My first impression is the bowling alley is fine just the way it is,no rug.

Plow & Hearth has beautiful indoor/outdoor rugs, which are so easy to maintain.

Some I thought might look good in your dining room:

Sorry they're blurry. Don't know why.

and

last

In the pic I put up that has the two rugs in it, you could do something like, put one of the rugs as a rectangle under the table, and get the other in a runner for the "bowling alley" area. That would look pretty cool, I think.

Your pictures are upside down for me, so, at first glance, I thought your chairs were on the ceiling! Duh!

It looks to me like you're going for a coastal feel. I know you said no blue, but I would do a wide striped navy or lighter blue flatweave rug. If not blue, then perhaps black or chocolate brown? It's difficult to make out the other colors in your fabric, but other than blue, none look clearly definable to me.

It's a very beautiful room and does not look at all like a bowling alley, but like one can breathe.

How about putting the dining table over towards the sofa table a couple more feet. From the picture the room looks lopsided a bit. Like the dining area is too far over to its wall. That would help the bowling alley effect.
As far as rugs go, I am seeing lots of beige/browns in the room. Walls curtains and the current rug. I would try a traditional wool oriental with lots of colors but with red.

Ugh - I'm sorry about the upside down pics. They are right side up in photobucket and in my post. I wonder what would happen if I turned them in photobucket. Would they then be upside down for me?

I'll try moving the table. The table is now centered under the light fixture so I think I might trade one issue for another.

Thanks for the great suggestions. I'm really torn between doing something traditional or contemporary. I like ppbenn's rug and I also like the last 2 that Tibbix posted.

This post was edited by deee on Wed, Mar 19, 14 at 9:41

Pics aren't upside down for me.

Curious.

I love seeing the beautiful wood. I would not put anything there. It doesn't look like a bowling alley at all.

I, too, love seeing the floors just as they are. I wouldn't put a thing there, including a runner. It's nice to have an unrestricted walkway into your rooms and looks very inviting, as is.

But since it looks like the end chairs do not fit onto the rug, you may need to get a larger one, which will likely fill some of the floor space in all directions.

I'm on an iPad and most of the OP pix are upside down for me too. The previous owner pix is okay, the others are not.

Your husband made that pretty XX table? Wow, it's beautiful and you are lucky.

I have a similar set-up. I left the bowling alley because I love the floor. I have medium-size house plants in neutral pots in front of the sunny windows.

hhireno - DH did make the xx shelves. I told him it looks just as good as the stuff on Joss and Main and I think he was a little offended. The sad part is that he made most of it from lumber scraps in our garage. From now on, every time I fuss about our middle class clutter garage, he will point to his lovely shelves.

andee - I will have to move some of our small palms over by the window and see how that looks.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Your room is so beautiful. I would opt for a rug similar to the one ppbenn posted. I think an oriental style would really be perfect in your room.