I actually like your chandelier! Get rid of the wallpaper below the chair rail and paint the walls all the same color. Cloth off of the table. A nice centerpiece. Get the lounge chairs out of the dining room - they don't belong there. Then start working on some art for the walls.

You might want to browse through online furniture sites and see what sort of styles you like--traditional, contemporary, etc. If you like wood, what sort of wood do you like--light, dark, cherry? Once you have that out of the way, you can build everything around that. I think fresh paint will make a world of difference. Years ago I bought a condo that had wallpaper everywhere, and I discovered that if I took scalding hot water and used a mop to mop the walls (wearing gloves), it came up pretty easily. Those round scorers are useless to me. Sometimes there was another (surprise) layer of wallpaper under existing wallpaper. I have a small hutch in my dining room because I, too, have a lot of china and glassware. It matters not to me if people think the hutch is trendy or not--it serves a purpose for me and keeps things nice and orderly.

What style furniture do you think you'll purchase and what is your budget? There are some updated hutches out there as well.

Yes, paint the bottom of your wall the same as your walls or white like the living room. Do you have a leaf in your table? Take it out..table is too long. I see you have four tall back chairs and two low back chairs....will the low back chairs fit on the wall beside the desk? Get some chair cushions of a color you like, maybe the same accent color you have in your living room. A pretty centerpiece with the accent color of your chair cushions. I like the chandelier but I would put white shades or no shades on it, and seems a little high, but maybe not.....I guess it all depends on if your table has a leaf in it or not. When you get new paint, I think your hutch will be fine.

A corner cabinet would fill that short wall nicely. I see the living room drapes could use a rescue.

I suggest buying at least one large console or china cabinet to store your china in. Like you, I have a lot of china and other vintage glass pieces. I'm lucky enough to have two built in corner china cabinets in my dining room. I suggest what others above me already have--figure out what style of furniture you love and go with that style. I also love the paint suggestions that have already been mentioned. We unfortunately had wall paper and chair railing in our last house. I do not have that in my current house. I painted my dining room to match my china, which is blue and white, and I love it.

Don't know the size of your room but it looks like you can have a china cupboard and a buffet. The china cupboard on the short wall where I guess you call a dry sink and the buffet on the long wall. I like 4 ft between a table and furniture or wall. It gives you room to sit and still have room for other people to walk past without squeezing. A hutch is for a kitchen not a dining room. A dining room is more formal. Take yourself to a furniture store and see what you love. Once you found your furniture then get the chandelier and accessories. I would also take down the wallpaper and paint. It is lovely to see a formal dining room instead of an open concept eat in kitchen.

China cabinets are not OUT. Having china/crystal is not currently the norm. If you have some, if you are a person who like dishes then you NEED a place for them!! You have the space so a china cabinet would be EXPECTED. I would remove the shades on this chandelier and see what you have before deciding if you can work with it.

These are all great ideas and my comment is get the china , put it in the kitchen and use it. It actually gets more fragile every day it sits in a cabinet it needs water . I had an English aunt who years ago told me this and I have Wedgewood i was saving for some mysterious event and I started using it all the time in 40 yrs. I have broken one cup and I enjoy all my china and crystal all the time . If you don’t use it sell it why make space for something you never use.

Thanks for all the input! I love the idea of putting the China in the kitchen! Unfortunately I'm out of space! I think if I keep it in a hutch or some sort of shelf I will actually use it so I don't want to store it away!

im definitely going to paint. I currently have just an old Formica table hiding under the cloth with all the mismatched chairs so I'm planning on getting a new table....is it typical to get a matching hutch? Any other suggestions on placement of furniture? Is better to put hutch on short wall and buffet table on long wall? If I keep my existing hutch it's pretty petite.

Today's young people are no longer interested in china, so if you have some you're saving to pass on, rethink it and start enjoying it yourself. I know people who are even putting it in the dishwasher now because they're not expecting it to last to a generation who'll just sell it on ebay.

What are the dimensions of the room? How many do you need to seat on a regular basis and on special occasions? Can you draw a floor plan with measurements including door openings and windows? What is your budget for new furniture, art, chandelier, rug, etc? What is the style of the furniture in the rest of the house? Have you gone through pictures here on Houzz to get an idea of what you like in a dining room? Add some to your ideabook so we can help give you ideas of what might work.

I have China that I started buying during my first job after high school 45 years ago! We use it several times a year and we do wash it in the dishwasher, on a China setting or if your dishwasher does not have one, just use a regular, non pot scrubbing setting. I still have all my china!