Dear Jennifer, I see you’re not getting any traction…Here is a partial floor plan based upon your field dimension supplied. It doesn’t look like your sketch…exactly. Your drawings don’t need to be pretty but you’ll need to supply all the information if you want to get others input. If you correct the dimensions shown you can get an accurate floor plan to work from. Then you should start to receive input. Once you have your floor plan you should space plan every possible layout option you can think of (like shown here) that meets or exceeds your needs established to make your home improvement project as successful as possible for as long as possible. Your home improvement project should retain its value and continue to pay you dividends long after you complete it. Demand Better Performance Joe Brandao Kitchen Performance Consultant

I love that you are using your family rug in the space. I don't think white leather furniture will do it justice though. Too harsh a contrast. My first thought too was to turn the rug so the longest side runs with the fireplace. It should be centered in the room either way. That is the first step. That will help make the fireplace the focus of the room and bring the seating closer for conversation and tv viewing. There should be 1'-1.5' of wood flooring showing around it. Pull it right up to the legs of the piano so the bench is on it protecting the floors when you move it. 2 couches work but I think people prefer to have a couple chairs instead of sharing a second couch. If you get swivel ones you can move them to watch tv, join a conversation or enjoy the view outside. Get some of those furniture sliders to help you move things, they really work. If you keep 2 chairs with a table between by the windows I would just get a sofa table to place behind the couch so you can walk into the room from both sides of the couch. I would play with the furniture you have now and get the arrangement down before looking for new furniture.

No. That’s not how that works. Load paths of the old and new are critical intersections. It’s usually where all of the trouble and a lot of the money is. The old bearing walls will need to be engineered with a completely new foundation for the new heavier point loads that will carry the new beams needed to change the load paths and open up the space. That’s why this is a very expensive proposition. I’ll echo getting a builder on board as a paid consultant now. What usually happens is the clients think the plans will cost 1M, but the remodel plans come back from the builders as 2.5M, and the clients can buy a new home just down the road for 1.5M.

I don't think the model layout hinders conversation but it's not enough seating for 6. Use newspaper or blue painters tape to layout the furniture in different configurations. Try the 2 sofas facing each other. 1 on the wall where the cabinet is now and 1 opposite. Another way would be 1 on the 3 windows wall and opposite it. 2 small scale swivel chairs could be added