I would suggest looking for a beautiful rug that you love--it should have at least some of the colors you have already used in your rooms. Use the rug as in "inspiration" and tie-together piece. From your description, I think using your ocean blue in the kitchen area would be nice. What color are the existing walls? You would have to figure out if there is a good stopping point to switch paint colors. Good luck, and we DO want to see pictures.

If you move the entrance to the stairs (so they end in the same spot in the basement but start in a different place on this floor) and turned the biggest window on the back wall into an even-bigger sliding glass door, you could actually fit nicely-proportioned kitchen, dining area, and living area with plenty of space to walk around and through all of them. Like so: Every layout always compromises in some area. In focusing on making the living areas generously sized for furniture/cabinets/counters/walkways/human traffic, I compromised a bit on the experience guests will have when they first walk in the front door. As you can see, when guests walk in, straight ahead is a staircase and the kitchen. It's not the norm to have a barrier of sort directly in front of you when you first walk in the front door rather than a straight shot down a walkway or into a room. It's also not the norm to have the kitchen be the first thing you see when you enter a home, and a lot of people feel really strongly that they don't want guests to be able to see the kitchen sink/dishes when the guests first walk in. I think the barrier-in-front-of-you-when-you-enter thing isn't a huge deal because people entering have almost 10 feet of walking space before they hit the staircase. It would be very natural for foot traffic to flow diagonally to the right to enter the living spaces rather walking directly into the stairs, and you wouldn't have any issues with people feeling cramped or blocked. However, I'm concerned you won't like the immediately-visible kitchen aspect of this. I found a picture of a relatively similar kitchen to what I've drawn and edited in a staircase in front of it so you can see what that would look like if you simply do a half wall behind the big kitchen counter. This is what would greet your guests: Picture a huge window above the sink and a stove where the fridge is. Having a half wall behind the big counter would preserve maximum openness if you want your big counter in the kitchen to feel like an island and/or to be able to keep an eye on kids in the family room and/or to interact with people in the family room. However, that would also means your guests' main view when they first walk in the house would be of the kitchen. If you don't like how people would see the kitchen when they first walk in, you could always do a full wall there. It'd be an ideal place to hang a piece of statement art to greet your guests. Like so: P.S. In case it is not obviously to you, in the kitchen where the pantry cabinets overlap with the counter is an appliance garage situation like this:

Again thank you all for the suggestions. I am now leaning toward a warm white vs. a beige! Out of 12 samples (mostly beiges), I've narrowed it down to 4 (1 off-white, 3 beiges), now just trying to figure out which looks best with the kitchen backsplash. (I think they all look fine with the countertop, various woods, & living room, so it's coming down to the kitchen.) If anyone would like to share their opinions on the following choices, I'd appreciate any input: SW Creamy SW Canvas Tan BM Gentle Cream BM Dulce de Leche On the countertop Earlier in the living room, with other samples. SW Creamy is at the top. BM Gentle Cream is on the bottom. Earlier in the living room, with other samples. BM Dulce de Leche is at the top. SW Canvas Tan is 3rd from the top. I've discovered it is very hard to capture beige on camera! Hopefully you can see the subtle differences in these photos.

If you want a TV in that room the only place it can really go is to the right of the fireplace (maybe to the left if you find that works better for you). It is never recommended to put it over the fireplace unless there is nowhere else for it to go. You have more than enough space on the right for a nice console. Maybe in the future you can do something more dramatic with the fireplace as it looks small in that large wall (or maybe you are already and it's not finished yet). Put a tall piece of art over it (something that is less wide than the fireplace). Face your sofa toward the fireplace and TV. The dining table should have the long side parallel to the slider. I can't imagine it fitting the other direction. I don't think it's a bad thing to have your old furniture in there for a while. It will help you get an idea of the right size for new pieces. You may also get better advice if you post a graph paper drawing of the space so the commenters know exactly how much space you're working with. The perspective in pictures is sometimes misleading.