Creating a "Great Room"

Our new home is quite large, but is not set up as "free flowing" as Wes and I would like. When you enter the front door there is a formal dining room to your left, a "study" (for lack of better term) to your right and the family room is straight ahead (it includes the fireplace). We would rather have a "great room" as opposed to all these smaller rooms, so we've removed the dry wall off of the study to merge it with the family room. We'll keep the formal dining room for holidays but want everything else open. The pictures of the remodel are here.

Good Night!
Sarah