please no cool grays w/this paneling. it's a warm, yellow toned pine. pairing gray with it will make everything look sickly. If you want to paint it out, do what was advised above, first. White Dove tends to be on the dingy side. I'd use Simply White. do the ceiling a bright white, leave the beams, paint out the trim around the skylight in the white. I'd stop there and evaluate again. Maybe leave the wall of windows as is, with the paneling, and do everything else? If you could paint the very inner trim of the windows in black, it would look great agains the wood. If you want to do the paneling, then go ahead,,,but I wouldn't use white dove here's the white paneling and the light gray on the walls

Agree with not painting the wood features. There seems to be a trend today where people believe that painting elements "update" a space, but that doesn't work for many rooms - including yours. The wood is gorgeous and perfectly complements the room as a whole.

I think the panelling is competing with the floors and maybe consider painting the panelling for a fresh and modern look. I did mine years ago and it made a big difference. I’d add an appropriately sized sectional (with washable covers or go with a darker color or leather) placed along the long wall, so everyone can curl up on and add a rug to ground the space A comfy chair in the opposite corner near fireplace, with a floor lamp and it will be a great reading spot TV is best over fireplace and add a console under windows with a bottom self for baskets to hide toys, or store puzzles, etc A large square distressed coffee to play games on and being distressed it will be forgiving Look at lots of inspiration pictures and see what styles you are drawn to. Map out your room to scale and see what and where pieces can go, and define your needs.

@Buehl Thanks for your thoughts . We had this property insepcted and the inspector made no comment about the placement of this sub-panel. Only when I brought this issue up on Houzz, did I think anything about the electrical panel. The plan was to simply keep everything in the same place but update the flooring and cabinets. Now, I am in a quandry because of the electrical panel. The reason I asked about permitting requirements for moving the panel was due to a comment made by one electrician about it not being necessary for what he viewed small adjustment . I did not believe it, but I thought I should ask. Others don't appear to have a problem with keeping inside a large 50" blind corner pantry space. One referred to it as a utility room closet. We will look at the sofit to see if can be removed or minimized. Since the sofit is used for stove venting, one possibility is to simply remove and replace with re-circulating microwave . Finally, to answer your question about the floor plan of the townhouse, it is 16 feet wide and probably 30 feet long . The dining room is across from the kitchen and it opens up into living room. I have attached an example of a similar floor plan so you can understand the layout. Thanks for your thoughts and comments.