What stays, what goes?

What is the purpose of your remodel? Is it to add square footage, rearrange existing square footage, or merely make some cosmetic changes by updating materials? In this house the main rooms, the living room, family room, dining room and kitchen are all small, separate rooms that lack flow or cohesiveness. We decided that the best way to make the house feel bigger without actually adding square footage was to open these rooms up to each other and create a "great room" that would include the kitchen and eating areas and open up to the main living area. This involved removing a bearing wall and replacing the wall with a beam that is structurally capable of handling the roof load. In the pictures you can see the rooms before the wall was removed; the kitchen is small and stuck in a corner, the eating area awkward and the living room cut off from everything. Once the wall is removed the room becomes an open palate in which to organize the kitchen, eating and living areas.