Ridley told to chuck out the chintz

He is an Oscar-winning film director who has lived in one of Hampstead's grandest homes for more than 20 years. But when Ridley Scott decided the £7 million house needed a makeover, he got rather more than he bargained for from the interior designer he hired for advice.

Chester Jones told him the decor in parts of the Old Grove House resembled a "Sixties Brighton hairdressing salon" and declared his chintzy curtains, nostalgic ornaments and tacky light fittings had to go.

However, Sir Ridley could not have been too upset - the report by the Battersea designer has now been submitted to Camden council as part of an application for permission to make alterations to the 18th-century, Grade-II listed property.

The 68-year-old, whose hit movies include Gladiator, Alien and Thelma And Louise, hopes to upgrade the house he shares with his actress wife Giannina Facio, 50, who played Maximus's wife in Gladiator.

The couple were spurred into action by Mr Jones's waspish criticism of their reproduction decor, clutter and faux-rustic styling. His report said: "I feel that neither the planning nor the decorations work in this house. The decorations are too imitation to be satisfactory."

Mr Jones singled out a chimney piece on the first floor as "dreadful" and said the dining room was "far too rustic for an 18th-century building".

"Let us banish all of the nostalgic bits and bobs," he wrote. "Rooms would benefit from film memorabilia, reference books, posters, photos and some drawings. The lower-ground floor back entrance hall is a joke - the plasterwork looks like a Sixties Brighton hairdressing salon. Surely this must be stripped out and simplified.

"As a first impression of the house, it is not a good one." Photographs submitted with the planning application show a study painted canary yellow in which the couple's elaborate taste for stone busts, chandeliers, ornate rugs and large paintings is apparent.

A picture of the sitting room reveals their penchant for bright fabrics, sweeping curtains and dramatic table lamps while a spare bedroom, which the couple want to convert into a gym, has matching chintz fabric draped over the window and bedside tables.

Sir Ridley hopes to build a gazebo and summerhouse in his garden, increase the size of his garage and remodel the attic.