Following. Would love too know what you finally decide.

Its 11-1 to remove the half walls, so I will go to a flooring store that also does remodeling and see about getting a quote for taking out the half walls and installing new carpeting in the living and dining room. Ideally, in the future we may want to put in all new flooring throughout the LR/DR/Hallways and kitchen, but the kitchen and front hall flooring is in good shape. If it's too expensive to remove the half walls and patch up the flooring then I will look at keeping the walls or something else.

I voted for removing the walls but would recommend to put all hardwood floor if budget permits.

If you are going to carpet the living room and dining room I would keep the half walls and the hardwood in the entry. Lay an interesting rug in the entry to catch dirt.

The half walls seem dated and unnecessary so I would definitely remove them. I’d vote for wood floors, too.

Yes, we are planning to carpet the living room and dining room for now, possibly something lower-pile with texture in a natural color. The laminate in the front hall and kitchen is in good shape, I can't get more of that material anymore, and it's too much of a project to re-do all of it. Our dog slides on the laminate and my family prefers to have some carpeting. I know it's not the trend! The next time around, I am more likely to put in hard flooring throughout but this is an interim step?

I am also debating over the whole entry idea -- people are a little boxed in when they come in the front door if we are having a conversation by the door, but maybe that is OK. Would it look too open if the entry just dumps into the living room? I know I can do things with furniture too...

Cute place.

Remove the walls and use one floor type. It will profoundly open your space and give you a beautiful updated look. Go for it.

I also voted for removing the half walls. Removing the half walls would give a more updated look.

I need to see the whole space and I happen to like separation between entry and living space and I sure would not do carpet . Is there a step down there? I need to see a bit more

Just a thought. You might remove both walls, and then restrict the laminate to the area right in front of the entry closet to where the wall bumps out. Carpet the hall area to the kitchen (your photos don’t include that area, so I don’t know if this will work.). And then resume the laminate in the kitchen. Salvage the laminate that you remove to patch the area where the wall next to the front door is removed. And carpet will cover the hall/removed wall on the other side. Would something like this work for you?

Not a pro. I would tend toward removing the walls, as I really think that it would improve the flow of the space. However, if I were torn and my spouse had a strong opinion on the matter, I might defer in the interest of marital harmony.

Either way, I would get rid of the carpet and have hardwoods throughout the area.

@Patricia Colwell Consulting did you see all 5 pictures? I thought I was doing pretty well with showing the room (and it is messy with a giant Lego table so I was trying to avoid showing a lot more) but I will show more photos if it helps. We are on the cusp of removing the toys but the kids have been playing with the legos a lot during the pandemic. I also want to paint and re-do our built-in china cabinet but I have a broken arm and this room is neglected but it has potential to be a lot nicer.

There is not a step into the living room, it's flat, thank goodness.

@ptreckel That is an interesting idea. the entry "hall" goes past a powder room and dead ends into a bit of wall before it hooks up to the kitchen. I will add a photo later. A laminate landing space/entry is interesting. I have to try to visualize it better though, and I will get some photos of that space too. I am not sure if putting carpet in front of the powder room area will look strange or not.

Thank you to everyone who has taken time to vote and comment so far. I appreciate the input.

I don't see any need to keep them -- they look like an unnecessary barricade. But I also understand marital discord in interior design so I also don't think they are worth the marriage falling apart. :-)

I don't hate them. I like a little separation and definition of space. I might use the $$ to replace the closet doors with a nice bifold to update that area.

I went to look at carpeting today. My spouse is firm that he wants carpeting and I am OK with that. The kids sit and play on the floor in this room. I picked out two that I like, Karastan Fashion Session (Smartstrand) and Bigelow Stars Come Out (Triexta blend). About $650 difference in the rough estimate between the two, the Karastan is more expensive. I think we might stick with the half walls for now, do the carpet and possibly revisit the walls when the kitchen/front hallway flooring eventually needs to be replaced down the road.

Karen, you are making the right decision for your family at this time. Pick a good, durable carpet for your family to enjoy. And revisit this question later when things might change in the future. Keep these suggestions in mind. But, good for you to be practical now. Later...dream big! ;)

Thank you all for the feedback and voting. I am slightly sorry for not picking the majority decision, but we will be fine.

Now, on to picking carpet! I am debating on having a patterned carpet. I was inspired by a beautiful home that we visited a few years ago when we were buying used furniture from Craigslist. The couple was moving and they were selling so many pieces of furniture -- I went for a twin bed and nightstand and came home with two very nice end tables, too! It was a beautiful, well-decorated home and the owners were very nice people. They had a patterned carpet (I don't remember exactly what it looked like) and it went almost to the walls but there was hardwood around the ends. It was beautiful.

I may be feeling a bit aspirational, but I am thinking of putting a patterned carpet in our living room and dining room. It's a little scary, though. I am trying to be semi-formal, not fussy but nice. This is the room we don't use all that much except for reading, music lessons, entertaining, board games, and Christmas (oh, and Legos!) LOL. We have a small TV/family room next to the kitchen that gets the most day to day use.

I visited a nice, well-reviewed carpet store yesterday and learned about patterns. Very nice salesperson. I also spent way too much time reading about carpet here on Houzz.

I have gold walls and curtains that I *still like a lot*, and I seem to collect tan and brown furniture. I still like it. The gold walls make the house look like it glows from outside at night when the lights are on, and it's pretty, it's warm. I think I can spiff up the decorating by adding some better accent colors, maybe coral, or green, or turquoise, peacock, or navy, etc. etc. I will figure that out. I am slow to spend money on accessories, but I recently found a very, very nice consignment decorating/furniture store that is very inspiring where I hope to find some treasures. And then, there's always Target for shorter-lived items.

With the help of the salesperson, I gravitated to pin-dot patterns and diamond patterns. I was fearful in the store of more complicated patterns, but then I come on Houzz and see this:

Brookline Private Residence · More Info

It's beautiful, it's sisal (which I don't want but there are look-alikes that are softer). But is it way too bold?

I am also drooling over diamonds...

This is Karastan fashion session and I brought a sample of it home, but I wonder if it is too busy? Is the pattern too small? I am doing an L shape living and dining room. Looking at this photo I think it might be too small and too busy.

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This one is Anderson Tuftex Ascend, which might look exactly the same as the Karastan fashion session above, but it may have better color choices, and the pattern may be slightly bigger?

ASCEND - color 00542 · More Info

ASCEND - Aerial View - color 00542 · More Info

I like this carpet too, does it look exactly the same as the above? If so, perhaps then I've found the right one...

Now pardon me for a moment while I drool over these windows, sofa, etc. etc. I don't think I like this carpet though -- diamonds too big for me? Too formal? Or are big diamonds better? The sofa! The windows!!! the garden!!!! Oh!

Family Room with French Doors · More Info

So my I'd like my living room to be along the lines of a more upscale house's family room.

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Anderson Tuftex Flooring Collection by Shaw · More Info

The above is interesting but I wonder if it's a) too busy and b) not comfy. It's another Anderson tuftex.

Then I get a little crazy and look at the wild stuff, like the heringbones and bolder patterns... am I looking at too many trendy photos?

Pretty, pretty, pretty, but I'm not doing a staircase... I'm doing *two* connected rooms -- Tuftex Only Natural... the sisal look-alikes in nylon.

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And this is fun. Really fun. Very bold! Eek! But it is so cool, and, bossy? OK, I just like to look at it. In reality, I need something that I will like for 10 years, is pretty classic, and plays nice with most anything. I don't think the photo below is "classic", but the diamonds in the first photo are?

Carpet One Design Gallery · More Info

Pin-dots are much more subtle. Also, checks/squares but I haven't found one that really grabs me. A pin-dot would be super easy, not too crazy but a little bit of detail. Something subtle

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These get into looking like more texture than pattern and I like this look too.

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I realize that I am not asking questions as much as posting nice carpet photos. Oops!

Thanks for reading! I need to spend more time looking at carpet samples.

Apparently I am just procrastinating on Houzz. The room will be much nicer with new carpet because the old is very old and worn. Here is another that I kind of like, but in the end I will probably go more boring:

Mohawk SmartStrand Carpet · More Info

Kids and spouse are gravitating towards the plainer pin dot sample that I brought home. I will look in this direction, which should be more classic and versatile, and see about nylon, SmartStrand, etc. etc. The sample I have is Lee's Little by Little, 100% 4X BCF Triexta, 25 year wear and texture retention and lifetime soil, stain and installation. Has icons on the sample that it is pet and fade-resistant.