[UPDATE 7.9.21]
Did some repainting of the room last weekend and things are progressing. They've also changed as certain things that were not considered before are now in play. First off, the closet space in the upper left corner cannot be closed off, so all previous benchwork ideas in that corner have been thrown out the window, so to speak. Maybe I'll have a very narrow stretch of benchwork along the closet which will lead to the 5+ foot long bridge to the other side of the room.
I know what some are saying >> go with a switching layout, but I need must have a continuous run somewhere to have trains run loops while I'm learning how to do operations. In years past when I did temporary layouts... wait a minute, all my layouts have been temporary 
) I threw in an Inglenook Sidings with a loop of track so that I could do both. The one time that I did have a switching layout only (it was HO and I think it was 2x8) in the downtown apartment I could count on both hands the amount of times that I used it.
Also, my glass display shelf (the one that I'm supposed to place those model planes and submarines once I take them out of the box and build them 
) is now in the mix. Thought is to have one of the middle 2 glass shelves removed and have that area serve as a "bridge connection" between the benchwork on either side for the trains.
Also the realization that no layout is going to get fully scenicked in 6 months and that I may very well be running a Plywood Pacific (or is it an Ash Atlantic? as I'm by the Atlantic Ocean) regardless of the ongoing struggle of whether I go with O or HO. Most important thing to me right now is just be able to run trains from a helicopter point of view, and place a structure on the table here or there as time goes by. My ceiling layout is awesome, but it got old real quick having to move furniture and go up and down a ladder everytime that I want to do something, change trains, etc. Not to mention the craning of the neck during that process. I guess its the same when folks say that having to do a "duck under" to get in/out of a standard layout gets old real quick, regardless of one's physical ability.
Somebody asked me if I wanted to do round the room shelf layout with HO on one shelf and O on the other so I get both, but I've no desire to figure out the complexities to two 5+ foot long bridges separated by 18 inches. Also, a good adage is to learn to walk before you run.
