dining room makeover progress & pondering over a bench makeover

I'm ashamed to say this, but almost one year ago I removed the original hum drum trim from my dining room and never put up any new trim. It was great for the purpose of repainting the room (no trim to worry about getting wall paint on), but that's as far as I got. I'm am determined to now remedy this situation. I decided to trim it up "Chris style", Chris being my amazing decorator sister. You can find her here (click on the photo). Prepare to be met by pages and pages of eye candy:


Here's the style of trim it used to have and that still exists in every other room:

yes I have 2 blinds up...one looks good, the other cuts out the light when you're trying to watch TV, and I have yet to make a final choice!
Here's our progress so far:




Here's my sister's dining room's faux recessed paneling which serves as inspiration for my own dining room makeover:



a previous era in the same room
On another note, I was down in the storage room pre-drilling holes in the half-round molding and saw this bench below. I thought, "hmmmm, we have a bench. we have a little bench. hmmmm." This bench is actually one that was my mother-in-law's but I've really come to dislike most unpainted wooden furniture. Besides, it's style is, well, a little meh. I know for her, she has an admirable love for stained wood and I can appreciate that. I have the notion to paint it black, perhaps distressing the edges, and making a long seat cushion for it along with 3 varying small pillows. I like the set up I have in the front entry now, but I really desperately need lamps in other rooms and wouldn't mind having the Pier 1 one below for another room!


this space is currently housing some stuff while my daughter's bedroom is it's own state of makeoverness
how the front entry usually looks...I need that lamp in my family room I think!