He once joked that his only phobias were magnolia paint and woodchip wallpaper . But it appears that famously flamboyant interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has had to swallow his pride after his garishly-decorated Cotswolds farmhouse failed to find a buyer in more than a year . While the hated woodchip is nowhere to be seen , the walls have now been painted a bland but inoffensive shade of what looks suspiciously like magnolia . Garish prints : Laurence and Jackie Llewelyn-Bowen at their former family home , which has been toned down in their attempts to find a buyer . Ornate : Dark colours and heavy furnishings gave the drawing room a baroque feel but it was not tempting anyone to make an offer . Modern : Now the Llewelyn-Bowens have stripped back the furniture and have given the room a lick of magnolia paint to open up space . The couple's Cotswolds farmhouse failed to find a buyer in more than a year , but the makeover may help sell the £1.6million home . Meanwhile the price of the father-of-two ’ s former family home near Cirencester , Gloucestershire has also been dropped by more than £150,000 to £1.59million . Llewelyn-Bowen , 50 , rose to fame with the BBC1 home improvement show Changing Rooms in the late 1990s , in which his unmistakeable handiwork did not always meet with the client ’ s approval . Famously , he once decorated a room entirely in animal print to which the shocked homeowners responded by calling it ‘ a tart ’ s boudoir ’ . His own six-bedroom house is an elegant , grade 2 listed 16th century farmhouse , but the interior – a riot of clashing prints and brightly-patterned wallpaper – is certainly not to everybody ’ s tastes , and has led to it being dubbed ‘ Poshington Manor ’ . Before : The price of the father-of-two ’ s former family home near Cirencester , Gloucestershire , has also been dropped by more than £150,000 to £1.59million . White and bright : The kitchen and dining area now has a much more modern feel , making the room seem far more spacious . The walls of the six-bedroom house have been painted a bland but inoffensive shade of what looks suspiciously like magnolia . Before the makeover ( pictured ) , a riot of clashing prints and brightly-patterned wallpaper led to the home being dubbed 'Poshington Manor ' Designer : Llewelyn-Bowen , 50 , rose to fame with the BBC1 home improvement show Changing Rooms in the late 1990s . The grade 2 listed 16th century farmhouse is on the market for a cool £1.6million and has been on the market for more than a year . Yesterday he admitted that after several prospective purchasers pulled out ‘ at the 11th hour ’ due to ‘ the shifting sands of government policy ’ he had opted to whitewash the interior – although he insisted it wasn ’ t because buyers did not share his trademark style . ‘ Devoid of furniture , our house looked a tad tired and scruffy , ’ he explained in the Sunday Times . ‘ And we discovered incidents of “ I hate Dad and Mum ” graffiti and puppy chew-marks. ’ He added : ‘ My long-held faith in selling your home with LLB character and design personality intact remains unbroken. ’ Llewelyn-Bowen , who is now working on a 10,000 sq ft barn conversion nearby along with his wife , Jackie , and daughters Cecile and Hermione , said his advice for fellow vendors was that first impressions mattered far more than individual taste . ‘ If you want to attract the right sort of buyer , make sure the property looks as good as possible , ’ he added . In a 2007 magazine profile , Llewelyn-Bowen said his twin phobias were ‘ magnolia and woodchip wallpaper ’ . Explaining how he had received such bizarre briefs from clients that there was little which could now shock him , he added : ‘ I think the most outlandish thing they ’ ve ever asked me to do is paint a room magnolia . ’
Flamboyant interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen failed to find a buyer for his £1.6million home for a year . He has had to swallow his pride and redecorate the garishly-painted Cotswold farmhouse so he can sell up . The six-bedroom , grade 2 listed home used to be a riot of clashing prints and brightly-patterned wallpaper . Now the 16th century manor has been painted a bland but inoffensive shade of what looks like magnolia .