Tomorrow is Furniture shopping day and I am a nervous wreck..... Having had numerous experiences with buyers remorse after large purchases, I am not taking any chances. I have called in the expert, my design guru, Stacey Lodato of SDL designs. We are going to meet for coffee, look over our project to date, and hit the stores! At her suggestion, I have 'ripped some photos out of magazines' (ok- I cheated and copied and pasted) - here are some similar floor plans that I found that help visualize our projected floor plan at completion.
This photo depicts similar fireplace (FP) with built-ins that we are adding. We are planning a flat screen television above mantel, but will be pulling furniture away from that wall to create more living and seating space- I love the hardware or stenciling on mantel-( not sure what it is but I wan' it!) We have a black marble surround on our existing FP so it might be a nice embellishment to a stark white mantel. Hey- did I just identify a potential DIY? (That is a question for the guru!) 
This photo represents the triple windows that will replace the sliding glass door on the wall left of the FP. It will open up the back of the house to our natural ledge landscaping and bring in tons of sunshine and nature. It also gives us a new wall to support additional seating... I am loving the look sans window treatments- maybe a couple of comfy club chairs or swivel rockers under the window with an interesting table between them and an antique lamp? suggestions?? We think that a leather sectional might be a must have piece to achieve our goal of ample, comfortable family seating. Our plan, at this point, is to place it on the newly created wall between the living room and dining rooms to put additional space between the front and back of the living room. (the column in this picture is removed and that wall is extended out about 6 feet to create a wall between the rooms. Imagine the sectional running up that wall and cutting across floor in front of FP)
