Partially upholstered wall could be an option. Would move the table into the wall somewhat, leaving more walk through area.

are you stuck w/those chairs? do some less bulky would help out a bit. I would go easy on the drapes. maybe just do the sheers. or try some blinds

bulky drapes eat up more room literally and visually. and take your rod all the way up, just below, the ceiling level. like shown here:

artwork is perfect for that wall. make sure it's long enough. more horizontal as opposed to vertical.

and another option is to do a built in bench or settee on that wall.

or do multiple pictures

or a large mirror

Thanks for all the great input! The chairs will go eventually, just have to figure out what style will replace them. Thought of a settee, but we have two messy little cherubs and upholstered furniture in the kitchen scares me. One day! :)

I agree that the chairs are too large for the table. How many do you need to seat on a regular basis? Just removing one chair and having two on one side and the bench on the other would help visually. I know I wouldn't be comfortable seated at a dining table with a wide trestle leg at my feet.

What style of light were you thinking of? Do you have a budget for the light? Whatever you get, it should hang lower-about 32" off the top of the table.

Do you need drapes on the sliders for light control or privacy? If not, consider keeping the sliders open with nothing on them.

As far as the wall, you have lots of options. You could hang large art like Beverly shows. Or a grouping of botanical prints.

Or you could hang baskets on the wall for color and texture.

Table and chairs are WAY to large for this virtually unusable small DR. Even a picture on the wall, will be bumped into. And the fact that it's always a traffic way to the french doors to the outside makes it worse. I'm not sure this is fixable.

We need to sit 4 regularly. We don't "entertain" and aren't very fancy, the table size works for us as this is the only work/crafting/eating/homework area in the house. The two chairs do look better, I had the three chairs there because my sisters were over for the weekend. Eventually, we'd like to update the chairs to something "lighter" in weight but not at the moment. Not a huge budget for lighting ($150-200, max) at the moment, but also not in a rush to update it. The wall is my main concern. I do think a piece of artwork would be nice, but to be honest, we don't own very much artwork and don't really know which direction to go, with it.

I think something like the botanicals would look nice. Look at Etsy for downloadable prints. They're very inexpensive to have printed at Walmart or a drug store like Walgreen's and you can put them in standard size frames that you can pick up on sale at Michael's or Joann's.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/601494095/printable-wall-art-set-of-6-printable?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=botanical%20print%20set%20to%20download&ref=sr_gallery-2-14

Sometimes you can even find a calendar with pretty prints and have those framed as well.

Here are a few lighting, window treatment, chair, and rug options for your dining room.

Late to the party but I suggest that as you built the table why not build simple sleek banquette seating on the long wall and paint your dark brown leather chairs a nice creamy white or tan to match the stained or painted wood.....Add a a chandelier that has the bottom 30 - 36 inches from the table top....then add an expanding piece of art that is 2/3 the width of the table and hang with the center of the picture 57 inches from the floor......or and change the curtain rod to a one inch diameter rod,maybe white wood ? to balance out the heavy table....

I always bite my tongue when the first solution is “artwork”. This is your family space—what interests your family? Rather than some mass produced swipes of paint on canvas, do you love the beach, the mountains, cities? Do you have photos of special places you have taken and could have enlarged at Walgreens? Is there something you collect, like the basket wall suggestion in an earlier post? Six or eight framed drawings made by your kids and hung in easy to change frames would give you special “artwork”. I love history and my dining room “artwork” is framed maps of the regions from which my ancestors came. Love the idea that you made the table and bench as my husband makes furniture for us and made something similar for one of our nieces. She often sends us pictures of her kids at that table. Your room is very special-find something special to hang on that wall.

Any room in which you can partake of a meal is NOT an "unusable, unfixable" dining room. Good grief.

Yes, it's small, but think of it as cozy and intimate. I agree that the current chairs are a bit large, but certainly can be lived with until you find just the right thing to replace them. The furniture that you built looks very sturdy and is quite lovely.

That blank wall is missing artwork, and I think a large canvas painting would be perfect in that space, as would the large framed multiples as shown in examples above. I'd steer clear of anything that projects too far off the wall though.

Have fun decorating your dining room, and enjoy making it truly your own special little space for family meals.

I’d build another bench and get rid of the chairs. Any artwork behind those chairs is going to make the room appear that much more cluttered.

You must be into DIY, this is a fun idea.