De Plans, De Plans! Current house layout and problems what needed solving...

Here's what we have now:

I think this can be clicked and enlarged.  

1. So, typical of mid-20th century homes, from left you see that there is no foyer.  You walk from the front stoop right into the living room.  That is a coat closet behind the front door.  The living room is good sized, appox 11' x 18' or so.  
   
2. Moving from the living room to the dining room, you can see from the plans its really tiny, appox 8' x 10'.  Our kitchen is so small that we have to store a lot of pantry items on a wire Container Store Rack that sits behind that dividing wall, between the Living Room and kitchen.  It's really cramped and not condusive for entertaining more than 3 other people, dinner for 6 is pushing it.  
3. The Kitchen.  Let me count the ways.  I am a decent cook and baker, if I do say so myself.  This compounded by the fact that I have a kitchen gadget problem that I am currently seeking a 12-step programme to address, means that I literally have about 2 feet of useable counter space.  The rest is covered by all my treasures, bangles and baubles...(Kitchenaid Mixer, Cuisinart, Vitamix Turbo-frakkin'-blend-o-rama, coffee maker, strange looking dish-drainer thing that M had to have, Soda Club CO2 Charger, and othe odds and ends).  I said I had a problem, and at least I admit it!  Its so small, that it's crowded when 2 people are in it, when we have folks over, everyone ends up cramming into the kitchen, usually while I am huddled over the cooktop with the noise, but useless exhaust hood.  The kitchen was redone in 1986, and really looks it; nothing says mid-80's like wall-paper border with fruit on it.  All the appliances were contractor grade back then, and old and quirky now.  So every appliance is nearing the end of it's useful lifespan.  The dishwasher sounds like an asthmatic terrier, and makes whistling and wheezing noises between cycles.   It's time for new stuff, but we didn't want to put new stuff in that old cramped space. 

We wanted a  one level entertaining space, a decent kitchen that allows both of us to be there, with running into one another.  We wanted a powder room on the main level that didn't require guests to go upstairs to the bedroom level to use the restroom.  This was a 'nice to have' rather than a necessity, but we went with this option. We decided, after talking the various designers, that it would definitely require a bump-out of our existing home to get these things, but which way?  Out the back or off to the side?  

Commonwealth came up with an ingenious design that used nearly every square inch of space; i.e. No dead corners.  They listened carefully to everything we wanted (M is so organized that he created a "Wish List" that he gave to each of the firms we interviewed), and Mrs. Peirce included all these items in the final plan.

Next Up....The Solution.