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AIBU?

To really want to see the makeover at Downing Street?

160 replies

BlackCatShadow · 28/04/2021 09:47

I've been reading about how it cost 88,000 pounds to do and how Lulu Lytle was the interior designer. She has such a bold and interesting style. I must admit I'm very VERY curious to see how it looks. Has anyone seen any photos? I want know if she actually has gold wallpaper.

P.S. I know there are much bigger issues going on in the world, but I'm so sick of seeing house done in grey and crushed velvet. I'm really curious just how boho the whole thing went.

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daisiesinmay · 28/04/2021 10:08

I have read (don't know if it's true obvs) that it cost closer to 200k
Yes I would very much like to see it. Why anyone would spend any such amounts on a flat which is not their own is beyond me.

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Gunpowder · 28/04/2021 10:13

Oh me too! Would love to see it so much. Poor old Theresa and Philip being maligned for their ‘John Lewis furniture nightmare!’ though.

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ZaraW · 28/04/2021 10:13

I cab imagine wallpaper at £850 a roll.

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ZaraW · 28/04/2021 10:14

Can't...

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nongnangning · 28/04/2021 10:18

I too would like to see the makeover results. Sorry OP I think the fake-urban-country-house-subcolonial-Soane look is just awful. I much prefer John Lewis if that's the alternative. I was wondering yesterday how lower-class this would define me to be in the eyes of the upper crust

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Loveistheonlyhipe · 28/04/2021 10:19

It's totally beyond me too why would you spend ANYTHING on a flat you'd only be in for a couple of years and had literally zero chance of ever buying, I mean just why??

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nongnangning · 28/04/2021 10:20

I bet Carrie Symonds comes on here. Carrie, if you are reading and can slip through a few photos that would be super.

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user648482729 · 28/04/2021 10:20

Me too! Having seen pictures of her style I really want to see it. Based on her style there’s a fair chance the next pm will want to change it which makes the amount of money spent on it even more sickening

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Thatisnotwhatisaid · 28/04/2021 10:20

I’d like to see it too. I saw the photo of Sam Cam and Michelle Obama in the flat and thought it looked great.

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tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz · 28/04/2021 10:21

@nongnangning

I bet Carrie Symonds comes on here. Carrie, if you are reading and can slip through a few photos that would be super.

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Stressedtoddlermum · 28/04/2021 10:21

Me too! I can imagine Boris having quite an unusual style. Like something Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen would design!!

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AllTheCakes · 28/04/2021 10:21

Agree, would love a nosey round. What’s wrong with JL anyway?!

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Squidthing · 28/04/2021 10:22

Me too. They should open it up to public.

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BlackCatShadow · 28/04/2021 10:24

@daisiesinmay

I have read (don't know if it's true obvs) that it cost closer to 200k
Yes I would very much like to see it. Why anyone would spend any such amounts on a flat which is not their own is beyond me.

Boris must be having kittens!!

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Xiaoxiong · 28/04/2021 10:26

I want to see it. The snobbishness around the "john lewis nightmare" is incredibly cringe - fine to say you want to decorate to your taste, you don't have to be rude about it. Also, I bet a lot of voters wouldn't mind a few things from John Lewis, myself included.

The photos online of Lulu Lytle's other decor is pretty intense for a flat that isn't actually theirs. I understand wanting a place that you live in feel "yours" but they might only be there a few years, and something that bold isn't going to be to everyone's taste, so it feels like such a lot of money down the drain to know that the next PM is very likely to be redecorating again.

I think with a property owned by the taxpayer there should be some rules around keeping it more neutral, or alternatively if you do something different having to reinstate it at your own cost to a neutral decor when you leave. I know there are rules like this in other tied accommodation eg. church vicarages, forces housing, boarding school accommodation. When we moved into our tied accommodation we were given a paint card of colours we could choose from, alternatively we could pay for our own paint or wallpaper but then it would have to be repainted at our own cost at the end of our tenancy one of the paint card colours. We also were given a loan for carpets, curtains, furniture, fixtures and fittings that is withheld out of salary so it certainly concentrates the mind on cost. You also think to yourself...well we might only be here x number of years so you don't go too out-there on the decor.

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nongnangning · 28/04/2021 10:34

@Xiaoxiong I think this is a really good point you make about having "tied accommodation" rules for elected politicians' housing. This might be one good conclusion of this whole affair.

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poshme · 28/04/2021 10:41

It wasn't boris or Carrie who said 'John Lewis nightmare' it was a journo.

Apparently when they first moved in there were lots of deliveries from JL as Carrie shops at Peter Jones.

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JosephineDeBeauharnais · 28/04/2021 10:45

I’d love to see it too. The Lytle style looks amazing, if not to everyone’s taste.

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StillRailing · 28/04/2021 10:48

Do they not think of sustainability and the planet?

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StillRailing · 28/04/2021 10:49

And yes I'd like to see the state of it.

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Xiaoxiong · 28/04/2021 10:49

Apparently it was Carrie - reported by the reporter as a quip she made to a visitor.

"[Carrie] was, as she quipped to one visitor, desperate to see the back of the ‘John Lewis nightmare’ bequeathed by Theresa May."

From Anne McElvoy's cover piece in Tatler this month (which was trailed in the Daily Mail).

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ForwardRanger · 28/04/2021 10:52

I'd love to see it too!! I think they all give it a bit of a makeover. I visited #10 when a PM had just moved in and they'd just had it done too.. It's a surprisingly small space.

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Ivebeeninlockdowntoolong · 28/04/2021 10:54

@nongnangning

I bet Carrie Symonds comes on here. Carrie, if you are reading and can slip through a few photos that would be super.

That made me laugh, thank you!

I dread to think what the flat is now like - more Turkish boudoir than John Lewis I suppose. Can guarantee the next future occupants won't like it so another vast sum of money will be needed to change it back to humble JL or some other slummy outfit such as Next, Homebase etc (the likes us hoi polloi have to put up with).

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Xiaoxiong · 28/04/2021 10:54

"Visitors to the couple’s No 11 flat have raved to me about a new, deep green drawing room with jewel-coloured fabrics, lit by lanterns and candles in the evening and a golden yellow kitchen."

I mean - this sounds super insta-worthy, but it's the kind of thing you do to your own flat, not to one you might only live in another 3 years, and you CERTAINLY don't do it if you don't have the money to pay for it yourself and reinstate at the end of your term. Honestly I think there need to be some sensible tied accommodation rules around this. The government should pay to take care of the fabric of the building and decorate the public rooms, and there should be some sensible rules around the private flat along the lines of tied accommodation elsewhere.

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roses2 · 28/04/2021 10:57

@Loveistheonlyhipe

It's totally beyond me too why would you spend ANYTHING on a flat you'd only be in for a couple of years and had literally zero chance of ever buying, I mean just why??

Because they weren't paying for it? I would do a make over if money was no object too.

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