Most of the homes I work in have open plans: Living rooms, dining rooms and, sometimes, other rooms that are all exposed to one another. If you have this layout in your house or apartment and you have a rug under your dining room table, you may need to remove that rug.

Why? Because, assuming you also have a rug in your living room, displaying two rugs (or more) in adjacent rooms can visually chop up an open space like nobody’s business. In addition, dining room rugs are notorious crumb-catchers (not an appetizing thought). And, if you eat most of your meals there, you may not be aware of everything that has dropped onto that gorgeous Tibetan. Trust me, it’s not a good thing. So, if you have to choose, start rolling up the rug that is under your dining table.

Keep your living room rug – it will help define that room and make both spaces look distinctly different – and leave the floor bare elsewhere. This will make it easier for you to keep your floors really clean and, if the colors/patterns work, you might be able to use both rugs in your living room by switching them, seasonally.