Why would a dining room be the wrong place for it? Isn't a dining room where families gather, where people share a meal together, share stories together, build memories together? (Well, if the wine keeps flowing, that is!) Because I live in a townhouse, I have limited wall space. But I love displaying pictures of the people I love, and I've never been one to go along with that "public spaces" rule of keeping some spaces neutral. So my photos are everywhere! (Well, not the bathrooms--I know there are some people who put vintage photos in there, but that might be the place that might freak me out!)

Styling: the furnishings, and especially the rug are leaning contemporary, as is the photograph over the sofa. The wood floors, the windows with the beautiful woodwork and the fireplace are more traditional. I'm afraid I don't see the rug as contributing anything to the room. In order to blend the contemporary elements in the furnishings and the traditional elements in the architecture, I would select a rug that is traditional oriental in style and that reinforces your color theme....that has both the dark and light elements in it. Both of those styles will blend nicely, but it has to be done with intention, and again make sure the elements are used evenly around the room. Warmth: Clearly the room needs lamps. Lighting is so essential to making a room feel warm and special. Ideally lighting should come from all levels...top, middle and bottom. When selecting lamps, be very careful to stick with the 2 styles you have going on, some more traditional (ginger jar?) some more contemporary. Think about adding an uplight in the corner, a picture light over the art on the fireplace. Also think about function....the leather chair with ottoman looks like a nice place to read by the fire, but not without lighting. Scale seems to be an issue in this room. It's mostly an issue with the accessories. You have a lovely etagere for display, but the objects on it seem too flat and small. You have a lovely round stand in the corner, but the vase on it is way too small. (Can you put the larger plant on there? An uplight on the floor behind it?) The bowl on the coffee table seems too large for the table. The wedding picture is not a good choice for the room color wise, theme wise, and it's placed too high on the wall. Also, unframed, it is too informal for the rest of the space. The picture over the fireplace is a good size, but (hard to see from the picture) the colors don't seem to reinforce a color scheme. But the pieces on either side of the picture are too small. You need something taller and more massive. Re the draperies, do you need light control? Privacy? If so then leave the blinds. Leave them down, not cranked up all the way and use the tilt to add light or not. If you don't need them and don't want them, then remove them rather than leave them pulled to the top. Because of the lovely woodwork, I would hang the drapes from substantial rods (scale is important) above the molding and have them hang in such a way that they skim the window glass and extend out 8-10" on either side of the window. The should, of course, hang to the floor. I think you've got a great space and a great start. With just a little tweak and effort, I think you can get a wow! room.

Please clarify this statement... "I like more war, colors like the beige or light tan to coordinate with each other." Also it is hard to recommend colors without some idea of the space and how the rooms relate to each other. Do you have a floor plan, sketch or pictures that you can post to help us give you ideas? Whole house open concept or 3 separate rooms with doors or clearly defined separations for different colors of paint. Also what color & type of flooring, furniture, cabinets, rugs, art etc... Without any of the above I can say I like the following colors & you might start your paint journey with:

Not understanding the "half wall" comment -- hard to give advice without knowing what the rest of the layout looks like. Right now the wall and doorways control the flow of traffic in a certain way. If/when you remove the wall, what will traffic patterns be like? Let's assume you can successfully relocate the heating and solve the flooring issue...appears that you have pretty large rooms, and will have the opportunity to arrange and rearrange until you find a furniture layout that works for the space. You might consider finding an on-line app or use a furniture store's app that allows you to put in a room's dimension and then put in furniture and move it around -- it's kind of fun.