Explain please : do you have two openings to the kitchen ? What is the room inside that large opening used for ?
My first impression is shortening the opening with drywall so that you have more room in the living room ...but like to see a layout and the label and dimensions for each room ..

Pete. see next photo. this is taken from the kitchen looking into into family room (red walls for now) / tv hanging out. opening is to living room. See low budget sticky note layout below lol.

I’m guessing here.... but it appears you have a casual side (family room and kitchen) vs a more formal side (dining and living room). If so, and given limited budget, would glass paned French doors be a choice for you? It would offer separation, without being too casual (as barn doors are), and still allow light in from the windows in the living room.

the barn door idea would be on the living room side and just for accent. we aren't looking to close the room off or anything. it's 2 fold.

what to do with trim?
maybe add barn door style (could be now or later).

keep on mind the doors will generally be open.......just an fyi

Since you would leave them open all the time and don’t need them for privacy then I ask why do it? Do you want to see 2 large door panels in the room? How do they work with your furniture layout and will they effect outlets or switches? Would this budget $ be best spent elsewhere?

moved switch already. good thinking but that's handled. nothing in the way. we are just trying to think of something to do on that wall. but going back to the questions, should I remove the trim either way?

So when you walk into your home, you can see every room - except you can't see all of the family room? Do you use the living room at all? I'd consider taking that wall down and expanding the family room.

A pair of barn doors might be interesting especially if you choose a set with some color and visual texture. Some outlets and switches might have to move but that shouldn't be a big issue.

I think for accent on the living room side, art would be more interesting than a barn door and would be more personal to “you”.

S Mil....thats really the debate. Im 50/50.

Do we keep the trip or clean it up (draw less attention to it) and dry wall like normal?

I think it's a personal preference. If going with barn doors, yes. If not, the trim does protect the corners of the wall.

In my experience dry walled door edges chip too easily. But maybe it was the four kids!

JCK, there is trin around most openings IE doorways except one from the kitchen to the garage.

kay stu, we have 4 (had, older now so only one left in the nest). only a little rough housing when they are all together during the holidays :)

If the opening you show is from the living room looking into the kitchen, you may want to add something, but not barn doors. If you are a neat cook, people in the other room will not be looking at a mess. If you are messy, that would be another reason to add something. Do you still have the bi-folds in the garage? Are they ugly or could you paint them to match the white trim?
I, personally, like cased openings if a door isn’t really necessary for some reason. Barn doors require alterations to the opening (maybe even removing the nice casing) and they demand a big empty space on the wall where they would be placed when open.

I might be a little biased, but barn doors are the way to go! Speaking from experience, barn doors are no too difficult to add. They can be really convenient for a space like this. The sliding function makes it really easy to open the room up or close it off. Also, since they slide against your wall, you don't have to worry as much about the clearance you need with hinged doors.

I'd keep the trim - no barn doors if they aren't needed for privacy.

No barn doors, they bang against things if you don't close them gently. Keep the opening as is with trim.

I would definitely trim it, the work to drywall the corners alone is too much for me, and then one stray laundry basket will put a dent in it like nothing.

Barn doors can be so expensive but they are such a nice accent to the colors you have going now. I like an OPEN floorplan so if it were me I would just take it out 👍

www.CannaBlissVapeCo.com

I wouldn’t put doors in if you don’t think you’ll close them much. I’d trim the opening but it’s a big opening so I would change the trim to something wider, like a 6” wide trim, to make it look more balanced.

it's all getting repainted. what you see are old colors......I'll update as it develops. the partition wall came down, the other wall stays becaust I have baseboard heat and didn't want to deal with breaking up the floor and plumbing........doing this shaw floor throughout....

Just put fake doors on each side or the opening in the family room for looks . Just attach to wall if your never closing them and just for looks . Kind of like shutters on windows outside ?