I would put the piano on the 17 foot wall with the back of the pianist near to that jog in the wall the defines the separation of the spaces, and the pianist facing the window when she/he is seated. That leaves the piano's open side facing into the room. That way the piano is not right in the center of the room. When I played I always liked not having people seated behind me but rather being in a corner with my back closer to the walls. Just my personal feng shui! Gorgeous space -- gorgeous piano!

While others are not, I'm a fan of recessed cans for general lighting in that you can put them on dimmers so they need not be terribly bright, but when you want to clean or whatever, they can be turned up and really light a room. You can think about using them for accents as well which will help light the space, for example over windows, to highlight art on the walls, a fireplace, etc. You can get trim kits which direct the light in specific ways. By lighting the perimeter of the room you make the whole room feel warmer and brighter (instead of inky shadows in corners). You want to think about the whole lighting scheme when doing a room...uplighting (torchiers, uplights), downlighting (recessed cans, cable lights, ceiling fixtures) and mid-range (sconces, lamps, chandys)

cpartist, I like what you did with the spa. I worry that it will make the swimmable portion of the pool to small, though. Maybe I'll throw that question over to the pool forum. In an ideal world we would just make the pool longer, but it's just not possible with the code restrictions. I also agree about the bbq. Going to brainstorm this with our architects when they get back from vacation. I'm leaning towards pushing the pool against the carport (it was there in one iteration of our outdoor space) and moving the outdoor kitchen to the wall along the entry where the outdoor dining table currently is). It would be nice to walk out from the kitchen to the grill. Not sure it's feasible, though. Looking more at the numbers you crunched on the great room, I'm thinking we take another foot back from our overhang (it's currently 9' to provide shade) and give it back to the living room. Then we could have 4' between the dining / living and 5' between the kitchen island and dining table.

The kitchen counter can actually have bar chairs and I would like to do that if space allows. The current owner had the sectional right up to the kitchen counter and I do NOT want to do that. Where is a better place for the tv than over the fireplace or should I keep it there? See pictures and dimensions of my sectional that I will use in the space.