Wow! Lots of questions! Haha! Let's see. We live in New Orleans and are a very casual, fun, energetic family. DH and I are in our mid 30's and have a 9 year old and a 6 year old. Both kids are active outside of school. TV is a big part of our lives because of sports, movies, kids, etc. But Mike's Den is where lots of the sports programming will take place. :) We are planning to offset the TV and put it to the side of the fireplace for two reasons....1) Now that the kitchen is further over, if someone is in there, it will be more centered to the room as a whole and 2) it can be a bit lower and more at eye-level if it's not above the fireplace. We can make the built-ins accommodate the TV at a level more comfortable for viewing. There will also be a playroom/media room upstairs for the kids. So the Living Room TV will be the group/family TV I suppose. We take turns cooking but both work. So we aren't gourmet cooks but we enjoy cooking meals. We enjoy conversations from the kitchen, thus wanting the open plan. I'd say that because of kids' evening activities, we probably cook 3-4 days a week maybe? Other nights we grill or get take out, pick something up or go out to eat on the way home. The porch. The house (again, in New Orleans...flooding) must be elevated a bit). This porch is elevated with the house. I know we will also have lower space for a table and chairs and the grill, that we haven't laid out yet. We actually did talk about widening the porch. How wide would you suggest? My dad suggested 1-3 feet wider. What do you think? The front door...you see the stairs to the right of the kitchen? And the open pass-through there under the stairs in the drawing? If you go through that pass through...actually straight from the back door, you'd pass the turned stairs above you and a guest room above, master below (in the drawing) and the front door is that way. It's a narrow, New Orleans lot...50x122, which has made things interesting to lay out! :) Thanks again guys! Your feedback is great! Oh, and again, the furniture placement and the kitchen appliances, etc. is just there in the drawings as a guide. It's not fixed or anything. It's just a visual thing for reference.

is this just about buying furniture and placement? or help with where to put appliances, sink etc too? If kitchen help probably better to post on kitchens. not many posting here lately. also, they have experts over there who will do a great job for you. if just buying furniture and placement, then maybe the home decorating forum... If I don't see you on kitchens in the next day i'll come back and check on you... hang in there. help is here somewhere! If you go over to kitchens, look on p1 for the thread about being new there and read 'first'. That gives you the info you need to post the info they need to help you.

I would wonder first if I wanted to match the white paint as in the kitchen (white?) also, if I love the wood of the kitchen cabinets and hardware to be able to keep a uniform base for the rest of the home. You have white trim, okay, great start to be able to open the space up. Rugs: runner at the entry, at least a 8x10 in the living area, and at least a 5x7 for the dining area. How about coordinating curtains for this space. Is the dining room a sliding door? Because the hanging blinds in the livingroom suit more a sliding door spot. Rather have blinds or shades paired with curtains if both just windows. Rods and knobs in a coordinating finish as the kitchen knobs. The round table in the rectangular dining space seems off. Would love to sneak a peak at your lighting fixtures. Your entry table setup looks nice, what is your style, the table in the dining space seems cottage, the sofas heavy, could we get more of a view of the other corner of the fireplace? How about a curio on long wall in dining area. A table with a bench on the kitchen side would be nice.

Lisa T, We are just two people so adding a small table against a wall is a great idea! And, if we place the table against the wall where the chairs are in the drawing above, we get amazing space utilization (even better than if we place the table on opposite wall where the TV is in the drawing). Below are photos how new arrangement works in dining area and in adjacent living and kitchen areas. You have to use your imagination! PHOTO #1 BELOW: In photo, I am trying to show HALF of a table for 2. Other half will go where counter is. This will center table along wall in back of powder room (where chairs are in the current diagram). And, we will have plenty of clearance so can enter this space through doorway. We are removing the door so it will just be an opening and we will be able to walk into dining area and then on into kitchen area. A small table (2 feet 6 inches X 3 feet 6 inches) against the wall will seat 2. Move small table off the wall to seat 4. Move small table parallel to the wall and extend it with leaves to seat 6-8 (but will be a bit narrow, according to chart below from dimensions.com). PHOTO #2 BELOW: Making change mentioned above, allows us to have more room for furniture in living area! We can have a couch in front of the sliding glass door and two chairs opposite TV to be mounted on wall. PHOTO # 3 BELOW: Please excuse the mess! I just want to show that our 194 inch wall with kitchen cabinets (shown in diagram) can now be extended by 36 inches of upper and lower cabinets and we will still have 6 feet of floorspace before we get to the chair that's closest to the dining/kitchen area! We can use some of that 6 feet of floorspace between end of cabinets in kitchen/dining and chairs along wall in living area, and here's how: Mark transition from wall of cabinets to dining/living space, at the very end of the row of cabinets, by adding a tall plant. That will take up, 2 feet of floor space. We can put in a 36 inch cooktop in kitchen instead of a 30 inch one. This will move the wall of cabinetry 6 inches more toward living area. We can add 9 inch pull out on each side of the cooktop (for frequently used spices and oils). This will move wall of cabinetry 18 inches more toward living area. In TOTAL, after making above 3 changes, we are taking up total of 4 feet (2 + 1/2 + 1 1/2 = 4) of floor space along the wall. So we'll still have 2 feet of floorspace between the plant and the chair in the living area. And since it's a plant (and not a cabinet), it will feel like there's even more than 2 feet of space. Note: I don't want to confuse things, but the diagram I shared above shows the wall of cabinets in kitchen as 12 inches longer than it really is. Since these calculations are based on this diagram, we really have 12 inches more of floorspace, and that means there 3 (not 2) feet of space between plant and the first chair. So we have a nice amount of space on floor. Lisa T, wow, your comment came just at the right time! Thanks! I took the last 6 hours or so, non-stop to figure this all out and write it up --and now I'm exhausted and hungry! Would love to know what you all think! Do you see any issues??? Please don't hesitate to be critical. Thanks!!!