I would definitely get some kitchen design help either a kitchen designer or kitchen design help at a kitchen and bath store or another kitchen retailer. They can help you define what you need, where it would be most optimally placed and what might be helpful to define the kitchen and some separation from the adjoining rooms, for example, possibly an island or two sided cabinets between the kitchen and living area.

what a big.. beautiful space! It is hard to piece these rooms together and give advice. With such an important investment, hiring an experience - even Certified - Designer would pay for itself. He/she will help you work through the options quickly and decide what will work best for your lifestyle - budget .. and design style too!

My roof caved in & for that reason could not plan it out..

Did you have to deal with the insurance company to cover the cave in? Most insurance company's I've dealt with in such events required reconstruction plans and that licensed builders be employed to complete the repairs. Did you have to pull a permit for the new roof..... most jurisdiction I know of require permit plans even for repairs to caved in roofs, especially if the repairs concern structural items like prefab trusses or even stick framed structural members. Same with the electrical repairs and or plumbing repairs.............

I have dealt with just such an event.......thanks to an ancient tree that decide it liked the roof for a landing zone...... and I realize the first concerns it getting the roof repaired as quickly as possible. But now you have your roof repaired and I strongly suggest that before you do anything else, you contract with a designer to pull together finalized plans for the interior build out. The worst possible thing you can do now is to charge ahead and do the job piece meal........A) It almost always results in a blown budget and job that isn't finished before the insurance money runs out. B) It produces a finished job that highly resembles a piece meal project not thoroughly though out.

Think of "zoning" the space for the various activities you do in your home such as cook, bake, socialize, pay bills, craft projects, read, watch television, etc. This exercise may help you conceptualize the space better. However, you would be well advised to work with a professional. You can find several here on Houzz.com.

No insurance with this one, We were sitting in the living room area heard a LOUD Crunching noise , looked around & from the ceiling down to the floor the walls had all cracked. Friends who own a construction company fixed the support or LACK OF, from previous owners renovations. So now we are left with trying to sort out something that we had not thought we would be doing . We had another friend who owns a cabinet company come by , who has plotted out an idea for the kitchen. as we lost some walls, that obviously were not supported our trusses at all.

Okay, I can understand your position, but your builder friend should have advised you to call a structural engineer to investigate the situation. Not only that, what you had was a structural failure due to the previous owners doing work that most likely was not permitted.........you may have a legal recourse to recoup some of your cost. Regardless, your builder friend should have advised you that a permit was necessary for any and all modifications or repairs........I realize you think he was doing you a favor, but what about when you go to sell the house? You will be signing a statement that there are no adverse conditions that you know of that should be addressed.....but you do have an adverse situation here. You have repairs to structural elements that have not been permitted and have not been inspected. How do you know that your builder friend correctly repaired them? How do you know there aren't other conditions that he missed? You could be setting yourself up for a future law suit down the road as the defendants in a case that says you did repairs to structural elements that were not permitted nor inspected................

Look, I've done minor structural repairs that I didn't permit..........but what you have isn't minor. I would strongly suggest that you hire a structural engineer to come in and inspect the repairs and any other existing conditions that your builder friend might have missed. Then your builder friend should contact the building department and do a post construction permit for the record. I suspect there will be some penalty fees associated with this, but your roof structure isn't some thing you want to scrimp on .......... for your safety and any future buyers of your home.

I have a furniture arrangement dilemma with my apartments open living room/ dining area! Long media center is at wall between living room & master bedroom. Upper portion of center has been mounted to wall! Trying to figure out if I should buy a sectional or sofa & where to place it?! HELP!!!

jazz4barb....why don't you start your own post? this one is 5 years old.