7 Dining Room Design Mistakes You Should Avoid, Experts Share

If you're wondering whether your dining room is designer-approved, you'll want to keep reading. The pros often notice a variety of mistakes in this room of the home, pertaining to lighting choices, furniture size, and much more.

Below, they weigh in with seven issues they often encounter and provide tangible suggestions for what to do instead. Take a cue from these experts and in no time, your dining room will be absolutely glowing.

Not just any rug will serve your dining room appropriately. When selecting a rug for the dining room, you'll want to keep the room's purpose top of mind and steer clear of anything that is too high pile, as this makes it difficult to slide chairs within the space, Elyse Petrella, the founder of Elyse Petrella Interiors, says.

She notes that it's ideal to stick with rugs made from natural fibers such as wool, given that they're easier to clean—the dining room is certainly prone to stains and spills, after all.

It's no secret that today's dining rooms aren't necessarily serving the same function they once did.

«Most of us want our homes to reflect a relaxed, laid back lifestyle,» Cara Fineman, the founder of DAG Design, says. «There is no reason that a dining room can't be an extension of that casual lifestyle, rather than a formal space that only gets used during the holidays.»

As such, don't shy away from creating a space that is more conducive to the way you actually live, the designer shares. For some, that may even mean saying skipping a traditional dining setup to allow the room to serve a different purpose.

Patricia Justice, the founder of Patricia Justice Designs, explains how she always assesses the use of the dining room depending on how the person lives. Justice says that some