Floor: You can probably get a large bound carpet remnant that will go almost wall to wall for $100-$200. That would be the cheapest way to temporarily hid the floor...if the hardwood is THAT bad.
Windows: I think it would look nice to do them all in the bamboo shades you have in the LR.
Fan Light: It takes five minutes to change the light kit. So easy and inexpensive. A chandelier would look better there though.

I agree you have two different styles going on there, lol. I guess you have to commit to one style or put a little of each in each room? I look forward to hearing how others tell you to go about doing this!

If you don't mind elbow grease, try Wood Preen. It will clean years of gunk off the floors and give a nice shine.

IMO the best way to 'marry' the spaces is with color and a red area rug the same color as your LR one would be perfect. Since you are trying to be frugal I was going to suggest finding an end-of-the-roll carpet and having it bound. However it might be really difficult, if not impossible, to find the same color so I'm wondering if the budget would extend to buying another rug the same as your LR one, which looks very nice BTW.

Do you have more of the red fabric that's on the DR window? You could make a pull blind with it which doesn't take much fabric. Window film would work for privacy and still let light thru but that's not very decorative. Ideally all the windows would have the same blinds - is that in the budget?

I'd like to see more red decorative accents, perhaps a tablecloth or placemats, bowl of red apples on the credenza, table, or trunk/coffee table, red cushions on the sofas, red vase on the mantel, art on the wall with red accents. A few of these but not too many. Would your kids create some art which you could frame with thrift store frames (maybe paint the frames red or black)?

Re: old, dirty-looking hardwood floors - there are special cleaners available as some old floors have paste wax with imbedded dirt and to get really clean the old wax needs to be removed. If your floors are varnished or varathaned there are special cleaners for that also.

I know nothing about ceiling fans as we don't need them here and I've never had one. However if the budget is tight it's something that can be ignored. You are not trying to remake your house into something it's not and original fixtures are not shameful and it kinda blends into the ceiling.

Have you considered painting the walls a darker color, maybe a khaki, brown paper bag color, or some neutral color that's in the rug? Something that blends with the color of the blinds.

Try the flooring forum for how to on revitalizing your floor.

I agree with the red accent comments to marry the two spaces. I like the paint idea above. it will warm up the space. I think the fan blends into the ceiling. Sometimes you can get a newer one on CL for cheap. I think it is possible to paint them, although I have never tried.

Some red lamps with white shades to bring in your slipcover color on the credenza would be nice.

Thank you for the suggestions!!

I want to keep the wall colour the same or even white - I'm trying to get an airy yet cozy feel to the space. I guess I suffer from can't-make-up-my-mindness.

The red is more of a coral colour too - a little orange-y - which I do love and should try to incorporate more of that in the space.

The floor needs to be refinished, especially in the dining area - not just cleaned with a good cleanser! What kind of carpet material do you think would be good? In my mind I'd like a seagrass or jute rug, but I don't know what the cleanability factor of that is with 2 kids and a dog around. Would an indoor/outdoor carpet be too rough on the feet? We go shoeless in the house. Also, shape? On a daily basis, the table is round, but when we have guests over, we can extend it into an oblong shape. So, what kind or shape and size of rug would work in both cases or at least not look entirely bad with the table extended? I think the table is about 51" in diameter and up to about 90" fully extended.

We have a dog too, and wanted a long-suffering rug. We bought a sisal (or sisal-like?) rug at Home Depot for about $150. We've had it for a year and I'm happy with it; it doesn't hold a lot of dog hair and any stains come off with a spot-stain treatment. It is not plush underfoot, but it's not uncomfortable by any means.

Love your living room, by the way.

To find the size of DR rug that's best just pull out all the chairs as if you were going to sit down and then measure. Rug should be large enough that all chair legs are still on the rug when chairs pulled out. Otherwise chair legs will get caught in the rug and wear the rug and cause problems.

FLOOR - bound carpet remnant. I just bought one yesterday for my eat-in kitchen. It's about 6x8 and I paid $24 for it. I really want a seagrass mat in there, but it's under our everyday table and I have a 3 y/o... 'nough said. I also have bound carpet in our temporary home office, 10x12 and I paid $82 for it. Go to the big hardware store, most have bound remnants in their rug section. It's WAY cheaper than buying a scrap and having it bound. (Big one is from Lowe's, small one is from Menard's.)

WINDOWS: My first choice would be a single bamboo shade for the window, same material as the ones in the family room. If you have acess to more red fabric you can make panels to flank the shade. Or you can repurpose the fabric into a patched table runner or placemats or something so you can keep it in the room. My personal preference is all blinds in an open area are contiguous. Same with panels, tho.

FAN: I'd go with a chandelier to replace the ceiling fan IF you could center the table under it. (The table looks like it's to the right). Then I'd get an old table top fan and use when a fan was needed. Maybe something like this (I bought the one pictured, or something identical, on clearance for $8 so if you watch, they can be had on tight budgets):

OK I previewed so now I can't go back to your pic and suggest a place/foundation for the fan, but... I grew up in a house that had two ceiling fans in the eat-in kitchen -- don't ask me why -- and always hated it so it's easy for me to suggest getting rid of it. :)

Thank you again for the suggestions!

We bought the LR rug @ TJMaxx last year so I don't think I'll be able to find one like it again, unfortunately. I do love it though. I had bought a really dark burgundy oriental rug at first and it looked horribly dark and depressing so back it went. What do the remnant rugs @ Lowe's or Home Depot look like?

Could you try the red rug in the dining room and get a sisal for the living room?

I like your style. Good thing since it's pretty much my own, although opportunistic purchasing perambulations tend to produce some very different versions. :)

My first and second thoughts are that your living room looks great and that I just want to throw in with others that a coordinating rug will pretty much do the trick, another pattern with a lot of the same red to unite the two spaces, the same size as the other or larger as needed.

I'm loving your MCM furniture! Personally, I would try to bring in some more MCM furniture into the living room: coffee table, storage piece where the black chest of drawers is, tv stand, maybe a chair by the fireplace. I would keep my eyes out for MCM furniture on Craigslist and local classifieds.

I also agree that a coordinating red rug under the dining room table would help cover the floors and tie the spaces together.

I think you've got a nice eclectic thing going on there. But as the others said, try to get a bit more of the MCM in the living room to tie it all together.

If you can live without the ceiling fan, I'd get rid of it and replace it with a hanging fixture with a drum shade. And you can swag it if it needs to be a bit off center. Drum shades look great in MCM or eclectic interiors.

Have you considered carpet squares of the dining room? You might be able to put together a design that draws from the colors of the LR rug but in a different design.

I would also bring matching bamboo shades into the dining room.

As for the floor by the door, is the linoleum installed on top f the wooden floor? If so, have you tried to peel up a corner and look underneath? You might be able to just pull it all up and then touch up and clean. Then just put down a little plain rug.

First thing I thought of when I saw the pic into the dining area was something long and with a cordinating color on each side of the entry way into the kitchen Maybe something like a couple ladder shelves or long painted beachy looking shutters. Change the fan to a nice hanging lamp for sure (IMO fans don't belong over dining tables)matching window treatments for the door and window and than look for a rug to bring it all together.

You have a little gem!

Regarding DR rug size, in addition to ensuring the chairs stay on the rug when pulled out from the table, you'll have to consider where the rug hits relative to the sideboard.

I love the MCM DR, but I also really like the "hand-me-down/thrift-store/yard-sale/recycling center/half-finished-slipcovered variety" decor of the LR. It's very cozy and inviting. I think bringing the LR-type window treatment and floor covering into the DR may help with cohesiveness without changing furnishings in LR.

Do not love ceiling fans and agree that a chandelier in DR would be more pleasing.

HTH!

Thank you! It's good to get feedback on what's going on!

I do love my dining set too - I got it on Craigslist for a steal, but I do need to find a good tablecloth to protect it from 7 and 11 year old art activities.

So, this is what I'm hoping to do in the near future based on the suggestions here:

1) add more red/coral accents
2) check under the vinyl flooring by the door for hardwood (crossing fingers)
3) find a stylish, inexpensive, sturdy and practical rug for the DR - I don't want to switch the LR rug to the DR because it's wool and I'm afraid that it wouldn't fare well with my 7 year old who still eats like a wild animal at times. Maybe FLOR tiles?
4) convince DH to get another blind for the DR window or at least cut down the 2 blinds we have from another space to fit this window)
5) consider making some kind of pull-shade for the windowed door
6) hope for more serendipitous MCM finds to add to the LR area
7)work on DH to get rid of the ceiling fan (I think it's in the wrong spot too. of all places to put one!) and get a pendant light of some kind - thinking more along the lines of a drum shade. I like the idea of swagging it because to put the table back in the center of the room won't work with the credenza that's there now.

Thanks again!!