Normally the living room is in the front of the house and the family room is in the back. Regardless of how they're named on the drawing, could you treat them that way and orient your open space to the back of the house instead of the front? Put up a wall to block the view of the kitchen from the front door and what is currently named the family room. Remove the opposite wall in the kitchen to open it up to the dining room and what is currently named the living room. Since you haven't posted pictures of the space I don't know if this is workable or not, but if so, it would address your concerns, which are valid.

The room labeled Living Room is the front of the house, right?

I don’t know who ”they” are, but my house has the kitchen at the front, by the foyer. You can come in the front door, turn left in the foyer, and walk into the kitchen. If you go straight in the foyer, you walk into the living room, which is our family room; that is, the room where we read, watch tv, play the piano, and entertain. There is another room, though, that is probably labeled Family Room on the plans, but we don’t like the location. Would have made a good playroom when the kids were little, if we lived here with little kids.

However, there is something to be said for what Sarah Susanka calls an ”away room”, a quiet room to maybe chat with someone, or watch something by yourself, read, write, dream.

Well I will not be able to touch the family room, the only rooms i can play with are the dining, living and kitchen

Are you "Building a Home" or are you "Remodeling" an existing house?

remodelling an existing house

Which walls are bearing walls?

Consider hiring a local architect that can perform a proper field investigation to determine existing constraints that will effect the design and budget.

All walls can be broken, the beams are through the side walls, had the inspector confirm as well.

With everything open you have a space about 17-1/2'x 39-1/2'.The kitchen can be L shaped at the family room end. Table in the center and living room forward. If you want an entrance the space between the garage and current entrance could be built over to benefit the movement from the garage into the house.

Why would you not have a LR in this layout. I find everyone always endsup in the kitcehn no matter where it is in the house . I would open the wall to the DR and do what ever you need to do to have afunctional kitcehn then decide if you need to have a FR and LR . You have your LR at the entry not sure why the kitcehn needs to go anywhere near the entry . I am confuse\d as to what you are planning and also what you need . We are empty nesters we have amedia room in out walkout becuase we hate TV in the LR but other than that we do not need a FR on the same level. How you live dictates how you redesign a space .I need a ton more info as to what exactly you want from this redo.

Thanks Patricia. We do not really use LR, or TVs for tha matter. we mostly hang out in the kitchen DR or the FR. so we opened up the DR and were thinking about have a fully fuctional kitchen with pantry where the DR and FR currently are, and a nice DR where the kicthen currently is. Thinking of keeping the FR as is.

Thats is a great alternative patricia. we were planning to combine the DR and LR into a big kitchen, and create an art nook for myself on the other aod because it has these big three windows so so much light. we were planning to keep the DR where the kitchen is right now, but no walls on either side, and the FR stays as is. what do you suggest about that?