desperate help needed! kitchen/dining -lots of pictures!

tbkea

My house is an old 1 story farmhouse. It is very small, around 1000 square feet with 2 small bedrooms and 1 small bath, a den off to the side and another den/office at the front, The kitchen is around 12x12 and there's another room off of the kitchen that is the exact replica of the kitchen (size/shape wise). It's the center of the house, but has little purpose currently, other than connecting the other rooms and it also houses the monstrosity that heats the house! It's is a giant freestanding propane heater, with a lovely metal stovepipe chimney! For at least the short term, this will likely have to stay here. However, I am open to ANY suggestions on an alternative! 

 Also, for the short term, the wall between here and the kitchen will stay, but I am interested in removing it. In my design challenged mind, I think removing the wall and making the kitchen ALL kitchen, no dining-but just work space, and making this "middle room" dining is the best option. A) Is that a good plan at all? That can't happen right away, so is still a viable solution to move the dining to the middle room and put an island or some other workspace in the kitchen?

I am going to be replacing all of the carpet and the kitchen in the next few weeks with hard wood (all the same) . I would also like to paint the "middle room". the kitchen has just been painted. The walls are Benjamin Moore French White at the top with white bead board and trim and the cabinets are BM Blue Danube. the den is a very light blue/gray. Suggestions on paint color also please.

This is a lot of questions, but I'm driving myself insane!!!! I've lived here for some time, with the future plan always to be to do something different, but this is my husband's family farm and it looks like we are staying, so I'm hoping that I can make this a home that I will love. Any help is appreciated. There is nothing you can that will offend or hurt my feelings... so give me all you've got!

Pictures of the actual rooms are included, as well as a very rough (advance apologies ) floor plan that I drew to help visualize.

Also, for more info: the existing table I will probably keep, and the size is comparable to the amount of space taken up by the green chairs. I am also wanting to get new chairs. The dining table is drop leaf and dark wood, needs refinishing, and has a matching glass front china cabinet. The giant eyesore gun safe is also being relocated and also, this room is truly in the middle... there are no windows! 

musictchr25

Thanks for the pictures and the floor plans - makes it a lot easier to try to see the space. I have some suggestions for you.

I think that removing the wall between the kitchen and middle rooms is a great idea, but from the layout of your house, I'm assuming that's a load bearing wall. Removing the wall completely and adding in a beam to support the rest of the house can be very expensive (beams alone start at about $1500, not including the labor and permit costs) but with just a little reinforcement, you should be able to open the doorway up further and leave about 2' of wall on each end. It will still give you that open feeling for a lot less money. That will really help bring some natural light into the middle room.

What kind of design feel are you going for? If you're looking for light and airy, then I would also open the doorway from the middle room into the den off the front porch. Having a sight line from the front of your house to the back of your house from both porches would be really eye catching and also add more natural light throughout your entire house. I know that you said that for the short term that the heater will have to stay where it is, but is there a way to lengthen the plumbing pipes for it so that it can be placed against the wall between the middle room and the den on the side of the house?

In terms of making the middle room your dining room, it really depends on how you use the rooms in your house. If you want an open floor plan where everything is accessible, I would put the dining room in the middle room. But just for entertaining, if you are using one of the dens as your living space, that's a long ways from the kitchen, and there will be some separation. Not sure if that matters to you or not. In my opinion, I would use the den on the side of the house as the dining room, especially since it probably isn't used that often if you also have a kitchen table. The dining room isn't really a hang-out space when entertaining - those tend to be the living/family room and the kitchen, so having those closer together would be great for both entertaining and everyday living. 

As of right now, I think that putting an island in your kitchen is not a good plan. I would save that until you're ready to do a bigger renovation. The size of your space just isn't really conducive to having something like that in the middle of your room, especially since you have doorways opposite of your space that an island would interfere. 

Let me know what you think of those ideas, and I'll see what else I can come up with for your space.

Also, if you have the actual measurements of your room, you should try using Google SketchUp to make a more detailed floor plan - it will really help you out with visualizing, and you can play around with moving walls, built-ins, and furniture.

tbkea

Thanks so much for the long reply!! 

So, to answer your questions: the den on the side of the house is the one we most use. The one in the front is mostly office, but my husband uses it to watch Tv also, to get away from the kids TV watching in the other den It is rarely used by guests. In fact, other than my husband and I, it is hardly ever even entered! So, I'm not sure about taking down the wall between that and the middle room. 

As far as the heater and the chimney pipe, that has to stay where it is. And, yes, I think you are right in that the wall between eh middle room and the kitchen is load bearing. I was considering the beam, but your suggestion is a good one also. 

When we have company, everyone seems to want to pack into my tiny little kitchen, which drives me INSANE because there is simply no room! That is why I was considering an island or some other work surface. I'm not sure I was clear in that if I did that, I would remove the table, thereby making the middle room an extension of the kitchen, not a true dining room, as it would be our everyday eating area. Does that make more sense? 

tbkea

I tried out moving the table.... thoughts? 

musictchr25

What does the kitchen look like now with the table moved out? 

I'm still not convinced that's the right room for your dining table - especially if it's a pass through room. Plus, doesn't that eliminate the use of one chair now? 

What makes it even more difficult are the doorways everywhere off of that room. It's a tough space to decorate without doing some bigger renovations.