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Makeover shows tricked viewers, says Llewelyn-Bowen
Last updated at 10:53am on 12.06.07
Changing views? Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen with Andy Kane in 2003
He may have made his name encouraging us to do up our homes, but Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has apparently had a change of heart.
The interior designer, who appeared on the BBC's Changing Rooms programme, has warned that TV experts trick viewers into believing that a change in their decor can fill a void in their lives.
"That's the way that we experts do it - we feed on your insecurity," said Llewelyn-Bowen, 42.
"I will go into a bedroom and I will be looking with a client and looking around, and I will say, 'How's your love life?'. And instantly you can tell.
"When she goes, 'Oh well, you know', I say, 'Well, it's those cushions', he told ITV's 24 Hours With...
Llewelyn-Bowen described himself as a "wallpaper jockey" in Changing Rooms, in which a team including "Handy" Andy Kane and Carole Smillie revamped rooms.
But in the ITV interview he apologised for the hit programme, which ended 2004.
It was a "trick" of the programme that men and women felt that their life would be enhanced by changing the decor in their house, he said.
"It's a trick. It's smoke and mirrors - but there it is. I mean, it is how you deal with it.
"You can sort of cough gently in a corner and say, 'Actually you know how this all looks really nice, and you know how we did it and you know you made a change? Well, you can actually use that impetus, you can actually use that energy to change other stuff if you want to'.
"The danger is when you start tubthumping and say, 'You see the way you have made this change in your home? You should now be thinking about your life, your marriage, your this, your that'.
"I am worried we are so casual about change. Ten years down the line, I am not sure how valuable it is to have a society convinced that it, things, should be changed rather than just getting on with the life they have got, with the society they have got.
"Making what they have got work, rather than blaming your wallpaper for what's wrong." Interviewer Jamie Campbell suggested that Llewelyn-Bowen had "essentially" admitted conning people.
But he replied: "Did I say I was conning them?
He added: "You have encouraged me to be ethical.
"So actually now my bed linen will have a label on it saying this bed linen is really pretty, will make your bedroom look great, maybe even a bit like your summer in Provence. But it won't improve your sex life."
