IMO I would first solve the function issues you have outlined and then address the style issues you have requested. As with every design problem there may be compromises to get most of what you've listed, but function shouldn't be one of them. I've attached a layout and some examples of furnishings & unique equipment that may accommodate many of your requests. Please carefully think about keeping a frankly huge armoire, that you still have to spend time and money to refinish, to hold a printer that could reasonably fit on a small shelf. The printers seem to get smaller everyday as do the computers/laptops. How many of us got stuck with armoires to hold huge TVs? The local Goodwill where I live won't even take armoires anymore because no one wants them in their homes. That item in particular, from my perspective as a designer, is like fitting a square peg in a round hole. I often look to the RV industry to provide me with clever equipment that does double duty, like hidden work surfaces that can pull out of standard cabinets when needed, and slide away when not in use. I think you can assemble a workable room, with the special style you're looking for & even that special settee, but I would build in files and storage which is always needed, find a clever way to close away your DH clutter so you don't have to nag, & look for high tech items to help you reach you goals. Built in wall units are not inexpensive, but everything doesn't need to be custom. Cabinets from any modular kitchen cabinet manufacturer, even IKEA, could be used to assemble your workstations. Good Luck

Mama goose- I think chair rails are the correct height, so that your chair doesn't damage the wall, when you back up from the table. That's why a lot of old houses have them in the dining room...plaster. Really high ones are usually plate rails, because you used them to display plates, at a height, where they wouldn't be touched or damaged. As for all other rails, if they're just for decoration, or to break up the wall space, maybe try making up your own names for them. The "fingerprint rail" could be handy. Everything below is painted with enamel (where little hands touch) and everything above is something a little less easy to scrub. The "dog rail" would be very similar, but the height could change with the height of the dog. LOL As for area rugs, the only one that's really important is the dining room or eating area, since the chairs will be tippy if all four legs aren't on the rug. In the living room, I think it depends on what you put under the rug, to keep it from slipping. If there's nothing, or it doesn't work very well, then putting furniture legs on the rug might help :) My favorite rule to break...this should never be painted!

As far as kitchen design is concerned I dealt with all of these. My elderly mother lives with us. She is 80 years old and loves to cook and we want her to feel able to cook as long as she can and be safe and confident doing so. Here are some of the things we did in the kitchen: 1) Lowered countertop on the cooktop and prep side (the finished height including the 3cm soapstone is 33inches.) 2) Went with induction cooktop due to safety issues. I was originally thinking high BTU gas rangetops like CC or the Bluestar but when my mom used the single hob Max Burton, she fell in love with the induction as there are no flames and she liked that the pots did not get too hot. So minimized chance of burns. We went with 36in Gaggenau induction. The knob is very very intuitive and my mom was able to pick it up in a few mins. 3) A separate prep sink which is shallower. This was easier on her back. We installed the Franke Beach and also installed a compost bin close by. But this has made prep very very easy for her. Not much lifting or bending down to reach trash etc. We also chose Kohler Karbon as the faucet here as it was easier for her to direct water where she wants and have both her hands free. The joystick was also easier than the levers we tried. We were debating whether or not to a tapmaster here. We ended up installing one and my mom loves it. 4) Mise en Place design. As she aged, my mother's stature shrunk. She is barely 4ft 10inches now. The biggest challenge in the old kitchen was reach for her. In this kitchen, we had her stand and mapped her arm reach. All of the things she typically uses for cooking is right within her reach. With lower counters, we were able to get the uppers installed lower too with the necessary 18in clearance. Now the bottom shelf of the upper is within easy reach. The canisters there have some texture to provide better grip. Nothing too heavy there. We also did shelves on the cabinet door for things like tea and coffee. The best thing was however the drawers. I do not have a separate pantry and anyways, we wanted cooking ingrediants to be within reach. We ended up sizing the drawers to fit OXO POP containers for all the staples. Super heavy duty glides which are soft close are important here. I learned about these here. These containers are BPA free, airtight and release with a simple press lift. Much much easier for arthritic hands. No lifting or twisting of heavy jars. All of the dry goods --> rice, lentils, grains, steelcut oats are all here and have scoops already in them. 4) A place to sit and prep. We wanted to have a place where we can tuck in a stool under the counter where she can sit and prep things like shelling peas, stuffing peppers, making dumplings etc. Unfortunately we did not have space in the counter run. So instead the kitchen table is a sturdy butcher block and she has a right sized chair to do that. Standing and prepping for long is too hard for her. 5) Lighter weight cookware --> I struggle with this as I do love my Le creuset and Demeyere. But to make it easy and safe for my mom to lift, I got a few pots from IKEA which are great on induction and the weight is not too much. Other ADA things we did in the house include: 6) No transition access One of the design principles we used was to avoid any transitions. We have no carpet and there is no transition (wooden trim piece) between the wood and the tile. Nothing to trip over. In fact there is no transition threshhold between kitchen and the courtyard even. Footmats where used have a grippy bottom to avoid tripping. 7) Bathroom: We installed a curbless shower, an ADA rated seat, a easy to reach niche near the seat for soap, champoo etc. The TP holder is a grab bar in disguise. The shower rod is installed into solid wood and can be used as a grab bar. We also got a longer shower bar so that when sitting the shower head is still easy to reach and she does not have to get her head wet. The tiles go up to the ceiling and have solid backing behind them Eventually we can install grab bars where ever necessary. There is a towel hook inside the shower stall to minimize drips and avoid falls. We did have an ADA design person review our plan and give us advice. 8) Elderly friendly furniture In every public room (living room, family, foyer, kitchen) in the house as well as her room, there are chairs which are sized right for her. Not too high, not too deep, with arms to pull herself up, softer, and heavy enough to not slide if she leans on it. These are in perspective just a number of small things but it has been quite remarkable to see how comfortable it has made our home for my mom. I would not say that we spent too much money on it and definitely the compromizes were very minimal but just a lot of upfront thinkign and analysis has made a huge difference. And I know that when we are older in a few years, we will appreciate all of this. Just last week an elderly neighbor brought her daughter and son in law over to see our home and get ideas for the in law unit they are remodeling for her and her husband.

I played with your plan a wee bit, turning the laundry room and baking pantry on their sides and moving your kitchen appliances around quite a bit. =) Both laundry room and baking pantry are wider in this plan, which means that you have better aisles in both spaces. I didn't realize until I working on your plan how narrow your baking pantry was. If you were spec'ing standard depth counters & cabs along one wall and 12" cabs on the other, you're left with less than 29" for the aisle. That's fine if you don't intend to work in their but since it sounds like you want to do baking prep in here, that's not going to work well at all, especially if you want your kids to help you. My plan does mean no window in your laundry room but you could always add clerestory windows between baking pantry and laundry room to let light flow from one to the other, like they did between spaces in this home. Okay, into the kitchen. I removed the wing walls on each side of the dining area so that you're not pinched for space around the table. However, as I wrote above, if you want to keep the walls, you can bump the space out instead. I moved the fridge out of the corner and against the pantry wall. That puts it close to your baking center; shorter walks to get eggs, butter, etc. I moved your clean up sink and 2 DWs to the wall next to the fridge. Here are inspiration pics for sinks against walls, not under windows. Moving the clean-up zone, opened up space to move the range top and hood to an exterior wall. Since you're concerned about noise, you should definitely look into adding an remote blower to your hood. This runs ducting up the exterior wall to your roof where your blower will sit. You'll cut noise quite a bit. I moved the ovens to right next to the baking pantry door so it's an shorter walk with pans of batter. I added a prep sink to your island to give you a good work zone between pantry, fridge and range top. The downside of this plan is that it puts the clean-up sink and dish storage the farthest from the dining area. It also means that anyone wanting to grab last minute items from the fridge to bring to the table will walk through the cook zone. Not ideal but I can't think of another way to address that at the moment. Oh, the other thing I did was recess the full depth fridge into the pantry wall so that it appears to be counter depth. I've no idea what your aisle widths were because you hadn't marked them but you have a large enough space to go for generous 48" aisles.