Updating a Dining Room To Work With a New Kitchen

This new, bright kitchen is a recent remodel and the homeowner is happy with their results. However, their dining room, that is open to this space, doesn’t really relate to it at all.

They are ready to make some more updates to this home and want to know what they should do in the dining room so that these space connect better.

My blog contains affiliate links. Any purchases, at no additional charge to you, render me a small percentage, are most appreciated and make this blog possible. :-)

Here are pics of their dining room now.

Dining room to get de-cluttered and restyled.

The furniture is good here, but there is a lot of wall decor in this dining room.

Tall windows in two-story spaces can create problems with window treatments.

You can see this dining room is quite full and really doesn’t have that much wall space.

They use the built-in cabinet and the console and want to keep all the storage capacity. The furniture all stays but they would like a light fixture selection too.

Obviously, in this open space the paint colors run all over, so we discussed a wall paint option that would flow into the adjacent spaces. They were going to paint their windows and trim too, so they wanted a color for that.

The new kitchen is open to the living room and dining room in this home.

The warm wood in this case, looks rather dated and very yellow toned.

You can see in the photos, there is really not much wall space, so giving a “color” to the walls, wouldn’t really make that much of an impact on the space.

It would appear to be like little boxes and long, linear bits of wall showing up with color. That makes for a busier look, so I opted to create more of a simple backdrop for their cozy furnishings.

The kitchen cabinets are a warm white and kitchen island is a dark taupe.

Here were my decorating recommendations:

1. Paint - I think you should paint the base, crown and door casings in this whole area to match the wall. I'd go with a warm white to match or only be slightly darker than your kitchen cabinets.

Your trim is rather narrow, and it just looks like it is outlining the rooms in this contrasting color. The more it blends with the walls, the less busy everything will be and will work better with the kitchen.

2. Chair Rail - I think you should remove the chair rail. It is so high and it just doesn't really do anything for a space that is really more open and has only small areas of wall space. 

3.  Dark Taupe Color - I like the color of the kitchen island and I would use that dark taupe color for several of your wood elements for some contrast. That color looks really good with your tile floor and it works well with your furniture and rug in the living room. Use it on the following items:

a. The tv built-in and that paneling at the fireplace.

b. All the interior doors.

c. The stair railing.

d. The windows and trim. Then your windows and doors would be contrasting elements here and create some interest. Right now, the color of the wood is dating the space, especially in contrast with what you've started in the kitchen. (I am all for warm wood these days, but this is too yellow here and doesn’t add richness to the space.)

e. I see there will be a transition problem at the fireplace paneling crown, but just run the white over the dark paneling there. Keep the whole tv cabinet dark, including the crown. The color of the crown will transition at the inside corner of the cabinet.

If you do this, the kitchen, living room and dining room will be speaking to each other more and working together. 

5.  I would try to get more tile for the dining room and just carry that flooring all the way into that space.

6. Dining Room Cabinet Wall - I think you need to replace the cabinet that is there. There is a lot going on in this room and I think we need to simplify things.

First of all, remove one of the art pieces, three is just too many and it looks crowded.

I would redo the cabinet to be more narrow so there is wall space, pushed as far to the right in the opening you have now. I have an arched top shape drawn, (to repeat the high window shape) as there are just so many boxed rectangular shapes here.

I would like these to almost look like doors, so the paint color would be the dark taupe color to match the doors in your house when you paint.

7. Dining Room Window Wall - Again, simplifying this will be a good idea, in my opinion. I would recommend removing the high shelf and just doing like a free form plate wall with those plates and the basket there on the console  If you have another one, that would be good, I like an odd number, like 5 or 7.

Simpler drapery panels on a single rod, about 15"-18” above the window would be good. Install the draperies higher than what you have, but not 24".

8. Light Fixture Dining Room - I like this 10 light chandelier, in brass. It has some nice height but it feels lighter than the one you have. It is a simpler style and it sort of mimics your pendant light shape. 

Does your dining room need a lift?

Check out these posts with dining room redesign tips and examples!

This blogpost was thoughtfully written by me, Carla Aston, and not by AI, ghostwriters, or guest posters.

Pin this image, below, to Pinterest to save for later reference!