5 trends that are making your home look cheap – and what designers are choosing instead for a luxe and refined feel

Of the many design trends that come and go, some of those that stick around have become so prevalent that they've ended up looking cheap. They're too commonplace, too overdone, all their finesse and intrigue has been wrung out from overuse.

are the ones that designers are tweaking, dropping, and downright contradicting so as to make homes that are so much more lavish and sumptuous – expensive-looking, if you will.

1. Gallery walls

look elegant. Only the true professionals can curate spaces full of art that look upscale. A mix of cheap prints hung in cheap frames inevitably ends up looking, well, you guessed it.

suggests focussing on vignettes instead of sweeping gallery walls. Add just one piece of art to a corner, and make that area special, rather than covered. And he has the perfect advice for how to do that.

'Use your phone as a tool – pretend like you’re a photographer and just look at the space through the lens,' Noa says. 'What is feeling unbalanced? What is unfinished? And go from there. It’s helpful to analyze those photos. Design can be enjoyed in smaller gestures and you can start with just a corner of your house.'

2. Matchy-matchy color schemes

for going big on one shade, using it to drench a space, and then taking it to the furniture, too. The trouble is that it risks making everything look the same, you can't appreciate each individual piece, and it all gets lost in the whirl of a singly-toned space. It ends up looking like the person who designed the space didn't have any imagination, just picked a hue and ran with it. It can end up looking a bit cheap if not really well executed.

. 'In that case, choose a dominant color in the room and go for the opposite shade on the color wheel for the wood trim.'

3. White or gray walls

The time has come to banish white and gray walls for good. Sure they are easy and inoffensive, but not very elevated and these once on-trend shades can end up making your rooms look cheap and unconsidered. Designers note that your home will look far more luxe if you go for richer tones.

. 'Moody palettes, moody wallpapers, nothing super-fresh. I love deep greens, curry tones, lots of terracottas. I’m deep into port and would say brown over gray and white any time. These tones are the perfect backdrop on which to layer an element of surprise, a lapis blue vase, perhaps, that just seems to shine out against them, looking just so rich and inviting.'

4. Slimline countertops

So this is a tricky one, but with the rising trend for manmade surfaces – chosen as much for their lower price points than for their durability – countertops have inevitably become thinner. The less material you use, the more affordable it is, but the trouble is that it can end up looking a little cheap, too.

for a couple of inches, to give the appearance of it being thicker and therefore more expensive looking. As Lara Bates rightly points out, ‘The deeper the stone you use, the more luxe a room feels.' And you can't really argue with that.

5. Keeping everything overly symmetrical

. It's a classic design trick, used to create order and rigidity in room layouts, but it often ends up looking dull.

Symmetry certainly has its time and place, but it can risk your rooms looking cheap, purely because they lack depth and character. A room looks so much more lavish when there are curves to sink into, a mix of couches and chairs, and an irregularity in what has been chosen.

which just take the formality out of a room. Why should a coffee table be rectangular? Curved edges have more heart and soul,' she says.

is to decorate with meaning and only embrace trends that reflect your personal style.