Obsession: Breakfast Room?

We are so thrilled with the progress already on the house. Our architect is going to try to do the measurements on the house next week, and then we might have initial sketches within a few weeks! This sure beats our original assumption from talking to other architects that it would take 2+ months before someone could even start working on our plans!

It's a good thing, too, because I feel like every time we go over to the house I see something else that I want to change or that needs work. Now that the previous seller's furniture is gone you can really see the house for what it is, and some places don't look so good without the furniture-hued lipstick! Hopefully with some thoughtful planning and budget awareness we can get everything we want! With the timeline the architect has set out, we'll know pretty soon based on the preliminary pricing we'll get after his first round of drawings. Exciting stuff!

In the meantime, our latest obsession is the current laundry room area. We feel like this area and the question of where the stairs will go are the two big questions in this remodel.

When we initially went under contract on the house we assumed we would make this area bigger and turn it into a big mudroom/utility room. We brought my sister over to get her opinion of the house, and although she loved it she pointed out that there was no real connection to the backyard from the house, and no way to see the backyard from inside the house. The back of the house consists of this room and the master bedroom. 

She made a really good point, and it got us thinking about what else we could do to make the indoor/outdoor space flow a little bit better. We anticipate spending a lot of time outdoors (especially with two active kiddos) and we don't like the idea of having to walk through the laundry room or taking guests through our bedroom to get back there. 

So, the wheels started turning. After obsessing about it for a while, I think I had a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself. What if we expanded the current "laundry room" and turned it into a breakfast nook with a door to the outside?! That way we could borrow some of that space for the kitchen, put in some cabinets with doors for purses and backbacks etc. and a pantry, and then have windows and a door to the backyard. If we do something along these lines, I could be cooking in the kitchen and easily be able to peek out at the kids playing in the yard. I'm guessing this room, with a door to the backyard/porch and possibly a door to the driveway, would probably be my main entrance to the house with the kids. 

Here are some inspiration photos. We probably wouldn't do a built-in bench, but you get the idea. Small breakfast room, small round table, built in cabinets, lots of light:

Built-in inspiration. I'm guessing we would put the pantry in there for food, some kind of storage for jackets and backpacks etc. and hopefully general storage for crafts and other miscellaneous items.