Images of decorated room are not the Downing Street refurbishment

29 April 2021
What was claimed

An image of a highly patterned room is a picture from the Downing Street flat refurbishment.

Our verdict

This image has been around since at least 2017, and seems to be a picture from interior designer and Soane co-founder Lulu Lytle’s previous work on her own home.

In the midst of discussions around the spending on the refurbishment of the Prime Minister’s Downing Street flat, an image of a brightly decorated room has been widely shared on social media, including by Labour MP David Lammy. Posts either say, or seem to imply, that the room may be part of the re-decoration of the Downing Street flat. Certainly, social media users seem to have made this association judging from the comments beneath the posts. 

This is not a photograph of the newly decorated Downing Street premises. Instead, the image seems to be of a room from interior designer Lulu Lytle’s own home.

Ms Lytle is a co-founder of interiors company Soane Britain, and the room was pictured on the company’s Instagram account in 2017. The room is also featured in a YouTube video in 2019 where Ms Lytle talks through the decorative design choices in her London home. 

While it has been suggested that Ms Lytle has been an inspiration for, and perhaps designed the revamp, there is no suggestion that this picture is a reflection of the actual rooms in the newly decorated Downing Street flat. 

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