Yes, we do have a combined living room and dining room, but unfortunately I can't offer much inspiration. We've decided to not add furniture to our living room because we have 2 other living rooms in the house and don't really need the space for furniture. We have a active 7 yo boy so we use the space for wrestling and horsing around:-) I know what you mean about trying to make the space cozy. Our room also has vaulted ceilings...it's a challenge.

If you post some pics of your room you may get better ideas!

Our LR and DR share the same rectangular space - adjacent to the Entry Foyer. A "Bridge" separates them visually from one another. From the link you can see room photos.

Here is a link that might be useful: Room Photos

Speaking as someone who just painted her formerly almost white walled living and dining room a much deeper color, I'll tell you that wall color is a huge key to adding the "cozy" factor!
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whitdobe, BEAUTIFUL!!! Your rooms are distictly different and yet they flow together as a unit.

Nik, how big is the room? I have a similar set up, unfortunately the painters are coming tomorrow so all the furniture has been moved to the middle of the room and the artwork, curtains etc are down. I can tell you that I love the big room. It's so versatile!

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Not the greatest pic, but all I could find. You can only see part of the dining-room table. We used the piano as a 'focal separation.' We sold this house a last month. We are renting a Townhouse now which has a similar set-up.

Jane

I've got that setup too. It can be both wonderful and a challenge, to say the least. I love the flexibility, but I do find it's hard to create any separate identity in each "room." I'm posting some shots to show you the columns that do help define the spaces, and how I have my furniture. Due to the piano, there are not a lot of options, LOL!

Oy, I need real window treatments in the worst way!

We had the same basic layout in our old house too--just much smaller dimensions, so the furnishings did not look so lost and lonely. The main difference there was that there was a large cased opening and I was able to have the DR a nice rich red with white wainscoting underneath while the LR was the same yellow.
Here is one of the only digital shots I have of that house. The LR was essentially unchanged.

I haven't updated my pics in a while. The art and some accessories have been added but I can't figure out my new camera. :( The cr*p above the server had just been thrown up there when we had it delivered.

I don't think you need to hang art above your TV and pictures might be too distracting.

Whitdobe- OMG my living/dining combo is really, really similar to yours, just add another window between the sofa and the corner near the front window. We both have the stairs and archway the same way. I don't have a bay window but the wall between window and door is on an angle kinda like a bay window causes an angle. Way cool.

I had posted earlier on how to layout room because of the length and traffic pattern. Your layout is what we initially came up with but could not visualize it. We got some other great suggestions but just were not thrilled. Seeing your layout and actually seeing how the traffic could flow really makes me think this could work for me.

As for poster, your room is similar to what I had with that recessed area for the tv. Where you have the big slider I had a solid wall so I was able to turn the sectional onto that wall and open the seating to the rest of the room. It did make tv viewing impossible from those wall seats but yours being in the middle of the room I think is still hard for viewing perfectly but I think it does break up the space and define the seating area .

I love, love, love the idea of the leaves. I like the items on the top of tv stand. But maybe they are too centered. Maybe move the candle holder down a bit and put three items on the side were the clock is. There needs to be a taller item for height on the end. Maybe a jug of some sort with color in it.

Love your light fixture and agree the candles need to go, they compete with the light.

Parma, I love your style!!! Your space is gorgeous!!

Shannon thank you for your suggestions....I am dying to get those leaves - we've been saving up for them for awhile now and I am getting anxious to put something in that space.

Great idea for the items on top of the TV stand. I am going to try that. I think you are right, it's too centered.

I just wish I knew what to do with that table...I saw this runner from Pottery Barn and I think it might work in the space???? but I still have no clue what to put on top of it...I haven't ordered it just yet b/c I'm so unsure - at least I made it this far right? LOL

Here'e a video on that subject.

Here is a link that might be useful: how to divide a big room

Here is my combination LR/DR. I really don't like the set up bc it is long and narrow. The piano is my daughters so once she gets married it is going to her house and I will have more space to move the chairs over to the window. I don't use that space anyway but I use the dining room. I have hit a "wall" when it comes to wall decorations and design. Good luck with yours!

I do...I just re-arranged things...

This is the old arrangement:

I'll try to get new pics tomorrow.

Decided to go ahead and get current pics this evening.This is my LR/DR "au naturale"...with no "picking up." So ignore the things that are out of place...

I guess my decorating style is...eclectic? I used to joke that my home was furnished with a combination of "early auction house" and "vintage thrift store"...but the chairs with the morris-esque fabric cushions we bought new. Everything else? Thrift store, auctions, or family pieces.

Nik211- I was trying to imagine what kind of runner and just went blank. I even looked at all your materials in room and still was blank. But you nailed it with the one in the pic. I actually have a runner like this and love it. I think one of the stick like runners with maybe a trim of ribbon on edge to make it clean lined would be great. Because of the darker baskets in rooms I am not sure if you want to do light with dark edge or reverse. I don't think a dark one would look good with dark table. Maybe one that has both dark and light would be nice. Regardless, it needs to be made of natural materials.

My living and dining rooms open into one another and we planned it this way. The main thing is to keep the two rooms visually connected with the same feel to them both. Mine is a kind of Eclectic Old World Southwestern with some antiques from around the world . . . so I guess I'd call it "Well-traveled New Mexico" (LOL!).

Both rooms have the same wall color, which I think is important for them to flow. Mine's a warm cream, since they're real exposed adobe brick walls. I also keep the accent colors the same in both rooms.

We ended up having to replace our dining room table and chests, with ones that work better with the antique coffee and end tables in our living room. The previous ones contrasted too much and the two rooms didn't flow well. But, my furniture doesn't match at all, not the woods, era or style-wise; they're not even from the same parts of the world! The antique rattan end table is from England, the coffee table and a bookcase we use as a wine cab are antiques from India, the game table is from Syria and it's two chairs were hand-carved here in New Mexico about 70 years ago, the dining room chests are from the the Thirties, etc. I think that what makes them all work together is that the woods are all dark and they all have an antique, more ornate look to them.

I've used Oriental rugs in both rooms, too, for the same reason.

To help delineate the two rooms, I've added an antique-looking room divider. I don't keep it open all the way, but even partially closed, it works. It's dark and Old World looking, too.

Although some of my holiday table centerpieces ~ such as my Easter tree or Halloween jack-o-lanterns ~ don't work that well with the overall feeling of both rooms ;^D
I don't fret about it. Most of the time, though, I keep more formal centerpieces there that work well with both rooms. I do change them around a lot, sometimes weekly, using fresh flowers in a large crystal vase; matching Old World candelabras; statues; long table runners, a huge Talavera planter filled with silk ivy and sunflowers, whatever. I shop my house for centerpiece pieces seasonally.

I also keep the feel of the art the same in both rooms. They're not all Spanish Colonial, but the ones that aren't have a Traditional feel and are framed well. A piece of Contemporary or Modern art would be too jarring in these rooms. Here's a few pics.
Lynn

Dining room:

Living room:

. . the table from England is bamboo with woven grass. Sorry.

From the photos it seems that most people have identical window treatments in the dining room and living room when they form a living/dining combo. Assuming that the flooring material and wall colors are identical in each half, would differing window treatments be acceptable? For example a patterned fabric at one end and a solid but coordinating fabric at the other?

Sis3, I think that coordinating patterns would work fine as long as they were similar in fabric, print size, color and style of draperies. A solid and a large bold design, while they may coordinate, might not look as well as a solid and a coordinating small print or two small coordinating prints. Keep the style and length of both draperies very similar, too.

Thank you lynn. Pity, I had found a fairly large patterned fabric I like for the dining room but I don't think I want to use the same fabric for the living room. Hmmm! Back to the drawing board!
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread. It seems that some of us strive to make a visual separation between the two rooms, while others try to unite the two areas into one large room.

Sis, you know, the bottom line is to decorate your home to make YOU happy. If your rooms are not scheduled to be featured in some national decorating mag, I think that you should go with what YOU like best. Seriously . . . go for it! There are always rules, but rules are meant to be broken now and then ;^D
Lynn

Beautiful room! Could you still see the TV if you scooted the sofa a little further back? A sofa table would help serving as a divider between the rooms.

If you want the DR area to be more cozy I'd definitely get an area rug with some color to brighten up the space to keep it from being so stark, and then get a table runner to match. Lately I've been using table toppers on my rectangle table instead of the runners.

Jane, what is the view outside your window? It's gorgeous!