Boris and Carrie Johnson have been ridiculed for their taste after an invoice revealed the makeover of their Downing Street home cost more than £200,000 – including a £3,675 drinks trolley and £8,500 lamp.
The couple, who share son Wilfred and daughter Romy, refitted the grace and favour apartment at No.11, which reportedly looked like a ‘John Lewis nightmare’ after Theresa May’s residency, with the help of society interiors guru Lulu Lytle.
Lytle is the founder of Soane Britain, a company offering clients wall-to-wall luxe with a promise of bringing ‘joie de vivre’ into the home – for a hefty price. A single rattan light can cost £7,200, while a desk can be more than £10,000.
A leaked copy of the invoice for the renovation, seen by the Independent, reveals that the No11 flat makeover included a £7,000 rug, a £3,675 drinks trolley and two sofas which cost more than £15,000 in total.
However the couple were quickly mocked for their taste online, with many social media users tweeting their dismay at the cost of the renovations.
Boris and Carrie Johnson’s makeover of their Downing Street home cost more than £200,000 – including a £3,675 drinks trolley and £8,500 lamp (pictured a living room designed by Lulu Lytel)
Lytle is the founder of Soane Britain, a company offering clients wall-to-wall luxe with a promise of bringing ‘joie de vivre’ into the home – for a hefty price. A single rattan light can cost £7,200, while a desk can be more than £10,000 (pictured, a room designed by Lytle)
One commented: ‘Leaked: £200,000…That’s what it cost to transform Boris & Carrie’s flat into a Tunnock’s Tea Cake shrine.’
Meanwhile another wrote: ‘Surely this isn’t the result of the PM’s refurbishment of the flat in No.10! If you’re a migraine sufferer you must be really into pain to live with this.’
A third added: ‘I’m sorry but Caza taste is abysmal. Maybe they should of gone to Ikea.’
The cheapest item on the bill was a £500 kitchen table cloth, while £3,000 had been spent on a ‘paint effect’ for the flat’s hallway and two Aten hurricane lights cost £1,775 each.
A leaked copy of the invoice for the renovation reveals that the No11 flat makeover included a £3,675 drinks trolley (left) and two Aten hurricane lights (right) costing £1,775 each
Despite the controversy surrounding the renovation becoming known as ‘Wallpapergate’, the most expensive order from the wallpaper bill was £2,250 for 10 rolls of ‘Espalier Square design’ used in the entrance hall
Other items purchased by the couple included Lytle’s £3,650 Leighton table (left) as well as a £3,800 long, low bookcase from the designer (right)
The couple, who share son Wilfred and daughter Romy, refitted the grace and favour apartment at No.11, which reportedly looked like a ‘ John Lewis nightmare’ after Theresa May ‘s residency, with the help of society interiors guru Lulu Lytle
The Johnsons also ordered a drawing room lamp for £6,000 along with a £2,500 lampshade, the leaked bill suggests.
And despite the controversy surrounding the renovation becoming known as ‘Wallpapergate’, the most expensive order from the wallpaper bill was £2,250 for 10 rolls of ‘Espalier Square design’ used in the entrance hall.
Wallpaper in the drawing room came to £1,500, while 15 rolls for the kitchen came to £825, meaning £4,575 was spent on wallpaper in total.
Although described as ’emerald and stone linen’ in colour, the ‘Espalier’ wallpaper is believed to have inspired Mr Johnson’s frustrated remark that his wife was ‘spending thousands on gold wallpaper’, reports say.
However the couple were quickly mocked for their taste online, with many social media users tweeting their dismay at the cost of the renovations
The building works estimate, which included painting, having the floorboards sanded, and installing new furnishings and fittings, came to £30,000.
The Johnsons ordered a ‘Nureyev Trolley’ worth £3,675, and said to be ‘inspired by a French 1940s drinks trolley owned by ballet dancer Rudolph Nureyev’, according to the leaked bill.
Eight dining chairs cost £11,280, and the couple spent £7,000 on a rug and £3,800 on an antique mirror for the hall.
Meanwhile the £3,650 Leighton table is a cane framed table with a woven rattan top and wrapped joints, which is entirely hand-woven by skilled weavers at Soane’s rattan workshop in Leicestershire.
Eight dining chairs cost £11,280, and the couple spent £7,000 on a rug and £3,800 on an antique mirror for the hall (pictured, a selection of items from Soane catalogue)
Carrie and Boris spent £200,000 decking out the flat with the luxury interior designers latest products
The Cabinet Office leak will revive the long-running controversy over the Johnsons’ refurbishment of their flat above No11.
Money was at the centre of the backlash last year following the news Lytle had been brought in to redesign Downing Street, with critics questioning why the Johnsons needed such an expensive makeover, as well as, more importantly, how it had been funded.
An estimate of £208,104 was sent to the Cabinet Office – which has an annual budget of £30,000 for renovating the Prime Minister’s residence – at the start of 2020 in the early stages of the project, the Independent reports.
The remainder of the cost had been secretly funded by Lord Brownlow and the Conservative Party until Mr Johnson was told to pay for it himself when the scandal was uncovered.
Interior designer Lulu (pictured) previously revealed she ‘hated every minute’ of being caught in the ‘political storm’ over her makeover of Boris and Carrie
Lytle slammed the ‘huge misinformation’ circulating about her brand during the controversy and defended her costs
After a refurbishment of Johnson’s Downing Street flat – led by a celebrity designer and including gold wallpaper – Britain’s electoral commission fined the Conservatives £17,800 for failing to accurately report a donation to pay for it.
Johnson’s ethics adviser later criticised the prime minister for failing to disclose some messages exchanged with the donor.
However, he concluded that Johnson had not intentionally lied about the messages.
Interior designer Lulu previously revealed she ‘hated every minute’ of being caught in the ‘political storm’ over her makeover of Boris and Carrie.
Pictured: A section of the leaked Soane’s bill, showing what was ordered for the drawing room
A further section of the invoice showed the spending in the kitchen, entrance hall and dining room
The final part of the bill showed the cost of building work to the property, which was totted up at £30,000
‘I hated every minute,’ she told the Financial Times. ‘I found it incredibly disquieting to be caught up in a political storm.’
Lytle slammed the ‘huge misinformation’ circulating about her brand and defended her costs, saying: ‘If you’re paying your staff properly, and there’s healthcare and there’s training, that all comes at a cost.
‘We don’t know how chemicals are being discarded of in manufacturing in certain parts of the world.’
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