View of the potential dining area. Excuse the mess!

Pictures of the spaces will get you ideas

Front door and entry closet

A little better picture of entry way

Another view

Where is the kitchen in relation to the area you have shown us?

Thanks jck910! I couldn't figure out how to get pictures in my original post.

Kitchen is adjacent. Here's a pic from the kitchen looking at the front door.

I had done a mockup of the area with a wall removed. This kind of shows where things are though. There is a wall though (no island as shown). The wall is shown as a dashed horizontal line.

Can you pick up a pad of graph paper and draw, to scale, your floor plan? How much space is there between the entry and the kitchen door? Could you add 10" deep 4' wide and 3' high bookshelf several feet from the entry door to define the entry area and direct traffic to the side -- to the other end of the living dining room -- and still have room for a dining table beneath the ceiling fan -- and would that table be centered beneath the ceiling fan if you defined the entry? If not, could you change out the ceiling fan for a swag light to have a light centered over a dining table?

How many people do you need to sit at the table for your main daily meal when the entire family is present? Could you use a drop leaf table most of the time -- one that takes up less space to enable you to put your table between the entry and kitchen?

Is there a second door between the kitchen and the living room on the other end of the living room that would enable you to use that end as the dining area instead??

My mom lived in a 1950's era ranch for a time. In addition to the front entry door, she had two interior access points to the living/dining room -- one directly to the kitchen (on the opposite end of the room from the entry door, however, to access the kitchen from the other interior door required entering a hall an then going through another room that seemed to be intended for use as a den. (That wall between the living room and den was a weight bearing wall that -- part of a center wall that extended from one end of the house to the other and couldn't be removed.) The den had a door to the kitchen as well. My mom made two sitting areas in the living room and used the den as the dining room.

Could you re-purpose a "den" adjoining the kitchen for use as your dining room?

Since it is near the front door, logically it would seem that ceiling fan is likely supposed to be the overhead light fixture for the living area and the tv was likely intended to go against the wall that would be on the left as you enter the front door (since there is no room there for any deeper furniture because even a wing back chair would impede traffic flow from the entry through the room to the kitchen.

Is there a tv in this room and do you have options as to where it can go or are you limited by cable/sat connections?

Can your sofa, turned to face one end of the room or the other, become a dividing line defining the parts of your living/dining room?

You will need to de-clutter a bit if you're going to be satisfied with the end results of your changes.. Start by removing everything from your walls until you get your furniture set like you want it. That should at least help you remove any pre -set notions about where your furnishings must be placed and enable you to try other placement.

You need a drop leaf dining table to snuggle into that alcove. It'll be compact and out of the way when folded, but will serve two without adjustments. If a third joins you for meal time, flip up one of the wings. For more people, scoot it away from the window wall and use both wings.

Try for a pedestal base in a round or oval - they're easier to squeeze more people around. Some of them have additional leaves.

Looks like you need seating for two adults and one child. The place for the table is exactly where Manon Floreat shows it. If you have a folding table and chairs, you can try that location. When you are ready for a new table, the pedestal table she suggests would be good because the chairs will slide all the way in and not get in the way of traffic from the front door.

It looks like you are in the middle of redoing the floors with a lot of work tools around. If you would like advice on arranging the room or decluttering once that's finished, please start a new post.

Your 1950's house may have had a wood room divider panel projecting out from the edge of the closet. It would have redirected traffic slightly toward the living room. Some trace may be visible on the original ceiling. Google

"mid century modern room divider panels".

Thanks for the ideas. In looking at the original floor plan, it looks like there might have been a divider between the entry and the dining area.

To answer some other questions that have been asked. There are 4 in our family. 2 adults and 2 toddlers.

We don't have any constraints on where to put the tv since we don't have cable. Besides the doorway to the kitchen, there's another doorway to the hall and bath (next to kitchen). Besides thesethese doorways, the only other things to work around are a built in and windows. The fireplace shown in the floor plan is no longer there. We don't have a den.

I like the idea of using a low bookcase to define the entry and provide some storage (especially for 3 year olds and all of their winter gear!).

Apple Pie totally called the original design!

I think you can recreate the divider, then you can have a regular dining table set-up and won't have to fuss with extending the wings (I'd still do pedestal and round, though). Here's an idea for you. I like that the top is open. It'll keep the small entry from feel too closed in.

Two angles of the same unit:

Thanks Manon Floreat! I love that!

Love that Styldod! Can I ask what software you used to do the mock up?

So glad I could help Charlene! I've used our proprietary software to create all layouts and images. Do check out our website for more information.

Those mock ups might look great but not at all like your space . IMO if you really want help you need to post a to scale drawing of the whole space use graph paper it makes it easier and make sure you include all doors and windows and measurements so we can read them. Giving square footage is not enough to get good ideas.IMO the first purchase shoulf be a closet and then train everyone to have one coat in it and the rest in the bedroom closets the same with kids stuff it belongs in the bedroom except for a few item out into the living space and those can be put into a chest at the end of the day.

Thanks everyone for the advice! I spent some time last weekend rearranging and decluttering where I could. I managed to create a dining area, a tv/ lounge area, and an entry seating area but plan to replace some of the furniture that doesn't serve the purpose we need anymore. Here's some photos after!

Much better now that we can actually see the spaces I would get a larger piece of art for the TV area remove the bookcases full of clutter from both the dinig area and the LR