I disagree but thanks anyway.

I think I would have kept the underside of the "arch" the same color as the foyer. To me, the blue on it creates too much of a harsh stripe.

What "several schemes"?

I see a stair with no runner, some white walls in a foyer.

You have a living room, a kitchen, a family room?

There's no way to answer a question that has no context whatsoever, as the "flow " ? Implies other rooms, not just a hallway.

We've no idea what you like, beyond the room you just painted. While you may love the wall color? The room lacks life. The chairs are too dark for the walls, the curtains are not doing anything for the space. It is so dim I can't see the rug if there is one. It is not yet inviting......: )

Thank you,Chispa. As I look at this combination on a daily, the living room feels too cool compared to the opposite cream walls

I had an idea to paint an accent wall up the chairs or the foyer the same color as the dining room to tie them together.

I like the dark walls in the dining room, but then would lighten it up with the rug and the drapes. I'd also add a lot of lighting...like a credenza on the wall to the left with lamps on top and some artwork with white in it. Think about brightening up what's on the table top too instead of what blends in now.

What I think you're looking for is what Christopher Lowell used to call "cross pollinization". So the color in one room appears in the next room and so on. My DR is open to my library which has a big opening to the foyer. So the wall color in the DR is also on the ceiling in the library and the wall color in the library is on the ceiling in the foyer, so it all becomes cohesive. You can do this too with fabrics and accessories so, eg, the drapes on the stairs can incorporate the white and the dark blue, or add a runner to the stair or a very large blue and white chinnoiserie style vase by the stair. Think about artwork on the walls too as a way of bringing colors from one space to the next.

Well Jan, maybe I do not have a scheme at all- I should probaly take that out of the post then. I’m simply trying to make my home look cohesive. Yes there’s a living room, a kitchen, and dining room- what do you mean by that? It‘s not an open concept.

What "different schemes" are you talking about? You showed hallways twice but no living room. Impossible to really help you without more photos showing all the "different schemes" and how they are laid out. Also, just do a simple drawing of the spaces with some rough measurements.

I agree with @chispa - you like your dining room, so now you need to pull those colors thoughtfully into the other spaces to create some connection- if it were me, I would first do dramatic curtains on the stairs and a rug in the entryway

I have always liked this J Adler Ruggable

https://ruggable.com/products/jonathan-adler-inkdrop-lapis-blue-rug?size=6x9&system=rug-sys

CeeBee, some people on here have a certain "tone" to their writing that is a bit harsh. If you hang around and read other posts, you will see that that is their "style" and not something personal against you. Stick around and you will get lots of help and ideas. Happy Saturday!

Yes, it’s far too early in the day to seem so pinched about someone else dilemma. Have a lovely day.

I'm not pinched.: )

Making a home feel connected, or "cross pollenated " which is a good term?

I understand the rooms are not totally open- but colors, and feeling to the space carries the thing you are asking which is the flow.

Your pictures don't inform much but wall color. Walls are ONE piece of a total scheme or feel to a home.

I see part of a living room, with a big reclining sofa blocking a fire view. ...I don't see the rest, and perhaps? The color on the walls may be a secondary problem.

I can't help if you don't love the answer - it isn't pinched, or angry.

Information begets help. Pictures, a drawing of the space, you want anyone helping to be IN the space from a thousand miles away. You can do that or not -your choice.

We could not go any wider with the rods due to the walls. I could pull them out wider in the center but I didnt think that would work.

People here volunteering to help connect your rooms in their free time at no cost can’t do so if you don't post more pictures of your other rooms. you have a very dark room with dark furniture and dark (disparate?) drapes and (and very little lighting or windows) and a bad carpet that doesn’t go with anything in one room. but we can’t see enough of your other rooms. Also the room is so dark it cant even be photographed.

Jan, I have large family portraits hanging on my walls, that I try not post on social. They’re done in metals, wood, and canvas. I also have more waiting to be hung up, as well as a beautiful 2X2 copper piece of Art. I love mixing metals. No, the recliner is not my favorite peice of furniture, as it was a compromise between my husband and I. We've had our home 4 years this month-a 3 bedroom colonial with 2 littles and 2 dogs. I consider my style to be transitional.

I like both the chairs and the curtains since they share the same color and texture. Ths issue for me is the dining room and foyer/hall/stairway. Excuse my ignorance but ImI’m aware that creating a home with the right elements takes time, knowledge, and $$$. Im here for knowledge from experienced ones. 🙂

JennZ, this room gets lots of light- there's a back door that I plan to change to have glass to allow more light in. The curtains look fine to me- they add contrast to the walls which I can appreciate. I thought this forum would be great to discuss this sort of thing, shall I be grateful to face insults at the top of the morning under the guise of help? Calling someone's home a dungeon? Come on now.

In the end, all that matters is that YOU like it, that it looks good to YOU. But... you have to understand that the pros know how to make a house look cohesive (what you want) and what colors, styles, etc. look good to the majority of people even if their style is different, but it looks right to the eye. Yes, designers have their own likes and dislikes that sometimes affects the design, but for the most part, they give the client what they want if you listen to them.

Dungeon might not have been a kind way of saying the room looks dark, but unless you commit to bringing dark paint, etc. into other rooms in your house, it will be the odd man out. And if you do bring in dark to the other areas, you need to add either another color/wood to avoid a harsh contrast.

Your entry and living room say to me, light, airy, traditional not dark and moody. Now, you can have a room or rooms that stray from the rest, but don't expect cohesion (unless skillfully done). Think of what you want to FEEL from your home. Light and airy, dark and moody, something in between? I think you could achieve something in between by toning down the dining room paint.

For the dining room to look good to ME , if staying dark, it needs a better tablescape, art on the walls, new rug, door and trim painted dark, arch, white, and if you want to go all out, paint the ceiling and medallion dark.

I generally think that a room with a lot of natural light needs lighter paint.

Now, this is only my opinion but the shower curtain drapes belong in a contemporary setting although I wish this trend would just fade into the sunset. With your traditional coving, which is beautiful, and tradition fireplace/windows, ring drapes, or pinch pleats would be more, um, cohesive.

In closing, if you want to keep the dining room dark, and want to bring in some dark to the rest of the house, I would paint the living room white, fireplace matel dark and darker art over it, drapes white with dark trim, entry, stair facings dark or dark runner up the stair, something darker on the wall instead of the mirror or dark framed mirror, and maybe an iron table in the niche area. I would sheetrock the shelves in.

I know it's hard to not pay attention to the tone of some posts, and you may not agree with the opinion of some posters, but try to get past the tone and opinion, because you might get some valuable advice. And if you don't agree, then don't do it.

The end.

One more thing, you might hate me for saying, your dining table is country farmhouse cottage, which could go with your traditional home, but doesn't go with the rest of the room, which is moody glam. Now, you may like it, you may like the combo, but probably if you saw an appropriately style table, you would see the difference and understand. But as I said, YOU are the only one who needs to like it. Sorry for the length of my post, I cannot stop my fingers today!!

Taking…notes… Thank you, all.

I agree with others suggesting pulling the colors around. Pull the dark blue of the dining room to the foyer by taking the rug currently under the table and putting it in the foyer. Take down the medium blue drapes in the dining room and replace with the light and bright whites of the foyer and living room- allow the light in to show that nice deep blue off. Yes, having shades can be good, but shades and the medium blue curtians blocking more of the light isn't doing right by that wall color. Perhaps take a lighter tone of the dining room blue and play the risers of your stairs up with it.

I havent seen any suggestions on painting the foyer or creating an accent wall, would that be too much?

I'm certain someone may love to answer.........but all we can see of the adjacent living room is the back of a reclining sofa.

Note:

Ninety percent of the entire planet is too self absorbed to identify family pictures on a wall:)

If you invited a designer into your home, they would see all of it.

Asking us to help WITHOUT seeing more is like inviting us in with eye shades!

You want an example of how a home may flow.

Here is one.

Much began from a single piece of art...with a mottled deep bottle green back drop

Green went into the foyer... a little brighter, a great background for many collected and timeworn rugs, and also a large art collection

Living room

The chairs are a deep pine green......

Traditions refined · More Info

Dining room

Traditions refined · More Info

A deep shade of green grass cloth is above the wainscoting

The woven shades, the soft white linen curtain panels are the same in both adjoining spaces.

Traditions refined · More Info

The family room has a bare dollop of an olive green on an heirloom mid century chair.

shades? Same as the other end of the house no curtains. Same wall color as living room. Warmth of the dining room rug repeated in leather chairs, the natural sisal rug

Is this your house? Of course not. It belongs to just one client. Their art, their rugs. Their home, and things they love,; much owned long before I set a foot in the door.

Pick one wonderful to you thing ,,,,,and then use it:) like a yellow brick road , a road map of sorts but with side trips.

No designer tells a client what to love, the client tell the DESIGNER. The designer is just the travel agent, responsible for taking that client,,,where they want to go, and better than if they went alone. With more fun, less stress.

begin somewhere ( in this case it was the living room )

Traditions refined · More Info

Carry the feel, some color, some unity as well.

Traditions refined · More Info

Traditions refined · More Info

There's a sage green island in the kitchen.....

I don't think you need to change the foyer color. The white is nice there. Just pull in some of the dining room blues. Since the dining room is bold, it is like an accent wall, it's the statement point among the three rooms. Since your living room is in sort of a between light and dark and looks like grey?, you can use accents in the blues and whites, spread that grey out as accents into the foyer and dining room. It looks like the shades between the dining room and living room might be the same color and just look different because of the wall colors.

This is an example of how you bring colors from one room into the next and make things feel cohesive.

Whole Home Color Palette and Accent Color · More Info

Here is an example where they used white walls, but brought colors from both the living room and the bedroom into the dining room - using the dining room to transition from one color to the other

Here are two less obvious color palettes, but still chosen to feel cohesive

the orange and blue tones are repeated everywhere but the office, but that is still a color that works really well with the orange and blue tones.

This home the teal and bits of yellow are in most rooms except the dining room, which has chairs that match the wall in the foyer.

How you make yours cohesive is to decide on your color, your neutral and your white and repeat those colors in different combinations and amounts in each room.

whats going on here? why the peeling paint on the risers and newel post?

If you like the dark color, try painting the risers the same dark blue.. Lose the heavy drapery, paint the walls a fresh white, bring in a little table, maybe a hide rug, and a nice chandelier for that foyer ceiling.

Best I could do w/the photo given. I'd take down that mirror and do some nice artwork.

Paint it the same pale blue if you like, but do the dark navy or even black on the stair elements.

you can do a single hide rug, or layer this over a sisal or jute rug

Where would I start with your home? First I need to know if you are planning on staining the wood on the stairs?

If not were going to need to somehow bring in some of the warmth of that wood and get a runner for the stairs to lower the impact.

Think of how you can some orange accent pieces to the blue rooms. Orange and blue are lovely together and will help the stairs blend.

If you want to keep the navy walls then the room next to the navy room needs an area carpet that has navy in it and art that has navy, some orange and navy pillows.

The navy room needs a lot more lighter colors brought in to make it work with the lighter rooms next to it. Think carpet - should be 6' wider and longer than your table (current carpet is too small) curtains, placemats and a centerpiece along with art.

The cream colored walls have to go if you are keeping the blue and navy.

I don't have much to go on with the few photos you've posted but here are my suggestions:

- Paint the underside of the arch entry to the dining room the light colour, it won't look so heavy

- The navy dining room is very nice but in my opinion not accessorized to it's full potential. I show cream colour velvet drapes, a larger brass chandelier, and an ivory (machine washable) area rug which should be large enough so that the chairs sit on the carpet when brought out to sit

- The plant seems to be in the entrance to the dining room, move it over to the left.

- For your entrance, I suggest navy & white side drapes (if you need privacy leave the sheer straight down, not tied at the bottom or do a roman shade).

- Also for the entry, a few ideas for accessories to coordinate with the dining room (no need to do them all). I wouldn't paint the walls navy.

- Can't say anything about your living room as all I see is a very partial view.

@lisedv ... wonderful, a wonderful improvement.