Hi everyone,

First post on these message boards! My fiance and I bought a house a couple years ago, and furnished it with second hand furniture from our parents. We've finally been able to start replacing the old furniture with new stuff. We started with the dining room, as this was the room in most dire need (we didn't even have a matching set of chairs!).

So, we bought a nice dining room set from Crate & Barrel, and think the room looks great, by itself. I'm worried about the transition from the kitchen to dining room. The dining room is formal, and a bit contemporary. The kitchen looks like a casual, country kitchen. What can we do to bring the rooms together? Most of our budget for the project went to the dining room, so we can only spend at most $500 more now.

Maybe the thing that is bothering me the most is having two dark tables, but not quite the same color, within such close proximities. So we were thinking of getting an inexpensive, more modern table from IKEA for the time being…?

Pictures attached of the two rooms.

Please offer any relevant advice, we're new to this! Maybe the rooms match fine and we're just being picky! Thanks...

Here's the kitchen

(is there any way to attach more than one picture per post?)

The transition

The table and chairs in kitchen are quite country, so replacing with something more contemporary or mission style will help. The curtains in dining room are more country/cottage looing so I would do more contemporary style window treatments in both rooms. In the second picture you can see both windows at one time so that will make a big impact. Also, tie the style of the rooms together with some pretty artwork and contemporary accessories in the kitchen.

Tuesday

Welcome Tim and fiance! You have a great plan, buy what you like when you have the money. I am no expert, but I don't think anyone is going to stand in your kitchen and look at both and go hmmmmmmm...they don't match!

You can try to "formalize the kitchen" a bit with a table cloth, new place mats, a centerpiece maybe?

I don't think you can attach more than 1 pic unless you "collage" them. But it is great the way you did it.

Good luck to you and yours!

Welcome to the boards! You've done a great job on the rooms. And your instincts are right - there's a disconnect. With $500, here are some suggestions:
remove the dining room curtains until you can get something similar in both rooms

I see that you have blue in the kitchen. I might take some of the money and get red accents to coordinate with the dining room.

I don't know if it's the darkness of the table that's the problem. I'm not sure what it is, maybe the style of the table, someone else can give you more guidance. If you had the funds, you may think about a pub set or counter height seating so that you don't have two tables (of any color) so close together.

Hi, just wanted to say welcome to the boards, you'll get lots of great advice here. I love the colors! IMO floor length drapes in the dining room would be pretty. Target has inexpensive silk looking panels. As for the kitchen table, have you thought about painting it? Light sand, spray primer, spray paint, lightly sand edges and viola!

Hi, welcome to the boards! I just wanted to say your home is very nice, I like the built in cabinet.
I agree with Shrugbear, painting the kitchen table would look great!

IMO, I would say (if your budget allows) to completely replace the kitchen table. It totally screams 70's. I don't know if you mentioned if you have a big family living at your house or if it's just the two of you, but I like the idea that someone else mentioend about getting a pub style table...

http://www.furnishingsandfurniture.com/index.php?main_p..._id=163¤cy=USD

Your dining room is beautiful and agree wiht another poster about getting some floor length panels for the window. It would really look sharp!

The biggest disconnect in the DR is the corner cabinet. Hope it's not built-in. If it's free-standing perhaps you could sell it to add to the budget. The WT's in the DR are also much too country. Simple panels are inexpensive and will complement the DR furniture. A border added to the seagrass (?) area rug would be a nice accent.

For the kitchen I agree a pub style table, perhaps in black will bring that room out of the country. Use black and red contemporary accents in the kitchen.

I really like a number of elements in your two rooms. The colors are nice and the lighting fixtures are terrific. I agree with the earlier posters that the curtains in the DR should be replaced with something more contemporary. I would paint the white hutch ( built in or free standing) a dark expresso brown. I too see the Kitchen table as the biggest issue. Something more up to date would pull the two rooms together better.

another idea for a pub set

I like the one that colorphobic posted. Here's another. The price seems right, not sure about the quality though. I love the look of saddle seat stools.

Thanks for everyone's comments. Does anyone know why the pictures are showing up as a red circle with a line through them now?

We like the idea of the pub style table in the kitchen. We'll have to be careful because the light hangs low (and in general we have fairly low - 7'6" - ceilings) so we can't get anything too high. Probably can do it for the right price too...

For curtains, the ones in the dining room are actually sheer panels, we just have them tied up in the knot. Maybe just need to let the knot go. What would match this style and could go in the kitchen above the sink?

Thanks again everyone!