Deanna, one of my good friends did this. I don't have pictures, but it worked great. The important thing, though, is to do it just with the furniture (not built-ins), so that if you ever need to move you can stage the house easily for people to understand what they're seeing. The only other thing I'd suggest is to be careful if the entry opens right up into the room that you're considering making the dining room. People tend to feel a bit uncomfortable walking right into a dining room from the front door. It happens all the time. It's not a big deal. Just something to consider and be careful of when you're arranging your furniture.

The plan separates each living space with access from a central hall. It would work well for an office building but not so much for a house especially f you plan to entertain. I find that trying to make a good plan out of a bad one is usually a waste of time and effort. Its like renovating a house that hasn't been built yet. Decide what you think an entertainment space should look like and develop the house around it. But I would not design a house around an occasional use. The interrelationships of family members should be the dominant theme of a house. And I would never put a level change in a living space unless there was an alternate wheelchair route. If you plan to entertain, the front door should have wheelchair access too. An accessible half bath would be good too.

Hey There: Window Coverings and the design of the house must go together and furthermore you must keep the function in mind. In you case I do recommend to layer the window coverings... As I can see in your pictures, you might have a privacy problem if your don't close your coverings, but of course your don't want to sit all day in the dark. So as a first line of defense (literally spoken of course) you go with minimalistic pleated or honeycomb shades. They fit nicely into the window casing and operate bottom up and top down. This will give you privacy and light management and allow you to look outside and enjoy nature around your home. As the second layer you can opt for curtains to the side - either operable or just decorative. This combination is not to heavy to take over the rooms. Stay in lighter colors but don't match them...lighter for the blinds and a bit darker for the curtains. Good Luck with your project www.PleatedBlindsStore.com

Hi! Just a couple of questions to get the ball rolling... Is the door on the back wall part of your decor, or is that a doorway? What do you want the room’s use to be? Will the table be for dining or are you looking at more of a “game table”? How many people need to be seated at the table? It always helps if you can sketch out the room with dimensions, windows, doorways marked. Thanks!