Love how you've personalized the dining room. It's lovely.. more importantly, the time you spend together in it is lovely. I grew up in a family where we were expected to eat dinner together IN the dining room. It became harder and harder as we got older and had work/sports schedules but it was important enough to my parents that we often ate late to accommodate schedules. There was no tv and topics HAD to be enjoyable and respectful. So many of my friends' families ate in front of the tv .. and you can be sure I grumbled about it many times.. but as an adult, I cherish those family dinners each night. it sounds like your family does too!

Now I understand where you are headed. My suggestions will not be matchy matchy and are pretty eclectic in nature. So, hopefully you will get some ideas you may not have thought about. Let's start with the DR. Drapes: I like dramatic so, if the rug has bronze that would be my first choice though there is nothing wrong with gold. I like plain simple drapes. I think drapes like blacksplashes should not be a focal point of a room when you have other beautiful things going. They should help frame the room like the color on the walls do. You may not need pinch pleated drapes. It would save you money not to have the pinch pleats. You need to decide if you want to run them from ceiling to floor or with a rod (I saw some beautiful rods at Calico Corner's. I think JCP carries Kirsch hardware also) above the window not from the ceiling. Dining table: I notice most people select wood to use with oriental rugs. I am working with a designer for my family room and breakfast nook and he just taught me a good lesson: Print rug-glass table, solid rug-wood table. He said you want to show off the beauty of the rug at all times from every direction. They do make some very large glass tables that you can use with 2 wooden pedestals for support or a great square base. If you are having a lot of guests for dinner like Christmas than you can add a folding table and use the same table cloth. This is just a suggestion. You can use wood but I always like to share new knowledge when I learn something. I still like crystal for chandeliers in dining rooms. In this case I would use crystal with some funky lamp shades to add a little fun into the room. You may find these at Home Goods or on line. I would try leopard for shades. It's hard to visualize if this will work without actually seeing it in person. Maybe someone will photoshop. Do you know the size of the table you want to use? I also think you may be able to find dining room chairs on ebay or a used furniture store that might be in decent condition or you can buy them new. Remember the chair wood does not need to match the wood of the table. There is more interest created when they don't. Here is another idea for chairs: you can used entirely different ones for the head of the table. Actually, I am pretty good at decorating eclectically. My friends are always looking for my eye. The designer I am working with always says to me "what do you need me for". Well, he is a great buffer between me and my BF whom I share my new home with. He has made my life so much more easier and is worth every penny. I am also learning alot about decorating from him.

Well I found this "down and out" mount and think it may solve my woes. I will have to deal with or patch the hole in the wall behind the tv-but I may leave a smaller opening for components and such. The house was built in 2000 and I just think that was before people started getting super large tv's, so I won't feel too bad about filling it up (having a carpenter re wall it and patch and paint, I can't see such a small space holding a tv again. Anyway here it is, it just swings up and down and out (it will clear fireplace mantles), you can also get it with a pivot head to angle it for viewing preference. It has great reviews, so I am kind of hopeful it can solve the tv issue. Oh and I would probably paint the wall bracket to match the wall so it blended in better.

Agree with MG, beautiful drawings Sena! Very creative and a lot of very thoughtful details. I do think a dining table works better with this layout and it's nice to see that getting ride of the pony wall behind the sink helps a bit with the narrowness of Morning Room. I actually already have a bench with the farmhouse table:) It lives slid under the table on the side closest to the kitchen unless in use. I also like the efficiency of this layout. With all of the options that have been discussed and drawn it's become clear that I need to prioritize my wants to help me choose. I've since found a few pictures with kitchen cabinets extending into rooms with different ceiling heights and I'm surprised I'm OK with the look. So, any thoughts on my variations above of MG's plan with either an extended or second island? This plan seems to get me the most elements I want with the sacrifice of countertop space. I was inspired by drjay71's kitchen from the Finished Kitchens Blog:http://finishedkitchens.blogspot.com/2010/06/drjay71s-kitchen.html