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Property Title
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Knightsbridge 6 Bedroom Penthouse apartment |
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Address
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6 Bedroom Penthouse Apartment SW3 |
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Property Type
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Luxury Serviced Apartment Lets |
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10000 Sq ft of Luxuriously appointed residential space in Knightsbridge for Long or Short term rental
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Glamorous glass-clad furniture, a monumental table for 14 diners, a cocktail bar and plinths for oversized vases, with Swarovski crystals glittering from the bevels, were commissioned from a favourite maker in Rome at a cost of about £130,000. And in a niche opposite the dining area, a tiny dark gem of a study showcases in shorthand the owners’ typically virtuoso handling of textures, with mock-croc leather on the padded walls and tiled floor, cabinetry faced with glossy Italian veneers, dyed shagreen (sharkskin) on the desktop and a heavyweight ribbed silk curtain (fabric by JAB Anstoetz) that can be drawn across for privacy.
It is Goddard, who studied textile design at the Royal College of Art, who deserves credit for assembling these gorgeous, tactile surfaces. “I’m layout, volume and numbers, and Paul is colour and texture,” Davies explains. Goddard jokes that their deficiencies are complementary: “I’m innumerate and he’s dyslexic.”
Their passion for textiles is given free rein in the bedrooms. “We call it bed couture. It’s one of our favourite things,” Davies says. “Dressing a bed is like dressing a person.” I reflect that the person he has in mind probably doesn’t turn up in a T-shirt and Uniqlo jeans, like his interviewer.
So, what is bed couture? Crucially, rooms are devoid of clutter or ornament. Capacious wall storage, faced with dyed veneer touch-release doors, hides any mess. The bed is placed centre stage and given a bedhead that extends to the ceiling and spreads out to the wall. These outsize headboards come in exotic materials from eel skin (like raw silk) to hand-painted leather. And beds are swathed in bespoke linens and adorned with up to 22 handmade cushions — sequined, feathered, woven and embroidered — positioned in descending order of size and ranked spirit-level straight.
I’m beginning to get the sense that Pauls D&G might be, let us say, picky, when we move to the bathrooms. The adjoining master bathrooms include a rain shower and steam room, a hydrotherapy spa room with a tub for two and a curvy bath in white Carrara marble.
Each guest bathroom is in a different marble, with exquisite skeins of coloured veining. I admire the effect and am inducted into the inflexible house rules on the subject: marble must be “book-matched”. This means every edge must match a corresponding pattern on the edge of the next slab, forming one uninterrupted pattern throughout.
“I know it’s slightly David Beckham obsessive-compulsive, but that’s how we want it,” Davies says. And do their clients expect the same standards? Both Pauls goggle aghast: not, it turns out, at the possibility of a client opting for an inferior way with marble cladding, but at the concept of customer choice.
“Unless we’ve got complete freedom to do what we want, we can’t work for someone,” Davies says. Nevertheless, they seem to be universally adored by their patrons. “Cher asked if we were included in the cost,” Goddard recalls. “She wanted to keep us.” He adds: “Cher’s very property-savvy.”’
Until the master bedroom, the decor has remained just this side of over the top. Here, I’m delighted to report, it finally slips on ruby slippers and dances over that boundary.
“This must be the best bedroom in London,” Goddard purrs from the depths of the white shag pile, made of Persian kitten fur. (Okay, it’s silk, but it feels like kitten). The panorama over Hyde Park is stupendous; the black-and-white photos of Audrey Hepburn and the bedside image of Gucci stilettos are adorable. Even the smell is delicious: vanilla and pineapple candles. Needless to say, there are cushions by the square mile, each more extravagant than the last, but the icing on the cake? The towering white-buttoned leather headboard is studded with hundreds of Swarovski crystals.
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