Could I use white above the chair rail and leave the wall paper below?

No, I do not think you should paint the furniture either.

No, do not paint any wood. First decide on the colors you would like to go with. I suggest very light colors for the walls & drapes. Remove the wallpaper & change your matching drapes to a grommet top drape with rods hung at the top of the windows as high as you can in the bay & take them down to the floor.

Since you are removing the wallpaper I would use a paint on the upper walls which is very light & use the same color in an opalescent glaze type paint under the chair rail. Eliminate the floral theme by changing out the art. If you are willing to paint only the niche, do it in a color one shade darker than the wall paint. Add some of your wall paint color to the ceiling paint.

Keep the table cloth off of the dining table, replace it with a table runner which runs the length of the table. Buy a new chandelier in an updated style (look at Lamps Plus at their 'sale' items.) I would go with a colored crystal in a deep shade of the color you are using for the whole room color scheme. What do you think? Look at Art.com for the new art & go large.

Flip through some of the photos of dining rooms with wallpaper for inspiration. Then check out a local wallpaper store.

I really like what Sandra suggested ,however with the chandelier I think it needs to be simple and show off that table wow the neche a tone darker than the walls .the curtains I would pick simple also because that is the style good luck

Ps maybe just pick a different frame with no mat

You have a couple of different wood tones so I would paint the crown white to match the ceiling. Strip off all the wallpaper to start. Paint the bottom and the chair rail a darker color than the top half. You could re-finish the niche to match the furniture, or paint it a gloss in a color that matches the wall color you choose. A mirror on the back wall of the niche would reflect the items on display there. Change the swag curtains as @Sandradclark suggested. Change the artwork, what you have appears dated. Maybe move the hutch toward the bay window so you have a bigger wall space for a large framed art piece. Put a runner on the table in a color that reflects the new art. And definitely change the light fixture. It looks like the hardware on your hutch is antique to go with a fixture that is more like that. It depends on how formal/informal you want the room.

please get rid of the wall paper, matching window treatments and matching wall art. paint the walls a pleasant shade of a color you like. not tan, or gray. use a real color like blue or green or orange or red or pink or coral, just not white or brown or gray.... these "neutrals are too boring. Your furniture is brown and big, so no more brown. you do not want boring!

I have to agree with the white trim, neutral color and dark blue accents, that way you keep some of the blue from the wall paper. I would also get rid of the matching-everything! If you are in South Florida, feel free to call us for decoration services at no cost to you. We'll be happy to help!

Agree with kristinanadreau, An eclectic look would look much more interesting and inviting! The wallpaper and matching curtains are traditional. I say 'yes' to painting wood. Not everything everywhere, but part of the wood with some new hardware you love, or something with a surprise element. Mirrors on back is very traditional and formal. Maybe wallpaper not pasted but just temporary on the back--something shimmery. Also, if you paint the walls, paint the wood niche the same color as well. You want that to go away. Less nick knacks and one large piece. Maybe a small sculpture or vase. Great finds at 2nd hand stores for unique pieces. Posted and example of partially painted tonal colors on wood and a before and after of a painted hutch on wood.

Mary Jo, you have 6 mostly-empty ideabooks. It would be a lot easier to help you if you'd save some dining rooms you love and make notes telling what you love about them.

Leave your furniture as is. Also the stained moldings and chair rail. Remove the wallpaper. Pick a color direction, thinking about the colors of the rooms adjacent to the dining room especially, if you aren't going to make changes in those rooms. Your current wall color lacks depth. A midtone saturation will make your room more interesting. When you have chosen your color, paint that shade above and under the chair rail. Research light fixtures and find a new style that you like and will work with your table dimensions. The same with your wall decor. Choose some new art. Enjoy dining in your fresh room!

Annie Sloan makes some beautiful chalk paint if you decide to paint the bonnet top china.

What is bothering you is too much different colored wood and busy wallpaper, all layered on top of each other. Loose the wallpaper and matching window treatment (so 80's) and paint your walls a friendly color - a sunny, soft yellow will work with the golden wood tones.

try to stay away from green (although that looks great with wood), as it makes people look sickly.

I can see why you need a change but it will not take much. I would take the wallpaper down and paint the bottom half the darker yellow you have in the room, leaving the stripes on top if if you want to or pick a new fresh color. Remove the window treatment and get two drapes to just frame the window on either side. Take down the two prints next to the cabinet. The china cabinet is busy so you don't need more stuff on the walls. If that other small piece is build in, then leave it, otherwise I would take that down too. Try to live with less stuff on the walls. I would also remove the tablecloth and let the wood show. As far as the chandalier, I would leave it and get more crystals to add to it so it becomes more grand. Also try to edit down the china cabinet so it is not so busy inside. Keep the pretty things out and the stuff that is not so pretty, put away on the bottom. it will make the room feel lighter too.

I only see the one photo but maybe I can help. I would recommend removing the wallpaper. The two tone walls are over and done with. I would add a decorative moulding below the chair rail. I would consider grass cloth wallpaper. This really gives a room a wow factor. Then, a new chandelier would make all the difference in the world.

Maybe slipcovers on the chairs and loose the table cloth. If you like the wood, maybe go with tung and grove up to the chair rail, or just remove paper and paint, then decide if you like the wood look. The hutch sure dates it, if the top is removable you might like it better off. Even a dark stain would look better on the oak if you're considering going black and white, and paint on the chair rail. But the table cloth sure needs to go, use place mats or a runner

Table cloth is usually off. I considered trying to darken the stain from medium oak to dark oak. Not sure how tough that is! I might experiment on a chair! Slipcovers on the chairs is a good suggestion too.

Your chandelier is very similar to one I have in my front entry....and you have TONS of "golden oak" wood to work around....but it can be done....whether it's "so 80's" to match wallcoverings with draperies doesn't matter if YOU like the look....the picture I've attached shows my chandelier with black shades that are gold satin on the inside....the light is on a dimmer, and the gold reflects a "soft" glow when dimmed but reflects tons of light when on "high", which would be good for you when dining. I painted my walls a Tuscan Tan, which complements the warm tones of the wood....you could paint the walls above the chair rail in a similar "warm" tone....I think the idea of using the pattern of black and gold ( as seen in my pillows and valances ) would work well in your dining room, and along with the black and gold shades on the chandelier, would look very formal, to match the styling of your dining pieces....a wallpaper with this pattern below the chair rail, and then the matching valances over sheer "gold-tone" drapes would work nicely, in MY opinion....OR you could paint the wall BELOW the chair rail in black to match the chandelier shades.... once the tablecloth is off the table, you will be seeing MORE "golden oak" wood...LOL...so I would suggest possibly a black table runner, with simple centerpiece of flowers.......I purchased my lamp shades at Target....you could BUY the lampshades, but DO NOT remove the plastic coverings-just put them on the chandelier and SEE if it's a "look" you like......if not, then you could return them and go shopping for a whole new chandelier....LOL.....who knows? that one simple change of lampshades might make you love that light all over again!! Good luck...and we'd all love some "after" pictures when you're done!!

Hi Mary Jo, I must be the same age as you are because that is the style of furniture I longed for when I was a young bride! The room is very nicely decorated. If you want to update, I'm wondering about painting the lower part of the walls a very light color - or even adding paneling to make a white wainscoting. I'm attaching a couple of photos with that idea. It would brighten up the room and open it visually. And I think it would match your current style, just making it a little fresher? You could keep the chandelier and everything. Enjoy your decorating adventures! :)

I will be in a minority but you are sick of the stain so why leave it? If you like the style and shape, which is quite lovely, you will love it painted, or stained darker with something like a Java gel stain. Maybe paint the furniture a creamy soft white and stain the table top dark. If you do the furniture light, you could go darker on the walls and stain or paint the chair rail. I can see that room all creamy and soft blues and greens. That's me though, go with your vision of colour you like. A famous decorator once said, "wood is a building material." Whom ever made your furniture stained it because that was what they wanted but it's yours now, so do what you want with it and make yourself happy.

The furniture looks good as is. The wallpaper should go, you could use bead board below chair rail, and soft neutral paint above. Make sure the new light fixture is sleek and simple. For a new window treatment, use a natural fiber such as cotton velveteen in a soft neutral. Then you can bring in color with simple tasteful art and fresh flowers on the table. :)

Actually, I just said bead board but that is too casual for that furniture. One person suggested grass cloth wallpaper which is a great idea.

Please don't consider keeping the wallpaper as some have suggested. It dates the room. There are some lovely updated papers around. I say consider one for above the chair rail. Install wainscot below, and paint all the trim white. (Your room seems very traditional.) I would not paint the furniture. Maybe lightly sand and wax it for a refreshed look. Or maybe apply a slightly darker stain. Add two tall parson-type chairs for the head and foot of the table, and add a little bling with the chandelier. My dining room looks similar to yours and these are the updates I'd like to incorporates over time. Here are my inspiration photos. Obviously you may like a color other than red, its just what I'm considering:)

You have to decide what you're after as an end result, then choose the new paper, paint, fixtures to move you in that direction. It's a lot easier to change the bottom wallpaper & curtains than to start painting the furniture. Either different paper (tons to choose from) or simply paint. The floral artwork is too stiff & formal. You like flowers, so go with something a bit looser. Too many little nick-nacks in the alcove. A runner would break up all the wood on the table top. The chandelier looks fine, but if you're tired of it there are lots to choose from. If that's a 2 piece hutch I'd love to see the room with the top of it removed despite it's purpose of storing all that's in it. Then you could go with large artwork or a mirror (but that's my taste & probably not yours).

your room is pretty - the wallpaper does date it, it's beautiful, but dated. the room is pretty traditional, yet styles can be combined to give it a 'pow'! a different light, different wallpaper and different color paint. even the chair seat covers can be changed. do you have any material around? sometimes i get a big piece and tape it to the wall just to get an idea what it would look like. for the walls and the paper. go wild and have fun with the room!!

With your massive traditional hutch and table, all that wallpaper and chair rail and brown trim is just muddling it up. You need a cleaner, simplified look. I'd remove the wall niche, the chair rails and all the wallpaper. Paint the crown molding the same color as the walls. A soft silvery blue glazed wall color would pop your hutch instead of fighting with it and would tone down all the gold. You can look for a sleeker, more rectangular simplified chandelier not bright gold and no shades. Also, just to change it up, consider solid color removable wall paper to cover the mirror in the back of the hutch and then curate with contrasting color items that would show up better.

Your dining-room set is lovely-definitely do not paint it. Since the set has a French flavour-look to those colours for inspiration. I love blue with a yellow oak and maybe something like Palladian Blue (BM) 0n the top and a warm white on the bottom and moulding. Another idea would to be to choose a wallpaper like the pattern and colour of your tablecloth for the top and white for the trim. Hang your tablecloth on the wall-stand back-what do you think? Whatever, go slow and it will come together-great bones to work with

My mom had the same problem and a limited budget. I suggest lightening up the room with your favorite light color, painting the trim and updating the curtains, fixtures and accessories! We used silver grey (actually a little darker than it looks) and painted the trim and all the doors in the house white and it is totally different. The rug in the living room changed the whole look. It is a little more contemporary. Glass coffee table would do this too or if you put mirror in your niche. If I had the budget I would add monogrammed chair covers too. Our chair pads are pink for a pop of color.

Yes, REMOVE the chair rails! They make rooms look very old fashioned. Just that simple act with fresh paint will change the whole space. I agree you should go with lighter colors and add pops of deeper color with art, lamps or rugs.

Major update needed. Remove wallpaper and paint with neutral color. Refinish china cabinet either darker stain or even paint with a punch of color (same for the chairs). New chandelier too.

I totally disagree with all the responses to leave your furniture as-is. I would sand the old stain off and give the large piece a nice country- charm whitewash. Paint the walls a pretty pale color of choice. I like the Martha Stewart pale mossy green. Or, she has a nice light blue-gray, too. Use pure white linens, the curtains, too. Paint your table legs flat black and the top either white or natural wood. Pretty framed flower pics and done!

Definitely having the chandelier and the furniture the space looks a little outdated. However, by replacing either the furniture or the light fixture you can create a new space combining traditional furniture with modern light fixture.Our Pendant Lights are perfect fixture for any space. They are versatile, modern yet traditional. Our lights are integrated with the latest LED technology making them very energy efficient. Our LEDs are expected to last about 50,000 hours, powder coated to stand any weather. We carry wide variety of styles, sizes and finishes to match your homes style.

Barn Lights

Mary Jo, I am a furniture painter. It is awesome to change furniture. My first suggestion, -get rid of the wallpaper, chair rail and light fixture. Paint the walls a neutral color like Universal Kaki by Sherwin Williams'.- You should paint the trim in this room white. Purchase a new light fixture at Lowes, or Home depot;-(very inexpensive). Remove the outdated wall art and small knick-knacks in the niche. I would paint the China cabinet, but live with the furniture as is until you are sure you are ready to tackle painting it. Keep us updated.

Yikes....don't know about barn lights with that formal furniture. Mary Jo needs to decide what look she wants to achieve before doing anything. What she has said is she likes the style of her furniture. She hasn't clarified which "stain" she's sick of...the furniture, the molding?? She doesn't appear to want to paint the furniture, so maybe she would consider staining it. MJ needs to weigh in.

You need to start with a fresh slate. Remove everything, window coverings, art, nick-nacks, and wallpaper. Then prime all the walls. Once the room has been primed, you'll be able to see it with a fresh outlook and not be influenced by what's already there... I love using art as inspiration for colors, so find some new artwork in colors you love, and pull a color from it to use as a starting point. You might find once the walls are painted a new color that you like your furniture the way it is. But even so, you can always stain it a darker color or even paint it... Just remember, though, darker furniture looks more formal. If you're not in love with the chandelier, I would replace it with something a bit more substantial looking. It's too delicate looking for your furniture.

Hi again Mary Jo - I just noticed that your chair seats are neutral beige. So if you were to do as I suggested above, I would recover those seats with a salmon/coral color or salmon with blue. It would be so much fresher. Especially if you put silver blue and coral things in the hutch with a contrasting background, maybe navy blue or if you dare - lime green. Good luck.

One thing about redesign ... everyone has an opinion :-) The place that I always like to start ... long before I look for an inspiration piece or even what to keep and what do get rid of ... how do you want the room to feel when you walk in? Of course "inviting" would come to mind, but what else? Elegant? Sophisticated? Family-gathering, downhome? Informal or formal? Once you get to know where you're headed, search Houzz and the web for pictures you like and go so far as to write down WHY you like the picture. Maybe it's just a color or fixture, or maybe, how you feel when you look at the picture. Then go back and look at the pictures you saved. I'll bet that you will see a trend that you can use as a launching pad for your new look. And most of all ... my best tip ... redecorate for YOU and YOUR family. You'll be much happier with the end result.

Amen!

Thanks for all the great suggestions! We use the dining room every Sunday and holiday for family gatherings so I want it to be inviting, comfortable but special. I am sick of the medium oak look but feel like painting or re-staining this major china cabinet, buffet, 120 inch table and 8 chairs would be too big of a project for me to start with! We also have stained woodwork in the whole house so before I paint the trim I am going to strip off the wallpaper below the chair rail, paint it or re-wallpaper with a textured paper, paint the art niche, shop for a more substantial light fixture and look for something more up to date for the wall on either side of the china cabinet. That is my first step. I think I am going to want to change that oak stain to something darker or painted but that may be step 2! I will post pictures soon! Thanks again!

Just got finished restaining my daughter's table. Used Howard's (from Home Depot) and finished with Howard's beeswax and orange oil. It was in bad shape with circles and scratches. It was really quick and turned out beautiful. There are many stains and gels out there now that don't require any major sanding. This project only took about an hour for both staining and wax. Also saw on Pinterest that Java gel stain was good too. Maybe you could make it a family project. Good luck!

Sensible start. Removing the paper will make a huge difference. I just did the same (but more of it). Change of artwork will help also. I've done some crazy things but would never take on restaining or painting all that furniture. Out of desperation I put a thin white glaze over a glitzy gold marble topped credenza (no offers on craigslist), but would never do it to furniture like yours. Be sure to show us your progress. Vicarious thrills!

Please, keep the furniture as is. There is absolutely no need to paint it!

My suggestion would be to remove the wallpaper in the bottom and paint it. For the upper part I would consider a blue and gold wallpaper to complement the wood tones of your furniture.

Since the furniture (and my choice of wallpaper) is very ornate, a simple oversized drum shade would update the look considerably.

Also, substituting the dated valence for floor-to-bottom curtains would freshen up your space.

The drum shade in the picture is from CB2, for $199.

I think you are heading in the right direction and look forward to more pictures. It's hard to make recommendations on color since pictures can distort, but medium, warm oaks can look lovely with golds and gray (perhaps a charcoal). It's so hard to take beautiful furniture and "re-do" it ... both emotionally and labor-wise, but you might consider putting a dark glaze on it. Buy the tiniest amount and try it on the bottom of a chair (if the bottom of the chair is actually finished/polyurethaned, etc. Don't do this on unfinished wood.) You also might consider having a woodworking professional do this for you. When you love your furniture, but are tired of the look, it's less expensive (and emotional) to refresh what you love than buy new. Looking forward to your pictures.

leslie, that table looks great. What did it look like before? And how much sanding isn't "major sanding"?

It had white paint in spots where it had been painted before. I repainted legs and surround black. Only sanded lightly to get off white paint and smooth deep marks to make it easier to blend stain. I concentrated on those areas more with the stain and the finish evened out. It is darker and redder now though the picture doesn't really show it but didn't want it too dark because of the black. Don't think it would have needed sanding if it were in good shape before. This was kind of like applying scratch cover if you know what I mean. This is the before picture.

Oh my God I I've loved this... My kind of thing

Hi Mary Jo --- I had to laugh when I saw the suggestion "brazuca" made regarding your light fixture. I just replaced the ugly 6-arm brass chandelier (typical builders-grade) in my dining room with that very same drum light from C&B (it's called Finley pendant) and LOVE IT!!! My furniture is British Colonial style and it's just the right amount of contemporary to update the room but also neutral enough that it's not out of place. My next step is to replace my dining chairs, which I love the look of but they're too heavy and frankly don't sit especially comfortably.

I once decided to change the look of a pair of brown-stained wooden chairs, much like the style of your dining room set, by doing a color wash on them (kind of like white-washing a fence). Before I got up the nerve to tackle this project, I purchased two wood-stained chairs at a thrift store for $2 each, that were similar to my good chairs-- these were my practice pieces. I found the inspiration here: http://www.stonegableblog.com/creating-color-wash-effect/
I did not, however, purchase Annie Sloan's chalk paint, and I didn't do an opaque undercoat of paint on the chairs. I purchased some (powdered) calcium carbonate from Amazon, mixed it to a milky consistency, added the (acrylic) color I wanted to wash over the wood and gave it a try on my test pieces (I did lightly sand the finish of the chairs with a sanding sponge first, just to help the color wash to adhere better). This was a lot of fun and I found the look I wanted after just a few tries on the practice pieces. Then I tackled the two chairs I wanted to change. The original brown wood stain still showed through, but the milky color I chose to color wash them with (a light bluish-gray color) which highlighted the raised areas of the carved wood turned out gorgeous. The entire color wash process went very quickly since I had already figured it out on the test pieces. I then purchased a pretty, floral upholstery remnant to cover the seats of the chairs. The color in the new chair seat fabric inspired the rest of the colors in the room (walls, accent rug, throw pillows, etc. There was no need to paint or stain the woodwork in the room as it kind of receded, visually, with all of the other changes I made in the room.
Typically a favorite piece of artwork, a pretty throw pillow, or an area rug that you adore can be the jumping-off-point for your room/color inspiration. I've always found that designing around wall paper to be just too difficult, and by the time I figure everything out, I'm already tired of the wallpaper. I'd lose the wallpaper entirely and go for paint any day!