Laurence Llewelyn Bowen is being fitted for another of his extravagant suits. Like the flamboyant interior designs he is famous for, his wardrobe is as equally outrageous.

"A little more lace if possible," he says to his dressmaker. The king-of-cuffs will be wearing a new "frock", as he likes to call his outfits, every week on his new TV series. The star designer, who rose to fame in the hit makeover series Changing Rooms, now has his own programme on Wednesday nights.

Fantasy Rooms is similar in format to Changing Rooms with before and after transformations, but this time willing participants let Laurence loose in their homes to create their ultimate dream room.

"I wanted to do a series that explored design in a more detailed way than Changing Rooms could ever do," explained Laurence, who trained as a fine artist. "To look at more indulgent, more opulent ideas, most of which revolve around a historical style."

Laurence was pleasantly surprised by just how adventurous his six volunteers ended up being.

"What I didn't really count on is just how individualistic the British public are," he said.

"Saying that the people featured on the programme are eccentric is probably going a little far but they certainly have a real independence of spirit. The kind of free thinking that makes them want an Egyptian burial chamber as a dining room, and hang what the neighbours think.

"I think there's always that British thing of outward conformity but inside we seem to be a seething mass of fantasy and sexiness. It certainly makes you wonder what's really going on behind the net curtains in surburbia."

It would look like the days of magnolia walls and avocado bathroom suites are well and truly numbered. They will be if Laurence has anything to do with it.

So convinced is he, that he's launching a new wallpaper collection in Southampton and Fareham today. The wacky wallpaper includes a "Sexy" range described in very Laurence-esque terms as the combination of opulence, indulgence, champagne and mystery.

Despite the modern-day popularity of the minimilist look, he's adamant there is a place for wallpaper in our homes again.

"The way we're decorating our houses might have that sort of edited feel but when you're just painting walls - there's always a degree of flatness. Pattern and texture of wallpaper really brings a room alive and gives decor more dimension."

He reckons that even without the aid of a Handy Andy, it's as easy to wallpaper room as it is to paint it. Even with his cuffs They surely must get in the way when he decorates a room.

"The only time they cause me massive problems is when I'm trying to change my daughter Hermione's nappy," he says.

From his description, his own home is not surprisingly rather way out if a little modest.

"It's as flamboyant as you can get in a rather unlovely little bungalow," Laurence says.

"Largely open plan with a spiral staircase in the hallway and a series of curved walls with random niches backlit and full of china. Everything is fruity pastel colours - strong greens, lilacs and pinks."

His outlandish tastes are obviously not to everyone's liking. As to whether his makeovers in Fantasy Rooms will reduce any of the homeowners to tears as they have done on Changing Rooms, Laurence doesn't think so.

"Because it's about people's visions, they were very involved all the way through. Sometimes after Changing Rooms, I'd be thinking what I could have done that they would have liked. This series is more like working with clients in real life."

He likens his previous disasters, where owners have demanded to have their room put back as it was before his handiwork, to like losing a game of tennis.

"You feel very much you lost that one and you've let people down. I don't like sitting down and thinking I only had £500, I only had two days. But you've got to see it in its context.

"Whatever I might feel about the fact they didn't like it, I have to be grown up about the fact that 14million people out there encouraging me and baying for blood.

That blood could well be blue next. The Queen and her corgis should take cover for Her Majesty could find herself the next victim of a Fantasy Rooms makeover. Laurence is desperate to get into Buckingham Palace with his paintbrushes.

"The state of that place is really bringing me down, he said. "All that gold paint and red draylon is awful. It's about time we did something a lot more up front and funky there.

"I've seen council flats that are far more exciting, more lavish, more regal than Buckingham Palace."

Fantasy Rooms, Wednesdays, BBC2, 8pm

Laurence will be at the Southampton Great Mills store in Botley Road from 1.30pm to 2.30pm and the Fareham store in Newgate Lane from 3.30pm to 4.30pm. No tickets required - just turn up at the store.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.