I've got a split entry as well. Your flooring looks nice. Do you know if you have hardwood under the carpet?

Yes, there is parquet flooring in the living, dining and bedrooms. We plan on removing the vinyl flooring in the foyer. It needs to be replaced.

Hard to see in this picture. You'll be replacing the vinyl with tile? If it were my house, after removing the carpet, I'd want artwork I love on the large wall and optimized lighting for the space. The banister isn't optimal but I've no clue of your budget. I'd want a pony wall on the left rather than open railings. Are you keeping the chair lift?

Everything in the picture is from the previous owner. We have not moved in yet. We're looking to get some pointers on decorating and furniture placement.

I do agree with your pony wall idea. To me railings do nothing for the space and will be removed as well. I'd also like to close up the wall on the stairs to the lower level to give a little bit of privacy between the two floors.

Feel free to share pics of your rooms for furniture placement ideas. Some people here are genius at those. What type of railings were you envisioning? I'm not sure I understand closing up the wall to downstairs. Do you mean this type of staircase? You can Google split entry for ideas. We have a raised ranch and I looked a while ago but didn't find that much, tbh. I like my open railings because it gives me a sight line to the kitchen from the entry. More light.

Something similar to that in that picture would work. I'd just like to try and close up the entry way somewhat while still allowing natural sunlight in. I'd also like to possibly remove the wall between the kitchen and dining, but it looks like its load baring. That's going to be costly. Again, none of this furniture is ours.

Just curious, is this a raised ranch? Do you have a door to outside from the kitchen? I don't see a wall between the kitchen and dining? Did you mean the mirrored wall? Yes, that one is most probably load bearing. Are the owners leaving the blinds?

Yes, it is a raised ranch. No we do not have door in the kitchen to outside. My wife and I talked about possibly opening up the kitchen/dining room wall and putting some french doors with a little deck out back. We plan on removing the mirrors from the wall, and throwing some paint on it. Removing will mostly be too costly, plus there are vents for AC and Heat installed there as well.
At this point, we're trying to figure out the best way to arrange everything when we finally move in.