What we’ve done so far:

The Dining Room opening between the Dining Room & Kitchen has been enlarged, with a new beam above to support the opening.  New electrical (outlets, switches).

What we plan to do:

We’ll be adding wainscot at the height of the partial wall with a picture rail on top that matches the original rail.  Also, we’ll be laminiating the ceiling with a layer of drywall to smoothe it out and installing a new light fixture.  We already bought a dining room table that expands to seat many many people!  Right now it’s living in our guest bedroom upstairs.

Here are some before shots, as well as some “progress”:

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Here is an early version of inspirational pictures: https://madisonsquare.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/dining-room-inspirations/