I am hoping to get some advice on what to do to make our new dining room beautiful. We are in the middle of a huge renovation so we are hoping to get some real “wow” factor without a huge amount of cost if possible. The dining room set is a “hand me down” and will have to stay for a while. It is not necessarily the style (and definitely not the colour!) I would choose but I need to make it work! The ugly armoire will be going.

As you will notice we have not even attempted to decorate this room. It really is a “blank slate!” I like the idea of keeping this area neutral and using fabric, texture, and neutral colours to make it beautiful. We have an informal dining space and I would like this room to be a little more elegant and sophisticated.

We have talked about wall paper, built ins, wainscoting, area rugs etc, etc….but would love to get some opinions from the very talented people on houzz before we make any decisions!

In addition, I have included some photos of the awkward area between the dining room and the stairs to the basement. This is the only area of the new design that I am not happy with. It just seems like such dead space. Please help me figure out what to do!
Thanks in advance for any ideas/suggestion you have!