SFGate

libradesigneye The style of your table is modern, but your space / beadboard wainscot is a bit more cottage traditional, as is your light fixture. The window shape could read mid century or be craftsman / cottage too, depending on window treatments and other choices. Your cherry hardwood floors are beautiful, and work great with the dark wood of your table (but seem to clash with the color on the bottom half of your beadboard wainscot). That might be the light picking up the red from the floor onto the paint.

These are all choices that don't really seem deliberately designed to work together so far - more, this is what came with the space, this is what I purchased, this is what husband had, so I don't want to criticize but I don't want to draw too much from the wrong element.

If the wall with the window is the best wall for a storage piece, then a sideboard or even a mid-height piece is probably best. Since your table is dark, but your floor has a great cherry wood tone, I'd suggest a cherrywood sideboard. Room & Board has some beautifully made choices that are a bit more on the modern side like your table and chairs and some of them are more classic, one even mid-height so they could work under the window in a sort of modern craftsman echo. This is high quality but can be a good shopping place to start so you know what kind of lines you are looking to bring into your space. Then, you might see a piece on craigslist or in a local store that was perfect.

So I'd like to know more about your style before I answer the question.What colors are in your favorite fabrics or do you want to feature in all the public spaces in your home? What style or aesthetic are you drawn to?

See http://www.roomandboard.com/rnb/subcategory/list.do?catalog=room&category=rm_dining_spaces&subcategory=din_cabinet_stor
If you like more transitional / cottage decor - look at Vermont Heartwood (at 60" h the perfect craftsman echo - cottage /transitional) or the Adams sideboard. If you like modern, look at the Grove. Report back here if you want more feedback - this is just an archetype that will help you focus your style. I'm going past your original request to share some ideas here -

If you like transitional, cottage, consider upholstered print fabric chairs at the head and foot of your table and use the leather and wood chairs in between. A black based suzani might hit the mix perfectly, or maybe you would prefer a less modern floral. Add a patterned traditional rug with the colors you want to bring into your home - gold and russet tones would be great with your floor, and can be leavened with green, popped with red - an autumn palette.

If you like modern, consider changing the lower beadboard color to a stone gray tone, and using yellow, gray and navy as your color story. A wide striped gray and white rug would pop the look

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design libradesigneye has done an excellent job of explaining your various options to you. Below is a piece from Room & Board, a company she mentioned, that is lovely ($1600) but doesn't offer a lot of storage. It would look splendid with a pair of modern lamps on top. Another piece of interest is the second one, for about $700 from Martha Stewart

Then there's the third photo, showing a piece from Ballard Design, at $600, which is transitional and it, too, would work with your furniture.

If you are headed in a more modern direction than your wainscoting directs you, then you should probably remove it and paint your walls one color.
Carolyn Albert-Kincl, ASID

Mary Maloney Thank you so much these are great ideas. We just bought the house and the wainscoting and color came with it. I convinced my husband to paint our bedroom and kids rooms but he doesn't want to paint anything else. Since this is my first house I'm not really sure about my style just yet. I like modern but classy not to over the top modern. I also like the idea of the gray on the bottom. Maybe I can convince him to paint it

libradesigneye Mary, looking at your ideabook, you do favor more transitional spaces.

Painting the wainscot a more sophisticated color will help with the contrast you have in this room. Your table is dark, the floor is warm, the sunlight yellow is warm, but the paint below the wainscot looks like a reddish brown - not good.

Here is a fabric palette you could carry through all the public spaces in your home - yellow and white in your kitchen, sophisticated sterlings in this room. I'm going to post links (i don't work for them, it is just to show rather than tell what you can do with this color palette). That assumes you want to work with the yellow - which is really versatile since you can head gold with it too.

See this for the shade of grey I recommend for the wainscot: http://beautifulfabric.com/asccustompages/products.asp?fav=0&fpage=1&page=1&categoryID=84&productID=6747&pStart=0&recNum=85
You could see that windowpane fabric on curtain panels in the living room, for instance, against the sunlight yellow walls.
Here are some others that would make the house'S- http://beautifulfabric.com/asccustompages/products.asp?fav=0&fpage=1&page=1&categoryID=84&productID=8675&pStart=0&recNum=66 or http://beautifulfabric.com/asccustompages/products.asp?fav=0&fpage=1&page=1&categoryID=84&productID=8509&pStart=0&recNum=6 on an accent chair / pillow
http://beautifulfabric.com/asccustompages/products.asp?fav=0&fpage=1&page=1&categoryID=84&productID=8692&pStart=0&recNum=58 and
http://beautifulfabric.com/asccustompages/products.asp?fpage=1&productid=7239&storeid=39
in the kitchen on a roman shade or valance or chair cushions or panels.
http://beautifulfabric.com/asccustompages/products.asp?fpage=1&productid=7587&storeid=39 on two upholstered end chairs at your dining table - tying the dark table back to the light. Or just add this on the backs of two store bought gray dining chairs for an inexpensive custom look.

BACK TO THE SIDEBOARD QUESTION
Mixing textures / repeating colors / subtle use of patterns is what makes the rooms you have posted feel rich. That said, having seen your style is a bit more traditional, you might find a high quality sideboard on craigslist that has outdated wood tones but great bones and use chalk paint to paint it nearly charcoal (the warm gray of the gabor mirage fabric above) then distress it back where the details are rubbed out a bit, and wax it up. There are all kinds of tutorials on the web about how to. If you go to the trouble to save $ there, your DH (dear husband) should be willing to paint the wainscot. A new house is overwhelming at first. Get a color story in your mind about what you want, and it will more easily come together. A cherrywood sideboard in a transitional style is still a good recommendation for your home - take a picture of your floor on your phone in good light until you have it to carry around - make sure the wood tone of what you select is in the same color family. You can ask to take a drawer home to put in the room and see it in your light.

Lots of entry level furnishings have charcoal grey slipcover options now for seating - look at IKEA ektorp if you guys are starting from scratch. You may want to consider some sterling silver toned oriental rugs for your living / dining. Even IKEA will have some good options there. I'd set aside money for a more sophisticated pendant to replace / relocate the chandy (paint it pink and hang it high in your daughters room) - something with some sparkle or polished nickel that speaks to your more refined taste.

Mary Maloney Thank you so much for all of your ideas. I'm starting to realize what it is exactly that I want. I really appreciate the time you took to Answer my questions. I will try to post a picture when I am all finished. Hopefully soon.

Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Best of luck. We'll be eager to see your photos.

Keitha Here are some nice sideboard ideas.