I believe the purpose of these open floor plans, at least to me anyway, is to have more flexibility. So how large are the areas? Do you need a permanent dining room space?

How is your view out the windows? I would want to maximize that area. How many are you feeding? I have two of us, I would probably put a very small but comfortable rug - not so much beautiful as for the feetsies. 2 very comfortable chairs, with a goodly size cut to proper height table between. So we can spend time in front of those windows looking out and having tea etc. Try to have a square or rectangular table. That is not going to be a good corner for watching the tube though so that would be in another spot. and have a desk somewhere that could also double as a dining room table. If you have a large dinner party, pull out the various tables and chairs from their daily use spots, if they don't match in looks, put a cloth across them, and have the entire area as a dining hall.

if you really want to section areas off, I would use book cases, you can put hinges on them so they fold at will, and i have seen wheels applied or you can use sliders instead. Ah, i know the next comment. But, they look so bad in back. you can either double them up or you can apply a new board, like bead or use wall paper on the back and then a painting, etc.

This is a unique space that has a lot of potential.. I would say leave the room as is without adding walls or hiding support beams.. The arrangement of the furniture all depends on what kind of furniture you have & the kind of look you want to go for..

Great room but intimidating if you've been a "wall-hugger" with furniture. Move in your stuff, re-photo, post and let us teach you to "float!"

Elizabeth, this is a great space that can be warm, comfortable, and inviting. The key here is the placement of the furnishings. The dividing of the areas can be done nicely with screens and drapery, I think I would consider those before making structural changes. Search this site for images of room divider draperies to perhaps get some creative juices flowing. Best of luck to you with your project. The space is awesome!

I think the whole open concept is pushed on us way too much. If I see one more show where the first thing that mention is open design I am going to break the TV.

I agree with opening up certain houses but what we see is homeowners without knowledge taking down walls that they shouldn't be creating structural and design problems. The whole concept I believe was to make a small house look larger. Problem is now you walk into what look like factory with only the bathroom and bedrooms walled off. Sometimes a little privacy and escape into another room is not a bad thing. Kitchen smells throughout the house. Nowhere to hide the necessary messy items.

The bigger issue is making the area look bigger but actually less usable. In CA you can walk into a 3k SQFT house with a 20' high open entry way that just took 800SQFT of the house.

I agree wannabath, but they have it now, through no fault of their own, so we should help them work with it.

EK, it will be easier to provide you with some layouts if you provide better pics to work with. Take pics of each area so that the pics clearly illustrate all your concerns and the adjoining areas. Then provide dimensions of each area. I'm assuming the dining area has the bay window, but I'm not sure.

Thanks everyone! And, yes, BeverlyFLADeziner I will definitely do that!