Don't ya just love looking out the window at them! My fence is very near the north side of my house and in the summer with the windows open I can talk to them while I'm sitting here at the computer. I can see them from the south windows, too, so no matter where I am, I know what they're doing. Yours are QH?

Thanks for the responses! After some careful (read lengthy) browsing through photos on Houzz, I realize I need something lighter and more current over the island. With the 6 foot square island would it be better to have 1 hanging light fixture (possibly a quatrefoil), 2 glass or lantern styles spaced evenly, or I'm also thinking 3 hanging at different heights near the center (most likely glass)? Also here is the design inspiration for my kitchen (my cabinet selections, glass cabinets, hood and flooring are similar)

Thank you, Samantha . -- I was trying to find something a little different, but I guess people still love the farmhouse tables. Maybe I can get really comfy chairs. What color table though? Does it have to match the dark floors? Thanks again

Here is a mockup of an idea for your dining room and living room flip. Obviously, the final placement of the various pieces would depend on their size and necessary clearances/aisles, but this is the basic idea. You only really have two walls where the TV could go, so there aren't a whole lot of options. The orientation I chose makes the wood-burning stove a focus point, which I think is nice. I added a large coffee table between couch and loveseat, assumed a flat screen TV on the wall and added a rectangle in the new dining area to indicate a piece of furniture that could be anything, really (china cabinet, sideboard, bookcase, etc.). As for the kitchen, I went back to the open plan for this drawing. As you can see, having the dining area in the new location makes the seating in the kitchen somewhat redundant, although with kids I'm sure it will be useful. However, I agree with 3littlelights and others that this "open" plan still has you facing away from the open space for most of your kitchen tasks and is therefore not really accomplishing what you want it to accomplish. The layout of the sink, stove and fridge is also extremely awkward. What are the exact measurements of the wall with the sink on it? I know you said the windows were 72x36, but how much wall space is there between them and how much wall at either end? If there is no way to put the fridge on the same wall as the sink, then perhaps something like the plan below would work. It doesn't disguise the posts in any way, but it does give you a vastly better workflow and lets you face the open room while you are working at the sink (you'd want to move the dishwasher to the other side of the sink so it wasn't directly across from the oven).