Hi, Sarah.. I am coming into this thread late in the game but I did read through all the posts. I wanted to share a couple of thoughts and experiences but I am short on time so I will apologize in advance if I sound short or harsh. I have a red dining room and I have grown to hate it. My wood is a medium to dark oak and I think it does nothing for it. I think it will do much less for your darker and more formal wood. My sister just did her dining room in a blue (leaning towards teal) and it looks smashing with her dark wood. I am the LAST person to choose blue.. it's just not one of "my colors" but I have to say I think it works very well in your room. I tend to green and I still prefer the blue mockups over the greens. You keep referring to this as the "formal dining room" but the southern living elements you are wanting to decorate around are much more casual to me. I think you need to stop and take a breath and think about whether you want a formal dining room as your furniture suggests or a casual family style dining room like your bowl suggests. If you want the formal dining room then I'd use the tuscan bowl and the other southern living pieces in the kitchen. Whether the dishes in the china cab are valuable monetarily or or personally, they are on display for a reason, I'd presume? Are they family heirlooms? I would never suggest that you store them away-- if for no other reason, because they work much better with your furniture and with the gorgeous shutters. I strongly recommend that you look at pictures in the gallery and review the ones shared in this post with similar furniture and see if you can find a style that is cohesive and approaches what you see in your minds eye. I don't mean this disrespectfully (because I have been there myself) but you are going in the direction of a real mish mash of styles and your furniture is such a strong element in the room I don't think it's a room that will gracefully accept the eclectic look. I agree with all others on the shutters-- love them! They look beautiful as they are.

@betsy Cain I tend to have a traditional/transitional style. They don’t have to be super formal rooms, as the rest of the house has a more relaxed feel, and of course the farmhouse style dining table isn’t “formal”. for now, I think the chaise needs to stay in this room. The only other place it could go is the also empty sun room and I don’t really think it fits there Any better. My husband actually likes the thing and enjoys laying on occasionally. Additionally I have no other furniture to put In its place! We moved into this house last fall and added about 1500-1800 sq ft of “growing space” so we knew we’d have to furnish slowly and with some hand me downs.

I agree with adding a rug. Do you need all of those side chairs on a daily basis? If not, I'd put two of them in another room (or store them away) and just have two on each side for a less crowded look. I also think your chandelier could be larger and more of a show-stopper, if you're willing to replace it. Pretty room!

In our old layout, I eliminated the formal living room years ago...because of the way we live, it was absolutely wasted sqft. I turned it into a dining room and we used it a lot for birthday parties, making puzzles, reading plans etc. When designing our reno/addition, I for sure was going to keep the dining room but took out the eat in kitchen in stead. We added a larger island with seating for 5 (there are 6 of us...when everyone sits down, we use the dining room). We have enough space to seat 12 in the dining room, and also a 6 seater table on the deck outside the kitchen. This works for us. Nothing is formal, every place gets used by everyone.