Any thoughts?

You can take it down and replace with a header beam if it’s a loadbearing wall. Just be cautious that you may have plumbing running from upstairs so the drains will have to be rerouted into a column. You may want to do the same to get rid of those white columns at the same time, unless you like the style. This is not a project for a DIYer though.

@Liz H Thank you- and by no means would I be able to do this- we would look for contractors. Is there any issue that the wall eventually leads to the door to the deck from the family room? Yes, we would like to get rid of those beams as well.

I don’t think there will be a problem since they will remove the stud on that wall to set the beam flush beyond the drywall and then resupport. I am not a pro — I don’t know if the beam can be flush to the ceiling since you have a 2nd floor. Hopefully a pro will weigh in. It will look beautiful either way. People also raise their sunken living room. Personally I like mine but some don’t— it is an option though.

You can take it down creating a large arch with height matching your entrance way. So you do not need any extra beam. Just need to check if it possible. Usually interior walls are not load-bearing . We did it and very happy.

Create an even bigger trip hazard you mean?

Does anyone have any thoughts on opportunities to further open the current opening?

The 'window' behind the dining table?

You can remove the wall below the window & have a walk thru opening there. Without worrying about framing, beams, etc. Because there will be a header over the current opening.

But the flooring will need to be patched where the base plate of the wall is removed and you will be adding to the trip hazard quotient.

I would be more inclined to close that window than opening it up more.

You might actually like it as is.

To us - we were just hoping for a more open concept look. Sounds like we may need to consider filling in the sunken family room though?

I would close up that opening and be grateful for a less open house. Looks like a beautiful home.

With all due respect, we appreciate the comments, but the post is to generate professional ideas to open up the space which is important to us. We aren't looking to be convinced to close up the space.

Then PAY a structural engineer and contractor to visit the house and investigate the possibilities. It won’t be cheap, and the house will work worse with it all warehoused and echoey. If you aren’t budgeting to replace the floors, you’ll need to add that to your high multiple tens of thousands to do this. As well as the cost of the electrician, plumber, framer, the steel beam, the hvac engineer, and the drywaller and painter.

As always, rude comments. The poster said nothing about not hiring pros nor did they say anything about not replacing floors. They did not say the had to do this on a $1K or a $100K budget. They are looking for ideas so they know how to begin to scope and describe the project to the professionals as a starting point. Just ideas. Go lurk elsewhere.

Sounds like we may need to consider filling in the sunken family room though?

The fireplace is going to make that challenging to accomplish.

100K is a lot more accurate than 1K. And if they want ideas, someone needs to be actually inside the home to assess any feasibility for ideas. That requires a financial outlay. And if they aren’t willing to do that during the discovery phase, they should expect to get exactly the realistic and useful advice that they paid for. This is not internettable. Nor is any of the advance planning to make anything happen going to be free. The basic barrier of spending money is a powerful screening tool for any contractor. No money, no work. And they are asking for work.

@stephclarke311 Thank you for the thoughtful response. We may not want the house if we do not see a path forward with a remodel of sorts down the line. We have two infants that we would possibly need to consider leveling the sunken room (which sounds like it could be a big $$ item with the fireplace), but we also went into the search with the hopes of a more open concept that we could have eyes fully on the family room. This is why I wanted to reach out to the group to see what questions should be asked and what considerations come into play with removing walls that are adjacent to a sunken room.

@Chris D totally get that! FWIW our oldest daughter was 11 months old when we moved into our home and we have a similar layout and sunken family room. We were SO nervous about it, but she learned how to scoot down it safely and it was never an issue. Then we had more kids and it hasn't been an issue at all in terms of safety (and my youngest is one of those kids that finds danger wherever it is!) That said, we are actually in the process of finalizing plans for a large kitchen reno and are leveling off part of the floor. It expensive to do when you have a fireplace, but definitely doable.