One of the home's three bathrooms has a wall decorated in covers from the New Yorker magazine, some dating to 1957.

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They transferred the original living-room ceiling cypress stenciled with Moorish stars to cover a loggia and decorated an exterior wall with a set of weathered brass gates.

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From a wealthy Normandy family (a photograph of the family chateau unapologetically decorated his office wall in Brussels), Mr Lamy may not share Mr Delors's sentimental affection for the peasantry, but his political antennae are just as sharp.

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Sitting in his cosy private apartment decorated with gold brocade wall coverings, fine antique furniture and paintings, he explained to me how the Knights are changing.

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Antique ornaments and fragrant boughs of Austrian spruce decorated hundred-year-old wall sconces above tables whose diners, young and (very) old, gleefully attacked carb-rich Viennese pastries and coffees piled high mit Schlag.

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Many of the surrounding walls, which are brightly decorated with graffiti art, are the product of locally-organised painting sessions known as the Wall Project, which get people together with spray cans and paintbrushes to beautify their surroundings.

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Admittedly on the cosy side, they are beautifully decorated with cute furniture, flower-patterned wallpaper and gathered-up curtains, and all come with a wall-mounted flat-screen TV and a funky little bathroom.

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