Interior decorator, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has exclusively revealed to Goss.ie why he never works with celebrities and gave some top designing tips for students moving into dorms or rented accommodation.
Laurence has a large portfolio of television shows and projects he has worked on over the years, but speaking exclusively to Goss.ie, Laurence revealed that although there have been great designs, he doesn’t have a favourite.
“You just keep feeling that the one you’re working on is the best you’re going to do. That’s what keeps you going. When you start looking back on your catalogue and think “Oh, that was my hay-day.
“That is definitely the time to hang up your quilt and never go near a bit of colouring in again,” he told Goss.ie.
“But I’ve done so many different things. Some of the television makeovers I have been quite surprised by. Even back in the Changing Rooms days when resources were very limited,” Laurence continued.
Laurence was in Dublin hosting a housewarming party as part of Bank of Ireland’s Wherever You Go campaign, when he opened up about his hit show Changing Rooms.
“I think one of the things Changing Rooms was about was proving that solutions were about creativity rather than about money, particularly in the early days when it was almost impossible to collect anything. We live in this wonderful world these days where you can go into any highstreet retailer and buy coloured paint. 25 years ago that was an impossibility.”
Moving on from his own experiences, Laurence had some top tips for students who are moving into small accommodation for the year ahead.
“I’d keep it tidy, first of all. Love it, enjoy it! It is a very interesting thing this time of year, because as a parent and a grandparent we’ve come to this sort of sad realisation of people going back to college or school,” the 53-year-old said.
“My girls were always very good, they went to boarding school and it was always the first thing that they always did. They always wanted to go back a day early and put up their photographs and get their duvet cover out,” he continued.
Emphasising the importance of taking care of your own space, Laurence said: “The way we organise our spaces, the stuff that we choose to surround ourselves with, these are very important ways of illustrating to ourselves who we are.”
“When you’re inhabiting a space with a lot of other people they become very important. One of the things that the girls always used to do a lot was collect old, large pieces of hanging or fabric shawls…things that were quite light to hang on a wall,” Laurence said, referring back to his daughters.
“That’s a very good way of giving your own sense of identity. Obviously it ends up looking like a good old-fashioned bordello but that’s what most students are up to!” he joked.
Laurence also opened up about why he never works with celebrities, but he showed his soft spot for Enya when asked what Irish celebrity he’d love to work with.
“Enya! Could you imagine what I’d do with Enya’s castle?” he laughed.
“I don’t like working for celebrities they are really bad clients, I always find. I generally turn them down, the last one I ever did was Keith Floyd but he was totally mad! I don’t do a lot of client work, I’m very choosy about that. But what the hell, I’m going down Enya’s route, I’ll repaint her Orinoco Flow!” Laurence revealed.
Although he may be incredible at decorating strangers’ houses, Laurence admitted that he puts his own house on the back burner.
“To a large extent my house, along with everybody else’s house, has a very specific character to it. There are loads of things I’d love to do, but they’re just not going to work in my house. So you do have to cut your cloth to your means. It’s the one that takes the bottom of the list whenever I’m at home.”
The 53-year-old also revealed that his wife used to trick him into decorating their home.
“For years, what Jackie would do any time she’d get pissed off that I hadn’t done anything with our space, she’d ring up Hello Magazine and say ‘Come round in two weeks and film, we’ll do a photoshoot” and basically get me a deadline,'” Laurence said.
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen was in Dublin hosting a housewarming party as part of Bank of Ireland’s Wherever You Go campaign.
