I just purchased a dining room set from saloom. i heard of this company through this site. they do not do a lot of marketing, guess that is the reason i never heard of them. i went to see the table and chairs at a high end decorating center. i really loved the quality of the furniture. it is made in the u.s and the company has a good reputation. from what i've read and from calling to get prices from different places i have not heard anything bad. i purches the new castle line. it is one of their newest editions. you might want to check them out. i was looking for dining room furniture for the longest time and then fell in love with this. good luck.

We have a Stanley dining room set - about 6 years old now. I am not that impressed with it - it's cherry - scratched very easy compared to cherry furniture I have from other manufacturers in the house. You can see where my cats (much to my chagrin) have jumped up on the surface - back claw marks. It's okay for our purposes - hardy ever use the dining room anyway - but I wouldn't consider it for a room that was very special to me. But it's all relative. I'm sure better quality than pottery barn, etc.

Your request for help is quite broad and without a lot of specifics. That makes it hard to answer. I'd suggest breaking it down for yourself and for us like this: 1) Before you start choosing finishes, you'll want to solidify your kitchen and likely furniture layout/orientation. You'll get the most help with that if you post a current floor plan of this entire floor drawn to scale with measurements noted on. Your architect might already have a floor plan you can share here, or you could make one with a tape measure and some graph paper. Generally a 1 square = 1 foot or 1 square = 6 inches is a good, usable scale. Please indicate on the plan which sections of which walls are coming down and any other features (good/bad views out certain windows, fireplace, ducting that can't be moved, etc.). Also note anything you'd particularly like to achieve layout-wise (e.g., an island, a view from the island to the TV, etc.). Post that and and people will have enough information to make helpful suggestions. 2) While you're fielding suggestions about your layout, sift through Houzz and Pinterest to find some inspiration pictures you like. Look for rooms that really sing to you and have the kind of appearance or feel you really enjoy in a home and want to achieve here. Once you have found, say, six or more pictures like that, post all of them together on here and ask people to help you review the images and figure out what the commonalities between the pictures are. This will help you identify what specific things you really respond to so you can include those deliberately in your new spaces. 3) After you can articulate what it is your really like and want to bring to this space, THEN repost this question about colors choices and finishes with that information. Provide your final floor plan (the result of #1), explain what specific finishes you like or what you're specifically trying to achieve through finishes (the result of #2), and then ask us how we'd achieve those stylistic preferences in this space that you have planned. You'll get MUCH more targeted, helpful help. Only then will people understand your taste and the space that we've got to work with. THEN they can say helpful things like, "You might like X paint on Y surface with Q backsplash, plus maybe G feature on M wall? That takes advantage of your space for K reasons while adhering to your taste." Also, some side notes: a) I think you'll have an easier time balancing the dining set with styles you prefer if you break up the set across several different rooms. Use the table in the office, the chairs in the dining room, and the hutch in the kitchen or whatever. With all three - the hutch, table, and chairs - together in the dining room (and being the only furniture in that room), the country note you don't seem to be a fan of will inevitably dominate that room. b) I disagree with Sophie that it makes sense to hire an interior designer at this time. When you bring in a professional, you want to have some idea of what you're asking them for. Something you want them to help you achieve. I don't think you have that yet, and free discussion here is a good way to pin down your own thoughts a bit more. c) I don't think whoever said this looked like an inexpensive house meant it in a denigrating way. You mentioned several very large ticket items (kitchen reno and opening up two separate stories of your house), and I think she/he was simply trying to make sure you're not putting more into the house than you can get back when you sell. That can be devastating. But in case that made you feel weird about having posted, rest assured that people post on here with every single kind of house. Is this the grandest house we've ever seen? No. Is it the humblest? Also no. But no one cares. We're all just here because we like improving homes. The starting point really doesn't matter.

Once you have furniture in your space the chair rail will not be noticed on that side. It will not be the focal point. Your furnishings and artwork will be what people will see. Also, spaces that are completely balanced are not nearly as interesting as having a little asymmetry here and there imo.