It might not be everyone's ideal home and living scenario, but flamboyant and widely-admired interior designer and TV celebrity Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is thrilled to be living at his home that's filled with three generations of the family.
Wife of over 30 years Jackie, children Hermione and Cecile and their husbands Drew and Dan, and two grandchildren with a third on the way means the Cotswold house could become rather full, but LLB is a professional designer so surely he's got it covered?
He has already successfully applied to turn a studio at his farmhouse into a home for Cecile and her family unit and adds: "We're building a special kind of crèche in one of the courtyards. It's a big house and I work hard to make sure everyone has their own space."
And as an interview with OK! in 2021 revealed, a full house means that dedicated space includes the downstairs cupboard that plays host to many of his and Jackie's date nights.
He said at the time of the interview: "We've got the entire family living at home now, including two grandchildren. There are a lot of people around."
In an interview with The Times this month, the designer and TV celebrity elaborates on his family life and fame and his daughter Hermione gives her own perspective about the family all sharing one home.
She says: "We’re quite old-fashioned in that we all still live together — it’s a lovely household and whoever comes in feels like they belong. My sister would agree — our husbands are very happy to be part of the gang."
Looking back at his career Laurence reveals he almost didn't make it onto our television screens and into our hearts at all via the enormously successful BBC programme Changing Rooms, which aired from 1994 to 2004.
When the show relaunched on Channel 4 in 2021, Laurence met up with WalesOnline and exclaimed he was dreading the return and trying to get into those now famous leather trousers. Read the full and frank interview with Laurence and WalesOnline here.
Laurence recalls with The Times how he came to be painting walls red on TV for many years. He says: "It was the first time that home and interior design had been on TV and the excitement was enormous." Of course LLB didn't tone down his now distinctive style for the auditions for Changing Rooms and that decision changed his life, and ours, forever.
He says: "When I did screen tests for Changing Rooms they called me with a long list of why I was wrong for British TV — stupid name, ridiculous velvet frock coats and long hair. They then said, "You’re absolutely perfect", because they were looking for something different.
"I'm a fusion of Peter Pan and Captain Hook and never grew up from that. My mum never worried about the fact that I was eye-catching, but always told me to work hard — I couldn't just be the peacock who walks into the room, shakes his feathers and walks out again.
"The older I get, the more extravagantly flamboyant I get. Should I reach 100, it's going to be very messy."
Life changed beyond recognition at the point when Changing Rooms aired, with the show at its height being watched by around 10 million viewers. Laurence says: "I was doing a job I loved and felt I did it well, it just so happened I was doing it in front of millions of people rather than snooty — albeit nice — ladies in Knightsbridge."
But it came with some downsides too. When Changing Rooms really took off was at the time when Hermione was born and LLB had commitments which meant being regularly away from home. He and Jackie also had to come to terms with less privacy.
Laurence says: "At first everyone was overexcited and a bit hysterical — we had paparazzi going through the bins. They were looking for sex, drugs and rock'n'roll but all they got were breast pads, nappies and wipes.
"There was also an assumption that I was gay, which pissed off my wife, Jackie, but I was more relaxed about it. If I was gay, I'd be gay."
The designer also talks openly about the joy he shares being so close to his daughters during their childhood, teenage years and as adults.
He says: "My father died of leukaemia when I was nine, so I didn't have a route map for how to be a father. There are moments now when I'm talking to the girls and I think I don't really sound like a father. But we have an incredibly close relationship.
"I'll hear them talk about their childhood and it sounds like Absolutely Fabulous. Jackie and I would be tottering around in some appallingly overdressed way, with friends saying, “Can you get the champagne out of the fridge?” while the children were quietly bringing themselves up."
It might fill some men with fear and or dread, but Laurence happily admits being the only male in the house as the children grew up was actually wonderful.
He says: "I've always enjoyed being the only man in a female household. We're like a pride of lions — I'm on the rocky outcrop while these very fierce lionesses are down on the plain, killing antelope.
"It also helped in the tumultuous teenage years. I could be more outside the argument — if I can find a weaselly way out, I'll take it." Sign up for our Amazing Welsh Homes newsletter here so you can get more stories about properties.
