You need to post the floor plan showing all measurements for sure and also the plan needs to be able to be enlarged . My advice usually is to live in a house for at least 3-6 months before changing anything major. As for your plans mayny things are affected when adding ot taking away walls like the HVAC for instance .

I wouldn't completely close it off but would consider a cased opening between the living and dining room:

Your floorplan is pretty small, doesn’t enlarge well and lacks measurements. If you are a neat cook, having a door or wall between the dining room and kitchen is not necessary. A cased opening between the living room and dining room (instead of what seems to be a single post?) makes a dining room a bit more formal. Are the other dining room walls all glass? If the kitchen island has bar seating extending into the dining area, the effect is much more casual. Do you have a place to put a buffet/storage piece in the dining room? A nicely decorated dining table looks welcoming if seen from the living room.

I think judiciously placed cased openings as shown above can be more attractive than wide open spaces. I don't see a good way to create a foyer, but you could definitely have a cased opening between the LR and DR. I think all open is more consistent with a modern style. Did the previous owners favor a different decorating style than you have?

thanks all! These are the only drawings I have at the moment, but drew in some possible partial walls and penciled in the dimensions. I could imagine pocket doors between LR and DR. I like modern and transitional, but just find this space too open for my taste. thanks!

I am a huge fan of closed rooms. None of this open concept business for me. We purchased last year an apartment with an open concept kitchen, living, and dining room and before moving in enclosed the kitchen and made two entrances with pocket doors. Love it.

When I read your original post, I immediately thought walls with pocket doors. However, after seeing your picture, I might rethink my love of separate spaces. Your view through those windows is rather spectacular. This space seems to call for openness - a statement I rarely say. So two questions:

1. Privacy: Is your house large enough for you and others to find private space when you need and want it for the activities and times of day you wish to have alone time?

2. Visual separation: Would it suffice to create a sense to two separate areas within the space to add more of a cozy, two room feel? There are tons of ways to do this but will that be enough or are you really after total sounds privacy and total visual privacy?

The views are amazing, but they are visible from all the windows so we wouldn't lose the view from any room if we did divide it somewhat. The question you ask is key... when it is just the 2 of us we can probably get away from each other, but the house is meant to be a place to have guests and grown kids and some day grandchildren. Then the noise might become an issue. Fortunately the kitchen isn't open and so there is some privacy there for the cook and/ or a place to have a snack and a private conversation even if others are in the house. I also think someway to create a foyer or sense of a foyer would be great. I kind of hate walking in the front door and seeing the entire house.

Your could use mid-century modern as a model. They do such a great job of providing separation without totally enclosing spaces.