This was so much fun and one of my favorite projects! I decided immediately that the hearth needed to go. We moved in with a 4 week old and knew it was unsafe. I didnt realize how much it would open up the space!
The door wall was caving in looking out into the lake about 8 inches rendering the doors useless, and we added a slider into the kitchen. We used that door so often! And this kept little feet off our new Chelsea Plank Flooring (sustainable eco-friendly Michigan company). We added custom Shelving to frame the only television in our 5,000 sq foot lake home. We chose a ventless gas fireplace as we changed the electric range in the kitchen to gas as well, completing our most used space into a comfy open dream space.
A job well done!