Beautiful room and your dining set is also beautiful. I agree, find an area carpet that you love and go from there. Once you have that, post a picture and I'm sure wonderful Houzz family will help you from there! my first thought is a soft gray carpet with some sort of muted print. you could then wallpaper the upper part of the walls to coordinate.

Your dining room is beautiful and has many great features. I would go to a paint store and pick out some colors you like. Put them up on the wall, then buy samples and actually paint them on the wall so you can see what the color looks like at different times of the day. I would do a nice neutral in there because I like simplicity. Do you want colorful walls? What are some colors you have in the rest of your home?

This designer has mastered the neutral palette. Love this dining room. It all starts with drawing inspiration from something! Find photos that inspire you and I'm sure the fabulous Houzz community will jump on board to help! http://houzz.com/photos/214110

@shannon the rest of the house is painted a tan with a green undertone. It is not my favorite but having it repainted is not an option at this time. I should mention that the whole house is an open floor plan where you can see each room from almost every other room (that's why each room is painted the same color).

Hi there! Congratualtions on your new home. It looks great. Judy M is right...rugs are always first. This is because there are many fewer rugs than there are paint colors and you do not want to be searching for a rug to match a paint color when it is so easy to do it the other way around!

It looks like you have chosen a handsome, classic style in your table and chairs which looks fine with the floor color. Begin by educating yourself on what rugs you like as they will set the tone for the house. If you search "Dining Rooms" in Houzz you will begin to see what you like in terms of "look and feel." When you find designers whose work you are drawn to, go to their IdeaBooks and Projects to help to solidify your thoughts. I know that we have an IdeaBook of just Dining Rooms that we have found in looking through this site and seeing everyones beautiful work. It's actually fun and really helps!

Once you have your rug you will know your look and the wall color will fall right into place! Good luck and feel free to ask more questions as you go!

If it is open concept stay with the neutrals or different shades of the other adjacent rooms. add your colour with centre piece and art.

as per remax : find a rug you love and build around it as this pic suggests

@kmmason, you're lucky the home is mainly painted one color. Even if you're not crazy about the color, at least all the rooms flow together. I agree with the others, find a rug you love and go from there. Post photos when you're done! What a beautiful room!

One more thought: WHITE is hot right now, and classic at the same time. It would look great with the dominant color in your house and so fresh! Here are two photos I have collected from Houzz:

Small splashes of color with these walls of a type of White Grey, no they are not pure white. This would make the room lite and bright.

@wendy & @shannon
I guess that is what I am asking... I was planning to stick with neutrals and accent with color, but I am second guessing myself. What neutral would you recommend?
I have been holding off on purchasing a rug until I 'know' what I am looking for (aka can commit to a vision :)

Vision first, paint color second! Scan the pictures. You will know what you like when you see it and then we can all help you get there!

Decide your decorating style. Unsure think about your personal style. Are you French, modern or shabby chic. Your dining area is large enough to hold a couple of fabulous antiques. Pick one or two out then everything else will fall in place.

@CWDesign
I like the white! I love a clean look. What color rug would you choose? A neutral, a pattern?
I should mention that we have small children so I won't be spending a lot on rugs at this time.

Great! I love the white! Here are two options in rugs:
One very inexpensive, hard wearing, and chic option is seagrass. I don't know the look in the rest of your house but this works with so many things, cleans up well (as opposed to sisal, which is very porous and stains easily), and when you want to move on to another rug you will not feel bad about letting this go in terms of investment. It is not soft on the feet, but this is probably the one area where you won't mind that. If you go with a simple rug like seagrass you will need to art and/or a sparkley mirror to add interest as the interest will not be on the floor.
Another option is a patterned rug which will hide a myriad of sins. This is one reason why "oriental" carpets work so well in dining areas. You can't really see stains, etc. If cost is a factor then I would go with a new rug that is made to look old. They are doing quite a good job with the look these days. You can find them at a good rug dealer or even on on sites like Restoration Hardware. I will look for a few pictures and post them now.

I love simple and neutral. I say go light on the walls and pull on color with some beautiful artwork on that back focal wall. Here's an example of a very neutral dining room. It's so easy to change out colors for the holidays and seasons. You could pull this palette off beautifully with your new dining set. http://houzz.com/photos/1978413

*pull in

Another example. :)

http://houzz.com/photos/2268973

Hi! Shannon is exactly right. Here are a couple of pictures of the seagrass rug option:
Note that Shannon's picture with the round table shows a seagrass rug...

You have a fabulous space and depending upon what you're going for as an end result should determine what you'll do. I see the space as intrinsically elegant and would go with white or a pale tropical peach or a pale lime. Rather than one large picture on the wall I would love to see 3 or 4 horizontal pictures: beautiful photographic prints or watercolors. I prefer to paint first and then choose the rug. Wonderful space!

Use the color on your seats and see if you can color match it, then go two shades darker then this color for your wall. I love the photo with the designer who mastered neutral..I think you will be happier with a neutral palette by the sounds of your taste.

I think it would look great neutral with some splashes of color. Choose a rug or a piece of artwork to bring color in and then build your accents around the main colors in that. I hope this helps!!

Thank you everyone!

You are so welcome!

It could look great like this in warmer colors, all around the walls! The ceiling it is to white almost you can not see the beauty of the crown molding...

The red is really bad and esp. with the contrast of the stark white wainscotting. Maybe the white wouldn't look so bright if the wall was a linen color similar to your chairs.

Add color with art. You have a great space and lots of options.

I like the red with your dining table and chairs, why not change the white to a cream and use an oriental rug of some sort with some reds in it.

Go with a blue

You have a very nice room, here is my suggestion for some paint/accent colors and an area rug..Good Luck!

That's funny because I seriously painted my dining room red today.

Glaze over it

I agree with many of the others on here. The red works very well with your dining set. Why not make that room the star. I would certainly search for an area rug that you love that compliments the rug. The main problem I see is, as i tell my clients sometimes you are a Double D in an A cup bra. The room is top heavy. One idea to keeping the red in conjunction to finding a wonderful area rug is painting only the picture molding the same red, as well as the ceiling medallion. Then choose a color from your selected rug to paint the ceiling. A cool color to cool it off a bit. Then carry that color through with table top and keeping the stunning white as a backdrop and making your dining room set the star.

I saw one other comment that said to keep the walls red? Looks like everyone else is saying to remove the red.

I had a red powder room but it was small. That much red is so strong that you're not going to see anything but red and then when you look away you'll see a green after-image...

Get the red out.

What about a caramel color, the black and taupe would look great against it and it would complement the wall I see on the outside of your dining room

I had a client who loved her red, but thought it too harsh with her white wainscoting. So, I glazed over it, creating a rich red. She loved it! Here is a before and after.

Always choose the rug first. Most stores allow you to take them home to try them. Try Home Goods or another similar store, since you have small children and need something affordable for now. Look for one that pulls tones from your dining seats. A pale grey on the walls would be lovely and calming, but again the rug comes first.

Here is another idea for you. You may have already made your decision, but just wanted to show another example.