There are certain design choices to avoid if you want a stylish home
Designing your ideal dining room doesn’t need to cost a fortune, but many homeowners make decisions that take away from the overall look of the space. Homes should always reflect your own taste and personality, but there are certain design choices that interior designers label cheap and tacky.
Trends come and go, and you don’t want your home to be stuck in the past and appear dated. An interior designer has highlighted a number of common mistakes that leave dining rooms looking far from appealing.
To create an elegant and polished look, it is essential to avoid these design blunders.
Small centrepieces
Interior designer Penny Modern explained that having a centrepiece on tables that are too small can cause a distraction.
She explained in her YouTube video: “The problem with this is when you have a large table and a really small centrepiece, it just doesn’t look right. It needs to be bigger.”
Penny said that improving the centrepiece doesn’t need to cost a lot of money, as she made a DIY large wooden bowl filled with succulents instead.
She also added a table runner for contrast. Penny said: “You don’t want everything dark or everything light, you do need some contrast.”
Another suggestion was to get a large vase to fill with branches from your garden to cut costs.
Artwork
Many like to add artwork to dining rooms, but you need to ensure it suits the space so it doesn’t look cheap.
Penny explained that artwork shouldn’t be hung too high in dining rooms, as there can be a large gap between the table and frame.
It is also important not to have artwork that is too small for the space, either. Penny said: “It is really not the best scale, you really need a bigger piece because a lot of us have a big wall.”
To fix the problem, Penny suggested using two large frames side by side to “fill up the wall”.
She hung the frames at eye level and ensured the bottom of the frame didn’t create a large gap between the artwork and the table.
Bad lighting
Penny said: “If you have a single light source in your dining room, which a lot of us do, it can create very harsh overhead light that can create a lot of shadows. You want your dining room to feel warm, inviting and luxurious.”
She suggested layering lighting by adding picture lights along her wall. Penny used rechargeable lighting so she didn’t need an electrician to do it for her.
“Adding extra lighting to your dining room with definitely elevate the look and make it more beautiful, cosy and inviting,” she said.
Matching table and chairs
Penny admitted an “major eyesore” is having matching dining tables and chairs. She said: “It is one of the mistakes a lot of people make and it is very understandable.”
Explaining the problem, she added: “It makes it look like you are living in a showroom but if you want that designer look for your home, most designers do not get a table that has the chairs that match exactly in terms of the wood.
“If you want a more custom and luxurious look to your home, you are definitely going to want to get some different table and chairs combo.”
Penny also recommended getting enough chairs for the size of the dining table, so you don’t have large gaps.
Faux plants
Sophia DeDomenico from Et Sal Interiors explained in her TikTok video that faux plants can “look great for a moment in a picture,” but they “look bad” in real homes with real lighting.
Instead, the expert recommended using some easy-to-care-for plants if you are after a green, natural look in your home.
She said they are easy to grow indoors and require minimal watering. Sophia’s picks include spider plants, snake plants, peace lily, English ivy, Jade plant and Devil’s ivy.
“The benefit of plant springs is not only looks aesthetically beautiful, it also scrubs your air and brings in more oxygen,” Sophia added.
