral. Maybe throw in a lumbar on one of your two chairs. And here's a room (while we were rearranging furniture) where the homeowner's furniture was not oversized/overstuffed. As you can see, these same end tables come up higher on her sofa, but still work. I can't remember how tall these lamps were, probably around 27"-28".