Jane, Christine and I have been living in the house my parents built in the early 70's (when I was in high school), for the last 12 years. As is typical of a lot of 60's - 70's houses, it has a very boxy floor plan for the living area: a box for the family room, a box for the kitchen, a box for the dining room and a box for the living room.
The kitchen and dining rooms are approximately 11 x 12 - not big, by any account. When Jane is in the kitchen, there's hardly any room for anyone else in there - and she's cut off from whatever else is going on. When we have guests over, we generally end up standing in the two doorways to visit with her while she cooks. Let's just say it's not optimal.
It looks like this today:
