Interiors: Never a dull moment at Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen’s farmhouse

THERE are some designers who, having flooded the world with colour during their day jobs, transform their own homes into havens of neutrality. Thankfully, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen does not fall into that category. His home, which he shares with his wife Jackie and two daughters Cecile and Hermione, is a reflection of the entire family’s personalities and he admits that the house may initially have balked at their arrival. Their move to the Cotswolds took place in 2007 after Laurence and Jackie decided they wanted to move to the country. “We’re rather decisive people and when we were looking there were only about four or five houses in this area that met our criteria. This was the only property Jackie saw and the only one she liked. I was in India at the time, so I told her to buy it,” says Laurence.

The house was in a state of flux however. “It was too tarted up to be a fixer upper, but it was a million miles short of anybody’s dream home,” Laurence remembers. “It had been rather hastily converted from an antiques showroom, and had been derelict up until the late 1970s. It had also been carved into three separate dwellings. Then it had been taken on as a huge project, made watertight and reconfigured, but it was never lived in. By the time we bought it, it had been a second home and a rental, but it had never really been properly occupied for a long, long time.”

Knowing that transforming a grade II listed, former Cotswold farmhouse into a glamorous family home wouldn’t be an inexpensive project, Jackie picked up the phone. “My wife is an incredibly sensible businesswoman and when we decided to move she rang round various production and TV companies and of course we ended up doing a sort of fly-on-the wall documentary. That was the spur to do the renovations and to do them quickly. In essence, I don’t think there was a single room that didn’t have something major happening to it.”

A new kitchen has been created from the original dining room and hall, but instead of knocking straight through there is simply a very large doorway. “This is something I like to do a lot. They’re still distinct areas and they retain their architectural integrity, but they’re part of the same space. In the master bedroom suite I knocked through three rooms, so there is a bedroom, dressing room and bathroom, interconnected with big doorways but again there are no doors. The way I designed the house there are no corridors, you always walk from one room into another, which I think is a wonderful way of living. The guest wing is the only area that is more separate and isn’t really in use all the time, although Jackie and I decided to celebrate the recent Bank Holiday by having a staycation in our own guest suite. It was wonderful. We had a John and Yoko moment; everyone had to come to us!”

The renovations started on the first day of June 2007 and were all finished by the last day of September, including decorating and furnishing, which is impressive given the scale of the project. “It was a little over budget by several noughts, and it nearly did inspire me to go into the jungle and eat worms to pay off the bills,” admits Laurence.

When the budget got too tight, Laurence picked up his paint brush. “We did get to a stage where we were getting rather concerned and I was told by the boss, ie Jackie, that we didn’t have enough money in the pot for the guest bedroom to be decorated. So I did it myself and painted a mural. I started off in one corner just doodling and worked my way round. There are bits that I’m very happy with and corners where I’ve fudged it a bit, and there’s a corner where Hermione [who was eight at the time] expressed her artistic talent.”

There is no denying that this property has a very distinct look and ambience but as Laurence says: “This house is absolutely all the things I think people associate with me. These are interiors created for us as a family and to suit our personalities. We are very loud, we are very sure of ourselves, there’s a brashness to us and that’s reflected in the decorating as well.

“Even in the dining room, which is one of the quieter areas, there’s still a hell of a lot going on. The wallpaper actually has worms on it. I prefer many types of wallpaper and fabrics from America because I often find English manufacturers take a great idea but they do it to half the scale or use a fraction of the colours that an American company would.

“On the flip side, I also use a lot of my own products and high street brands as well. I’m just about to launch a massive collection with Littlewoods in the autumn – furniture, tableware, glassware and lighting, and I will be using an enormous amount of that at home. I do have friends with several mentions in Debrett’s who are occasionally surprised that I’ve decorated a 17th-century property with Littlewoods rugs and B&Q wallpaper, but this house is about my design DNA, not about what money has been spent on it. Actually, I think our style works rather well here because 17th-century houses were not about restraint. They were about exuberance, and if you could afford colour and patterns they were massive.”

Restraint really isn’t a word in this family’s vocabulary but then again why should it be – it’s their home. “It’s certainly a much-loved house,” says Laurence. “I don’t think in its 400-year-old history it ever envisaged having an orange kitchen, a duck egg blue dining room or even a black bedroom, but it’s got all those things now and it has a family that loves it a lot.”

How would you describe your style?

Laurencian – I’m always happy when people describe something calorific, fruity, a little bit opulent, and a little bit naughty as doing a Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. I’d love to be the antidote to ghastly good taste – glamorous bad taste!”

Where else would you choose to live or have a home?

I’m not sure I would choose anywhere else. We travel an enormous amount, so I’d like to designate specific suites in hotels all over the world.

What is your idea of perfect relaxation?

A simple thing like spending all bank holiday Monday in the guest suite with my wife and several bottles of champagne and a raft of rubbish dvds was fabulous. We are very lucky, we’re forced to be glamorous for a living and there are so many things that we get to do and are expected to do, but probably the best times are having the girls back from school with a big pot of chilli and lots of red wine in our energetically over-orange kitchen.

How would you like people to remember you?

Do they have to? If I’m going to be remembered for a particular school of over-decorating and Doing a Delia becomes Doing a Laurence that would be fine. I just don’t want to be remembered terribly seriously. However, to be fair, I don’t actually intend to die...

• Laurence will be appearing at the Ideal Home Show in Glasgow which runs from 2–5 June 2012 (www.idealhomeshowscotland.co.uk)