Hi Minh Tran- I am a little confused about your layout.

Why have you chosen your dining room in that location?

It seems to me that your dining room furniture belongs next to the kitchen between the counter stools and the fireplace.

If there is no room for the counter stools, then remove them as there will be no need for them since the dining table chairs will be right there.

That will free up plenty of room for an additional seating area in the room with the piano.

Also, please arrange for some sort of shades or curtains or coating for the windows behind the piano, the heat and UV radiation will damage it.

Thank you for the suggestion on how to protect the piano, that is very useful, I have not thought about that.

Just wanted to add that the attached room plans and furniture arrangement are not what we have finalized.

We would like the Living and Dining space to be more of a formal setting than the kitchen/family room, so ideally we would like to have the dining area close to the living room. We would like to have a dining table (up to 8 seats), a 6'10" piano, a credenza, and assorted seating (couches, chairs, etc.). We anticipate that a credenza/sideboard will go against the West side of the Dining Area.

For the Piano, we anticipate that the flat side of the piano will go against the South wall of the Living Room (with the curved lid facing and opening up to the North)...we've also considered placing the piano at the East end of the living room, but we are worried it will block the morning light from the East bay windows.

Would love to get some ideas/advice on how best to arrange the area.

Thanks in advance!

Does this space exist or are you building it? If it exists already, the piano, seating area and dining table will not fit in the living-dining room. You will have to pick two of those, not all three.

I know two households with similar layouts who have grand pianos. In both cases, they have eliminated a formal dining area and replaced it with a grand piano. I remember when we were teenagers and my best friend's dad finally got the grand piano he'd always dreamed of -- so they sold their dining room table.

I would put the piano where the dining table is currently shown, which gets it away from the main windows and sun damage (probably with the pianist seated under the window facing out to the room at an angle), arrange sofas etc near the bay window (you could get a TV on that 90" wall if you wanted) and get a nice table for the kitchen. If you got one with leaves that extended you could stretch it out into the area behind the stools when you had more guests. Serving and clean-up will be much easier with the kitchen right there, and you can plan decor to make it feel a little more formal -- just because it's beside the kitchen doesn't mean it has to be super casual! You could install a hanging light fixture over the table and choose paint and art in that area that reflects a more formal feeling.

If music teaching, any kind of performance, parental supervision of piano practice or ensemble practices ever happen in your home, having adequate comfortable living room furniture in the same space as the piano makes much more sense than having it beside a dining table used only on formal occasions.

And I'm super curious, what is in the small room between the kitchen and the stairs?

@denkyem, thank you! I caved in and drafted something of what you were referring to. What are your thoughts? Also that small room between the kitchen and stairs is the pantry room!

I should clarify that I am very much non-pro but I would do something like this myself and it looks pretty nice! I think that will be a lovely spot for the piano and the living room looks comfy. Just watch for that pinch point between the dining table and the kitchen counter as I could see that being a little annoying. Depending on your household/family size maybe you could buy a slightly shorter table with leaves and keep it as a 4-seater most of the time, only extending it for dinner parties?

You could probably still put something between the counter and the back door. Counter stools that are narrow enough to tuck under the overhang wouldn't take up any space, and you could put a comfy chair there. Or do you have young kids by any chance, or plans for them? If so a small play area that you can supervise while cooking could be handy. I have my kids' play kitchen and small table in the corner of my otherwise formal dining room, which my kitchen overlooks -- I repainted one of the Ikea duktig kitchens so it looks nice enough for the space.

*******UPDATE with pictures!*******

Thank you SO MUCH everyone for your comments and advice. This has been a long time coming, and WE FINALLY GOT THE PIANO TODAY! We also took your advice of not trying to cram the piano into the dining area or living room. Here's what we did:

• From the above 2D layout, the living room has now become a living/family room combo. We had an upright and left it in the living room. The couch from the family room was moved into the living room (We realize the chaise is too long and creates a bottleneck, and will be addressed one day).
• The former dining area is now solely dedicated to the Grand piano, which is now angled at the 10 o'clock position instead of the 2 o'clock position from the 2D layout. That way, the sound opens up into the house a little better. It is also receded inside the house enough to protect it from any direct sunlight damage (piano also came with one of those humidifier things, so that should also help us extend its life).
• The dining table and chairs have been moved into the former family room. The long side of the dining table is now parallel with the South wall for a 4-6 seater, however, for larger dinner parties we can rotate the table 90 degrees and extend it when needed.

Let me know what you think!

Some "rules of thumb" for you.