The dilemma

I know I have too many house projects rolling around in my head at any one time.
But we are at a point right now where we can tackle one of them.
Just one.
If I had to pick a project based on life improvement or how much I want it done, I would definitely choose between getting a new bathroom vanity or fixing the laundry room.
However, the thing that drives Frank the most nuts for some reason is the living room/dining room carpet.  It is disgusting, for sure: totally stained and nasty looking.  But its not one of the areas in our house where we spend a lot of time so it's not really on the top of my list. I use the bathroom and laundry room every single day!
Anyway, Frank has been lobbying to get new carpet in the front room pretty much since we moved in. I have refused to spend money on that because I don't want carpet at all!  I want hard wood floors someday so I'd rather save that money and put it towards the hard woods. So now he is saying we could just put the floors in the front part of the house as our next project.

Here's where it gets tricky.

We definitely could do that plan. Put hard wood floors just in the living room and dining room. We would do the entryway later when we do the rest of the house. The living room is a sunken living room so it has a natural separation.
The dining room, however, is a tiny little room off of the living room. Big enough for a small round table and 4 chairs but that's it.  I don't even think its fair to call it a dining room.
We have used it as a game room where we play cards.
The previous owners used it as an office but I wasn't all that excited to have an office space that was the first thing you see when entering the house.
It's a cute little room, if not that useful anymore, now that it's just Frank and I the majority of the time.

Here is a bad picture showing the location of the dining room in question. I didn't turn the lights on at the time so it's the dark space back there on the right.

Here we are playing cards back in the good ol' days.

Lately my brain has been thinking that maybe we should just wall this room off and make it into a big pantry. I could bring in my deep freezer out of the garage (more room for parking and easier access to food) and move all of the various bulky kitchen appliances into this little room. My current kitchen cabinets  don't really have space for the various  things like mixer, crock pot, instant pot, electric griddle etc that one has in a kitchen so they are currently being stored in a closet in my laundry room. Thus contributing to the laundry room issues.  I would have plenty of space for any dry good, canned good and whatnot as well.  It would be a huge pantry though it's a small dining room.

What I wouldn't have is a dining room/game room.
I also wouldn't have a direct connection from the kitchen to the front of the house. We can currently walk through a door from the kitchen into the dining room/living room. The living room would become a completely separate space.

If I were going to put the house up for sale I would leave it as is. But this is not a "resale value" decision for me. I plan to stay here long term.

Still, I don't know what to do!

If I am going to eventually make a pantry, it makes sense to do it now before putting in hard wood floors. I certainly don't need hard wood floors in my pantry.

So, basically, I am taking what Frank considers a simple project (have someone come install floors in 2 rooms) and making it a big construction project (install a wall, possibly move some doors, put in shelving etc).

Nothing is simple when I'm involved.

And I still don't even know if I should do it!  Help!