Right off the bat? Get the powder room out of there! You want THAT for an entrance?

Do over.........on a house too long and deep, and VOID of light, with a kitchen that will be an interior tomb.

Show the existing condition......

I love thenpowder room in the foyer. Very 1920’s. It is a small space, but for everyday, will work. I can see it being awkward if you host large parties.

A powder room in a foyer is fine, it isn't 1920, and you don't want it for a first view, nor a guest forced to use it as other guests ENTER your home!. To the side, please?

The living room is too large. Re think, or get some help via an architect. Again......show the current space in a drawing like you have above.

It looks like your kitchen is steering the whole ship, and not for the better. The kitchen is out of proportion with the scale of all the other spaces, and it's forcing odd layouts--dining room table that's off center from the large window in that space, a bay in the kitchen that is unused and doesn't relate to anything, a cramped family room that sits three people and faces the cook and eaters, which doesn't seem relaxing. The kitchen itself straddles two spaces awkwardly, has an "open concept" feel without actually being open to much.

My suggestion would be to pull the kitchen back to be entirely to the right of the stairwell and that short wall. Either skip a family room, or think about a way to have a similar small seating area in the dining room space. If you are able to move or enlarge the dining space window, that could make it easier to find a good furniture arrangement.

I agree that the powder room placement is not great, but I don't see another good option. I would make the entrance to the living room be where you have the PAX coat closet. That would allow people to use the powder room with a little more privacy from the living area.

Where will family watch TV?

I actually like small “ hearth rooms” open to kitchen, with no TV , but I like them in lieu of the ubiquitous island stools— more like a few comfortable chairs for glass of wine/ cup of tea but close enough to chat with cook and go help as needed. But that’s not exactly what you have here.

I need to see the original plan to be able to comment much on this one. I do not see the point of a breakfast table in the kitchen no reason for the alcove there either. Wher eis your TV IMO a family room is where that belongs. I would not want to use the PR while other guests are in the entry .I find that entry very unwelcoming for guests and honestly when entertaining seeing the actul home is the point. The kitchen is poorly designed so IMO a good independant KD is what you need . I like a kithen on an outside wall for both lighting and range venting . You have FP in the LR and nothing facing it . IMO get a good architect to do this right . A tiny deck for only a BBQ what is the reason for that ? Why not run the deck across that whole wall on the right with dining space and some seating. Post the original here in jpeg format in a comment DO NOT START another post

Thanks to all who have commented so far. I've edited the post to include the original layout.

An issue that came up in another thread this week--what is the second story plan? The two floors need to be designed together.

Nothing wrong with a loo in the hallway most newbuilds have the in the hall !

They ( powder rooms ) do not have a door directly in front view of the entry!! Good grief.

Get an architect , as the money you spend will come back in a far better plan. Everywhere.

A deal breaker for me is there isn't a master bedroom and bath on the first floor. There is no age criteria for an accident that requires a wheel chair.

I've done a couple little diagrammatic sketches just to illustrate what I see.

- The GREEN lines and TAN open concept area: You said you don't like a full view aross the house from the front door. Yet the plan is essentially open concept. Yes, the initial view from the front door is only to the bathroom. But really, once in the house, or even outside through the Living window, you have a full view across the house. These concepts seem to compete with each other. It's as if your designer followed a commonly modern open concept narrow house, then in hindsight added a wing wall by the stair and an IKEA Pax nook by the front door. Your original house is defined by rooms satisfying that closed room concept. Maybe a more developed sense of what you mean by open view would not have the two small fixes which impede the overall design.

Also, the RED marks are what I see is to remain (portion of walls and 1/2 the stair). Those seem to limit opportunity and don't contribute to a complete gut job and full 2nd story. Also, the entire new stair placement is based on reusing the side door, but with adding so many new windows in the brick house anyway, moving 1 more door could open up some other opportunities.

- The shaded in colors sketch represents proportion of spaces that I would lean toward for typical U.S. living experiences. They followed your basic adjacencies concept and still kept the existing side door, but could adjust if the stair were to move. The deck is only shown to call attention to the circulation being conflicted.