Something with a light blue shade would be nice. The combo color of chocolate and blues are very popular right now. Check out this website to get some ideas:

http://www.thechocolateblues.com/2007_08_31_archive.html

I have no ideas, but your rooms are lovely...maybe Les will come along...she always has so many good ideas!
Good luck and blessings to you!

Right off, the dining room picture looks too small and dark. The balance with the opposite window wall doesn't work. Perhaps consider a larger brighter picture. Yes your mirrored china hutch would have worked perfectly. Your furniture is just beautiful!

Maybe I missed something - but why is there not enough room for the hutch? Can the shelf on the wall be removed? I think ithe hutch would be perfect there. Could you have a carpenter remove it? I love your "Last Supper" tapestry,but it looks lonely on that big wall. The cross platters could be hung on either side of the hutch if you can remove the shelf.

The problem I have with the hutch is that the room isn't wide enough. The light fixture is centered above the table in the middle of the room. If I add the hutch to the room, there isn't enough room to get into the chairs on that side of the table.

The original idea when we bought the cross plates was to hang them on the wall, but they are so heavy that we didn't know how to hang them, so we put the shelf up.

Seeing it in pictures up here really does let you see things that you don't see in person dosn't it?

You need brighter art on the brown wall, something that makes a statement. Or maybe replace the tapestry with a mirror. I would also shorten the table. Can you remove one of the inserts? I would get a loveseat placed by the window and then two wing chairs (angled) with their backs to the area of the column. Also possible a small table on the stairs wall. I LOVE your DR set!

I just thought of something, I know it's not the way it was meant to be but would it be totally wrong to switch the LR and DR. Flip-flop. Put the table in front of the hutch and then buy some LR furniture to put where the table is now. My sister has a similar layout and she has it all as LR (seperate seating areas).

Having the hutch in the adjacent room is fine. If you want it to look less like a china cabinet, put accessories other than dishes in it.

As for the dining room, if you don't object to area rugs on top of carpet, I think a darker colored area rug would look nice under the dining room table.

If you want to keep the tapestry arrangement on that wall, consider lowering it so that the top of the tapestry(not the rod)is the same height as the tops pictures in the front room. However, I think that the tapestry is too small for that space. Can you have it mounted, matted and framed?

Your dining room furniture and color choices are beautiful.

Oooooh love that brown wall!

Beautiful furniture. Although the chaise is very pretty, it reads very bedroomy and kinda lonely(particularly in that bright red color that seems to be competing with your chocolate brown dining room). The chaise by its lonesome leaves no comfortable seating for a conversation, and there are no books in the room and no little lamp table to set a book and a drink on, so the chaise doesn't look like a cozy reading spot, either.

Do you have a chair or something in the bedroom that you could swap with the chaise? Since you want to keep it formal, it seems like it would be best to have a loveseat or small sofa, and two smaller arm or slipper chairs, a coffee table and a little table to go in between the chairs. Use the hutch to center the seating arrangement (almost like a fireplace), but switch out the display items so that they are more reading room and less dining room -- add books, photos, non-crystal knick knacks or collectibles and take away the china. Then add a small glass corner cab in the dining room to display the pretty crystal and china.

Adding some dark contrast to a lower eye level might give the room more "life". Would you consider recovering the chair seats to bring in more colors?

I agree the tapestry is nice, but not there. I picture something large, more colorful with a wide mat and a thick ornate frame. And it needs to be hung lower.

Here is a link that might be useful: fabric

You have a beautiful dining room suit that looks like it needs to be together. I understand what you said about the light fixture is centered over the table.....I would see if an electrician can move the light fixture over so you can get the hutch back in the dining room. You can add a medalion to cover up the old hole in the ceiling. Or flip flop the rooms and have an electrician add a light fixture to the living room so you could make it a dining room. They can easily cap the existing area so it can be converted back in the future. I love the tapistry but not where it is. Its too high and is too small for the space. What about the stairway wall? The red chair is very nice, it looks lost...that room just needs more seating, which is difficult to accomplish with the hutch. I like the fireplace idea.

Minniemom, did you look at the Entry, Living Rooms, and Dining Rooms thread in the Gallery for inspiration? That's what I would do if that were my space.