Mike and Dave,
Having taken your advice into consideration, I came up with new L shaped layout plan attached below. I feel that it offers a bit more breathing room for scenery and some longer mainline runs than before. I did realize that the yard was not worth the space on a layout this small for O-Scale trains, so I got rid of it. I simply added on an 8' square portion to complete the L shape to extend on mainline and to have the double reversing loop function. Also, I'll able to walk around the entire table in the space that this would fit, which is a plus.