Here's the floor plan. If we put it in the dining room, everyone wins, right? We don't lose our windows in the den. The TV is centered in the den. There's a fireplace in the house for resale - which we don't plan to do for at least 10 years if not more.

We'd lose the little buffet niche because that's the wall the fireplace would be on, but that's ok.

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People like fireplaces where it's cold or where it's an easy focal point for a room. If you don't need it then don't use it. You can use cased goods to make a focal point out of the entertainment center.

I have seen candice olson do very modern fireplaces in dining rooms where she raises them up to eye level while dining so everyone can see them....no point in having them on the floor if no one can see it.

To me, a fireplace in the dining room should be a secondary fireplace, not the main or only one. The primary fireplace should be where you sit and relax with a good book in your hands and a good dog at your feet. So don't bother to put the fireplace in the dining room.

However, there is a thread on the home decorating forum that shows built-ins on either side of a fireplace, with windows above them. The built-ins are the same height as the mantel, so the windows are rather high and small, but they are there. This might work for your family room, depending on the size of your TV and whether you want the windows for view or light.

This post was edited by Chibimimi on Sat, Jul 20, 13 at 8:06

Having the home's only fireplace in a dining room would be strange. If it were a secondary space, it would still be strange, because of the amount of space that it would take up. As in, the room isn't large enough or created around having a fireplace in it. The room itself would have to be larger to accommodate the fireplace and the dining functions. And that was only if it were a secondary fireplace. As a primary, it belongs elsewhere.

I'd personally turn the way too far away dining room into the "away" cozy spot with a fireplace and a sofa, and make the odd small breakfast area into a space that could be versatile and serve as both casual and formal eating space. It would be more efficient, and you NEED a spot that isn't open to all of the noise and activity. Right now, everyone has to go to their bedrooms for that. And the breakfast area isn't the most efficient use of space as it stands.

I think that if you feel you need a fireplace for resale and don't want it in your living room, I'd look to put a small fireplace in a library or den.

I guess your dining room could flex to being a library or den, if you did put the fireplace there.

I absolutely wouldn't choose a focal point for your living room based on what you think you need for resale. Would it be an option to choose someplace where you've roughed in a ventless fireplace, so if you did choose to add one later, it wouldn't be a huge project?

By ventless do you mean the kind that vents INTO your living space?

How about making the French doors a bit smaller, and going with a corner fireplace?

Have you contacted realtors to see if it really would effect resale if you don't have a fireplace? And if it would, by how much? Compare the cost of the fireplace to the difference in resale. A small hit may be well worth it to have a floor plan that works well for your family.

so everyone seems to think a fireplace in the dining room is strange. we don't want a corner and don't wont the windows above the builtins, so we decided to not have a fireplace at all and go with the entertainment center in the middle of the den flanked by 2 windows. But now we can't find a spot to put the AC units. They will show outside the windows and there really is no other place to put them besides that wall. Ahhhhh! We solve one problem and create another.

it looks as though two ac units side by side need 8 feet. if we have an 8 foot wide entertainment unit centered on the 22 foot wall with windows on each side, then would we would see the ac units from the windows? i think we would.

Unless you go back to having shorter and higher windows, yes you will see them. Aren't you on a narrow city lot? If so do you overall have a nice view there? That is if the ac condensers weren't there. Or would some higher windows for the light they'd give you be better?

yes we are on a narrow lot. the view there isn't anything special. it's just about the light. the higher windows are more true to a craftsman style which isn't the style we are doing, so we wanting to stick with full windows. maybe windows that stop 3 feet above the floor rather than windows that stop one foot above the floor??