The rug is too small--it is smaller than your table. Quite a bit of it will be covered by the base and people won't be able to see much of it. Even a 5' x 8' rug might not be large enough--I've sat at more than one dining table perched on a 5' x 8' rug and the back legs of the chair weren't on the rug. If you want to add color to your dining room, can you return the rug and use the money to buy some artwork for the walls? Do you have curtains in the room? Or how about a tablecloth? Or some plants?

Three feet is generous; two and a half feet is enough... she is right about not catching the chairs on the rug when you pull them out to sit in them... BUT that's 2.5 feet on every side. So you have to double that, and add it to the dimensions of your table. SO... add 5 feet to 4 X 8, and you get 9 X 13...and if you fudge it a bit at the ends, which you can do, 9 X 12 is the right size. Some rugs are not exact, and if you find one that is 9 X 12.5, so much the better.

When you say the rug in the living area is going away, do you mean the w/w carpet is going to be taken away everywhere we see it in the picture? Is there hardwood under the carpet or what will be there? Leaving about a foot of space between an area rug and the wall is a good look. I prefer big rugs in big spaces, especially under a dining table. Too small, and with a table and chairs on top, it looks odd to me. I have a LR and DR spaced somewhat like yours. I have two oriental rugs that complement each other, but they don't match. The space between the rugs is large enough that each (and the room furniture) defines its own area. But if you had two great rugs that matched, I think that would be fine, too. Any links to show us? How about a floor plan to visualize the floor space better?

You absolutely need an area rug. Keep the pattern to a minimum, but get something with the slightest bit of the blue wall color, otherwise that wall color makes no sense. Then I would remove those drapery panels, they don't match and they just look messy. I would remove those 4 framed pieces of art, I would not hang art there, there's not enough room and it's not needed with the window, just let the window be the star of that wall. I would stain that sideboard piece a darker color, it looks too dated in the light wood color it is now. And then you need some large art on the walls, again try to pull in the tiniest bit of that blue wall color, you need to continue to try and make that color more a part of the room instead of standing alone on the walls. And then decorate the top of the sideboard and the dining table.