You need a better room arrangement. Try flanking the fireplace with the chairs. Get a bigger rug, as large as the one in the rendering below, and pull both chairs so the front legs are on it. Lose the mirror over the mantel. It's not interesting and only reflects the ceiling. Find a big piece of art that you love and build the room around it.

I love Pale Oak BM or Balboa Mist BM... Sherwin Williams has some great shade of paints too. Egret White Sherwin Williams is almost exactly like Pale Oak BM Zurich White is very similar to Classic Gray BM Here are some images of what the paint looks like Agreeable Gray Sherwin Williams Shell White SW (I think this would look great with navy blue) crushed ice sw Mindful Gray Sherwin Williams

Just came across this thread...I love the idea of an open concept and I understand what you're saying as well @Mark Bischak. I can see the home being cozy between the kitchen and hearth room right across but you mention that because the length from the hearth room down to the living room is long, it won't feel as cozy? From what I also understand, OP is showing separation with a drop ceiling design in the dining room which will give the feeling that the kitchen and hearth are separate rooms as well as the living and dining. Also a different thought, I do believe adding a wall to create a foyer type entrance would be a good idea and low effort to accomplish.

Traditionally the asbestos tiles will be removed by cutting out the subfloor from underneath then at the same time. The fastest way is to cut the kitchen floor into 3ft x 3ft squares (or whatever size squares the remediation company likes to work with) and then the vinyl is left ATTACHED to the subfloor....the whole thing comes up. What that does is DROP the 'level' of the subfloor so that it sits LOWER than the hardwood. Right....now we have 'space' to get a newer, thicker floor in so that we can MAINTAIN the floor height level. This is a COMPLETE gut! It would be VERY sad to leave the asbestos in place which then SERIOUSLY limits your flooring choices. As in...your down to some very unwanted options... How much did the remediation quote come out to be? What is the TOTAL PROJECTED cost of the remodel? I would HATE for you to think, in 5 years time, "I WISH we had just done the floors at the time! Why didn't we do it??? It was only $5K more!" (I'm assuming $5,000...it's just for arguments sake).