- yesterday
Documentary, CH4 - Millionaires' Mansions- Series 3 - Chelsea
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00the international elite are buying up London property in numbers never seen
00:07before you would never get this unless you're in the league of like a 50
00:11million pound house this is amazing with such demand property developers are now
00:17selling fully furnished apartments for millionaires short on time at some level
00:23we are selling an entire lifestyle I mean the knives and forks are in the
00:27drawer there's the right vintage champagne in the fridge thank you but not every
00:32international client wants somebody else's interior vision what if the woman
00:36in the family is a working girl we don't actually do womanly houses at all I'm not
00:43sure if I want to use interior designer honestly nobody better than me knows what
00:49I want in the exclusive area of Chelsea developers and new residents are finding
00:55their tastes at odds with the locals this is going to be a stir in steel and
01:00timber it's going to have leather trance really yeah it's very very expensive but
01:05one has to ask is it actually good taste I wanted to see the fish tank from the
01:12toilet the builders were horrified as new residents move in the old guard is
01:19quietly moving out rather difficult for artists to stamp up for these old plates
01:24in our village but that's happened all over Chelsea I think I feel because it's
01:29become so expensive
01:32as London's housing market continues to attract the international elite property developers are
01:46flourishing but whilst 10 years ago new homes were sold empty interior designers are now muscling in you
01:55can now buy an elite home with an elite lifestyle ready-made inside what we're
02:02coming to see today is some apartments within the heart of Mayfair for reasons
02:07of discretion we're not going to reveal the address or film the outside of the building
02:12okay so Sally McCarrath's an architect who's been working with a developer on a three-bedroom flat now
02:24selling for 16 million pounds this is the bit we can tell this is a piece I picked up from the 60s
02:33it's an Italian piece that came from Paris there is some pieces in the apartment that are extremely
02:41valuable that are on loan from some of the galleries in the area in this flat
02:47Sally's pulled together millions of pounds of art and furniture all of which can be bought with the
02:53apartment it's a strategy known as turnkey development it's really just the device to
02:59give people the opportunity to just write the cheque walk in and and get on with it at this level of
03:07the market it's a very international buyer they probably have properties in all the cities you would
03:14expect they come to London and they say okay I've got two days I want to buy an apartment show me what
03:21you've got and what they don't want is to buy the same as everybody else necessarily want these kind
03:32of incidental Sally speculates on who might buy the flat and creates a personality for them told through
03:38the interior we're responding to 20 year olds you see them driving around London up and down Park Lane
03:47in these kind of incredible car wrapped Lamborghinis what they want is a level of credibility in their
03:54peer group books by the side of the bed the general debris of life stylish debris but it's it feels real to
04:05give any younger buyer a cultured look Sally's even curated a 4,000 book library it's now about just
04:12having the right smattering of French philosophy a little bit of abstract art yes it's contrived but
04:18it's real and credible it adds credibility perhaps for the purchaser but Sally's work is a gamble there's no
04:27guarantee that a new owner won't simply rip out everything she spent months putting in if somebody
04:34didn't want this would you have to crane it out again yes we have to make a best guess we don't know
04:38whether someone will want any of it that's any of the furniture any of the art there's definitely
04:44an element of risk doing it like this but if we're right there are people who don't have the time that
04:52do possibly have the money to say I'll take the whole lot each project success depends on Sally
05:05correctly guessing any buyers lifestyle get it right and they'll be falling over themselves to
05:11invest get it wrong and people won't look beyond the front room in Chelsea she's beginning another
05:19ambitious and speculative turnkey project we know that Diana was painted in this building we know that
05:29Margaret Thatcher was painted here we know Oscar Wilde used to hang out here we know the Prince of Wales came here
05:36Prince of Wales from the 1870s that is not the current Prince of Wales
05:40Sally is developing this recently vacated artist studio into a turnkey home that marries artistic history with the trappings of super luxury
05:50there's a kind of checklist if you like of things that people at this level of the market might be
05:59looking for gyms I don't go to a public gym it's what everyone calls the media room it's a cinema room
06:06really lots of comfortable furniture to sit on some beautiful art laundries and wine cellars and ski
06:13storage but what makes this apartment unique is the original double height painting studio this is the
06:21room that arguably sells the apartment I mean it's huge absolutely huge we're going for it a bit with this
06:29room because it feels like we kind of owe it to the building this is the room we've got to get right
06:35because we could get it so wrong it could be an absolute disaster I suppose like all Sally's turnkey
06:42projects at this stage she has no idea who might live here we don't know who's going to buy this they
06:50could be American Middle Eastern Russian I have no clue it's going to be someone I suspect a rather
06:59more flamboyant character who really sees themselves living this kind of life you know
07:04it's surely not to everyone's taste but we'll we'll see we'll see who appeals to turnkey
07:14development is sweeping across the capital as the time-poor super rich jet in for their weekend
07:19property deals but not every client is in such a rush Troy she's way too small for you she's way too
07:31small okay sorry Julia is a Russian expat with an estimated 20 million pound property empire and two dogs Troy and Boris
07:44Boris no national landmark you London is very very old city it has a soul but it still kept a young
08:01personality we have properties in Moscow we had until the recent time properties in America which we sold we
08:09don't see the point of keeping it so far and right now we have in one yes four properties in London but
08:23Julia is now on the hunt for a new London home and has decided to look around a four million pound turnkey
08:29development near Covent Garden Julia hi I'm Paul from Beechman states very nice to meet you how are you
08:36very very good the whole look and feel is like you know Venetian palazzo or so it's it's very very
08:43it's very Italian still a little bit theatrical yes they kept the theme definitely and the furniture is it
08:50finished okay okay as you see it that's what you get the interior design the entire package is sold with
08:57the apartment like Sally this developer has curated an interior to wow potential buyers so this is the
09:06the main bedroom which is a different color nice touch beige that's for the very particular taste this
09:16one table could be much much better much better it's eclectic you have to be very talented to put
09:25the collective pieces together because again feels like it was bought in Zara this was turnkey with Julia
09:32seems to be a risky business if you are selling the flat for million you have to put more forts in a
09:40decoration you have to invest more even the wooden chairs it has to be completely different up hosting
09:46and it definitely won't be beige for every client who buys in a hurry perhaps there's also one who will
09:55pick everything apart look how much effort they put into this place okay for me wrong effort
10:02it's very seldom done right and look how quickly it could go wrong and it's so much remodeling
10:11involved in the future again there's a pop downstairs wow that's a neighbor for four million pounds
10:22there's there's a neighbor for you on a Friday evening so no I wouldn't buy this particular one
10:29London's place at the top of the international property market has sparked a flourish of building
10:42across the capital designers are now creating thousands of apartments offering ready-made London lifestyles
10:49lifestyles but it's not for everyone come on in yes behind come on in after her visit to a turnkey
11:01development Julia has bought a five-story townhouse that's untouched and empty that what's sold this
11:09house I love the idea of the open space the more open the better and from here you can see a little
11:17garden and I hope my four-legged family will be very happy there I think it's very very English you
11:24know it's always my home my castle when you start in your house you always have to think what you want
11:32from the house and I know exactly what I want it has a ceiling light so if we will I don't know open and make all
11:41that light go down and maybe we can put a very long chandelier I think it could make a very interesting
11:49wow point having already paid six million pounds for the house Julia now wants to completely rebuild the
11:56inside oh that's the kitchen I want this house to suit all the two of us and occasional guests so I want one room per floor
12:09that's what I want and one more thing I want to dig into the basement because look where will you fit
12:16the gym with ideas buzzing Julia's off to choose an interior designer not a decision she's taking lightly
12:30it's very important decision because at the end of the day you will be working with this person non-stop
12:36for another year and a half at least and if I don't like the person that means he won't like me or she
12:43won't like me and that will be disaster maybe with a stronger woman I will reach my goal faster the
12:52strong woman top of her list is currently on a recce at London's luxury trade fair
12:57how perfect for this for his roof terrace Nicola Fontanella has a reputation as one of London's most
13:14innovative interior designers this is good for the stage look at this like it's like sack how cool
13:20is that part of the recce today is to see what's out there what's coming up what we don't want to
13:30use because a lot of this is very commercial so it's very high street and we don't really do high
13:35street the only thing I hate about this is I can't bear the fixings why I kind of look out out of the
13:42box most people don't understand where I'm coming from straight away and then it all comes together
13:47kind of like Elizabethan rock and roll this trade show is showcasing the cutting edge of European
13:54interior design maybe it's just on the edge of being Essex yeah you have to have gold plating
14:01it was caviar against silver ruins the taste and these are vodka shots I think it's really
14:07rude that there is any caviar or vodka in there at all this is a Verdi Guatemala solid marble bathtub
14:15the lump of marble that this was carved from started life at eight tons the most expensive we
14:21done was from a solid piece of rock crystal that was 625,000 pounds girls move come on no move move
14:29for Nicola it's not quite cutting-edge enough I know what you're thinking Rachel but I to be honest
14:36with you there's nothing here this is pretty awful there's some things that I really think are just
14:45not for us but they'll do very well that's the whole point but the show is not that inspiring
14:54Nicola is meeting Julia for the first time it could be the start of a long relationship what we need to
15:11find out today is actually what she wants and we need to know what her style is we need to know her
15:16budget we need some time frame and we need to know that we can work together which is most important
15:21she might even like me that's the other thing you know like a lot of clients a lot of clients you know
15:30I'm bit like Marmite they know I'm gonna make them a lot of money they don't necessarily like me but you
15:35know that I'm somebody gets the job done at last we finally meet have you had a tea and coffee yes thank
15:42you okay pleased to meet you very nice to meet you Nicola fontanella do you want to come through
15:48Bbf you asked Julia if she'd like a drink will be coffee will be nice thank you on the low ground
15:59floor will be the living room the kitchen and the dining room okay kitchen does not have to be a very
16:05big one no because I'm not a great cook no okay but I like to entertain his and her dressing room
16:11not his and hers but I would love to have a very big closet do you like his and her master bathroom or
16:18you're quite happy having a master bathroom together it has to be big but it could be you know you're
16:23happy sharing maybe a little bit of difficulty there because my husband likes very modern yeah and I
16:29tend to incline to more traditional style I like to keep the details yes so that symbiose will be
16:36probably hard to deliver yeah so we have a yin and yang scenario it sounds like the perfect marriage
16:41okay I want to deliver your dream I want you to have the best house I want you to be like so happy
16:48Nicola delivered exactly what I wanted so I'll learn something from you when you're entering the Chelsea
16:54house the staircase is the first thing you see so it has to be striking it has to be imposing but
17:02comfortable for us and then for the dogs to go up yeah and the thing you mentioned about the dogs kind
17:08of worries me about how far did the dogs go up the house do they go into your bedroom area or are they
17:13they allowed only on kitchen level yes they allowed everywhere oh my goodness yes yes that's fine it's a
17:20challenge we know the challenge I never said that will be easy no no exactly at the high end the best
17:27way to choose your designer is to snoop around their previous work so Julia what we did here this is
17:35this a lateral apartment it's probably one of the best lateral apartments in London right now on the market
17:44you would never get this unless you're in the league of like a 50 million pound house so I know it's not
17:49your style modern yeah I mean it was not really art deco it's really more classical because the black
17:57and white floors are very classic of the period of a Georgian property this two-story apartment has been
18:04developed as a turnkey and is on sale for 20 million pounds everything's bespoke we bespoke the kitchen so
18:11we've mixed a lot of different finishes we have polished walnut this is the stone that we use in Miami
18:18actually so it's to give it a very different look because every kitchen is so boring this is all
18:24bronze inlay this is wonderful so all this design this is all bronze the stuff he has done bespoke
18:30everything's done bespoke we don't have anything off the shelf no this is this is very impressive this is
18:36very impressive I like your attention to details okay you're right it's not my style I know it's not your
18:41style because everyone's unique it's just to give you an idea of the detailing Nicola has furnished the
18:46apartment from top to toe offering clients and their staff a complete home identity first they
18:53get a manual on how to clean everything and then the housekeeper will have a manual photograph of
18:58every shelf we photograph every shelf let me just explain so here we will photograph this how it has to
19:06look like how it has to look and then because most clients are buying the lifestyle and they love it
19:11like this and then the housekeeper will move this they'll move this and it will look horrendous so
19:17then we get called back to the house ten times arranging accessories so now what I've learned over the
19:23years if I give them a manual this shelf looks like this so then if they want to put it back they can put
19:28it back or and generally I go back into people's homes five or six years later they're identical everybody
19:35wants to turnkey they want to move in with these people are always very busy they want to move in
19:39with their own stuff they move in with their suitcases but a much earlier stage of development this five
19:46story Mayfair townhouse will go on sale later this year you okay yeah because I'm gonna be all dusty
19:52yeah but it's fine I'm lucky all the time I have the dirtiest fur coat in London anyway so in here this
20:01is going to be the pool is it necessary please standard out of like every ten houses eight of them that
20:07we're working on we'll have a pool spa area massage is usual so they basically you don't need to go out
20:16ever no ever how much do you think project of this scale yes it would cost about 10 million to do
20:23spend okay and it probably got 30 million no way more way more way more way more way more so the
20:32basically this particular house come fully furnished you know people will bring their own Picasso's and
20:37their own Monet or Damien Hirst or whatever they're buying or collecting here you know and we were in the
20:43study and you went all the studies very masculine it's very much Mayfair what if the woman in the
20:49family is a working girl will you do it all in pink we don't actually do work with many girly houses at all
20:56for Julia this is not the creative partnership that she'd imagined will two opinionated women work well
21:09together I'm not sure about that and my husband is very involved in a project but I'm not sure he needs
21:18to be intimidated all the time designing one's dream home is no easy task regardless of the budget
21:28everyone has their own unique tastes and styles but when you're designing a house with no idea who will
21:36live in it it's even more difficult we're creating a home for the unknown person which is you know a
21:45difficult thing at the best of times so Sally McCarrath is still choosing the interior for her luxury
21:50artists studio most chandeliers are going to be drowned by that room it's just too huge we had the idea of
21:57clouds we could play safe and do just generic I don't know white ceilings and French grey walls and but
22:07we're not going to do that because this house was never that this was this extraordinary place with
22:14extraordinary creative people who cross the threshold and see the challenge is how we communicate old Chelsea
22:23and all the magic and all the stories that have happened here without making it like some old
22:29fusty old museum but we've actually got to repurpose it for the 21st century Sally is trying to create a
22:36millionaire's vision of Chelsea that celebrates its bohemian heyday and to advise her she's called upon a
22:45Chelsea resident steeped in local history this is my my collection of Chelsea books this is a very
22:54important pair of books which is the first history of Chelsea written in 1829 by somebody called Thomas
23:01Faulkner without showing off at all I suppose I am I am considered an authority on Chelsea some people call
23:09the mr. Chelsea but I think that's a bit extreme David Lillet has lived in Chelsea for 50 years the very
23:19name Chelsea conjures up the idea of something artistic vaguely bohemian slightly risky and that's what Chelsea
23:31lives off of course today it's neither artistic nor bohemian it's where the rich of the world
23:38lives nothing nothing in Chelsea comes cheap might be very nice and very agreeable but cheap it ain't
23:45we don't have Greg's in the King's Road have you ever heard of Greg's Sally has called on David to
23:57advise her on the studio's historic details and this is going to be a stir in steel and timber and brass and
24:07leather it's going to have leather treads I mean yeah we're doing silver walls Frederick the great
24:12light silver guilt did you know that good I mean good as opposed to gold guilt um so what we're doing
24:18here is a new part very much a 21st century bit of the building it doesn't leak in particular Sally has a
24:32plan to restore the painting studio to its original bright yellow is there some truth in this rumor
24:39about the studio being yellow Augustus Charles Howell described standing in this room like standing in
24:48the yoke of an egg I mean that's an extraordinary depth to the color and here's that here's this
24:53painting this is this is that a portrait that is this room in this room it was it called the yellow
25:00in the piece that's right are you planning to paint it yellow that's that's well actually well what we are
25:07planning to do is put yellow fabric all over the walls today is much cheaper Sally's ambition is
25:15somewhat at odds with David's more conservative tastes one thing that I do wonder is why this is
25:22being done when Sally's client is a property speculator who's going to sell the property taste is very much
25:31in the eyes of the beholder I just think that in this case an enormous amount of money is being
25:36spent just for the sake of spending money in central London where developers and interior designers are
25:48awash with work one lady is bucking the trend in her recently purchased 6 million pound townhouse Russian
25:56expat Julia has decided to go it alone in remodeling her home I don't even understand the idea coming and
26:05just buying already a made-up house I don't want anybody just to check everything inside and say this
26:11is your new home no that will be home at least it won't be mine you're not invited her latest avenue of
26:20inspiration is her next-door neighbor is the cable speak English yeah yeah absolutely Taylor Johnson lives in an
26:36identical sized house to Julia but has spent two years building an extra basement and double height
26:42living room such a big windows how hard is to open it it's very easy everything is controlled from the
26:50iPad so heating electricity everything so and we have a English weather to come in she's gutted the Chelsea
27:01interior and filled it with specially commissioned artwork from Georgia these are all our children with
27:08their partners we have 10 children in total so but seven living in the house three older ones you have a 10 you
27:16have 10 children yes 10 children in total between us incredible so that's the basement here is the loop so I
27:26wanted to see the fish tank from the toilet the builders were horrified said oh you can see everything so we had to add more slates
27:36but it's actually I wanted to see more there is a dining room on the other side so you don't want it to be the you know from
27:44dining room to see what's going on in there this is petrified moss that's been injected with silicon this is
27:52incredible because I thought it's a tile no no it's real a real moss sometimes it produces the smell of real moss and I
28:01think it's really yes so it's very very interesting I like like you use your own ideas you know what you like and you go for that yes
28:12look at this the effect is striking for Julia tears model is an inspiring one I'm not sure if I want to use interior designer
28:23honestly because I'm not professional I can do whatever I want I'm not constricted by the rules I
28:30can go outside of the box maybe it won't be that bad oh I hope it won't be that bad for those that can
28:39afford to Chelsea's artists studios and houses offer the chance to create extraordinary homes few other
28:46neighborhoods offer such unique spaces but for the few artists still remaining Chelsea is perhaps
28:53becoming a more difficult place to live Manhattan from New Jersey 18 by 24 signed varnished stretched and
29:05framed Serena's husband spent 45 years painting from this studio close to the Thames
29:13I moved in with when we got married and in 1971 and we were paying 15 pounds a week but now a
29:23developer has bought the freehold of the building and she can't afford to contribute to its renovation
29:28they did give me figures large figures was actually quite out of the question financially so I decided I
29:43had to sell for the old guard in Chelsea the ways of the international super rich are all a bit
29:49bemusing they're digging under the garden they're going to put it back on top I gather basement I think
29:56is going to be a sort of media rooms I didn't know just sort of underground living exercising I expect
30:03to be a good gym is not what people want now I did after almost 50 years Serena is leaving Chelsea for a smaller
30:14flat across the river you want to take the chairs down yeah I hope everything's going to fit that's my big
30:21worried. This is the bit I wanted to show you. This is Cecilia, this is Eugenie and that's me
30:29there. It's a wonderful place to bring out the children already. Definitely miss it and there'll
30:35be big changes so it'll be a very different place from what what I know. With four months to go
30:48until her artist studio completes, Sally is in Paris with her assistant Hannah on a continental
30:54shopping trip. I quite like it. It's got the leather. What were you thinking for the studio?
31:00For the main space? Could that work in one of the bedrooms? It makes you smile. Oh Hannah, look at this.
31:06It's swayed inside. It's so 1970. I love coming here. It's really inspiring. It's a mixture of
31:13seriously old pieces and gallery settings. It's very, very expensive. And then you see
31:20some terrible things and I quite like the mad cacophony of it all. You know, it's part of the
31:26fun is unearthing things. Wow, look at those acrylic chairs. Fantastic, 70s acrylic chairs.
31:32Sally is trying to attract a buyer with aspirations to be part of old bohemian Chelsea.
31:39Aren't they cute? Would it fit there? No. For sure. Yeah, that's neat. When you walk into a home that is incredibly stylish, you probably make certain assumptions about what that person does and the people that come and sit around their dining table. And really what we're trying to do is appeal to that. And that is a difficult thing to do.
32:09Sally's plan is to create an eclectic interior where every piece of furniture tells a story. This will create the illusion of a lifetime of adventure and artistry for any possible owner.
32:22Just like a stylist might dress a Hollywood celebrity for the Oscars, they don't choose what dress to wear nor what jewellery to put with it. It is done for them. And I guess at some level, we are tastemakers.
32:38She will travel thousands of miles, spending hundreds of thousands of pounds. And in Croatia, she will even explore a hidden world of buried timber.
32:50There is slabs of tree that we're going to be looking at. It's been buried in the mud for 8,000 years, which is an incredible thing.
33:00Sally's planning a dining room table made from bog oak, fallen oak trees that have been submerged in a riverbed for millennia.
33:07Normally only found in sizes suitable for chess pieces or pipes, Sally's found one of the few places on earth where there are planks big enough for a table.
33:19A diver is sent down into the river to look for this wood. And if they're lucky enough to find some, sling a rope around it and pull it up.
33:28And then they spend years drying it. It's very, very precious. The blacker the timber, the older it is.
33:38This wood is just fun and really special. That's going to give us a colour.
33:45The idea that there's a timeline from one end of the table to the other so that you start with 8,000-year-old oak and you almost move towards the end of the table to slightly younger wood, still 6,000 years older.
33:58When you pass the salt down the table, it's 2,000 years it actually travels down to the end of the table.
34:05Oh, it's pretty good, actually.
34:08At this level of the market, there's an understanding that it's not about the money you spend.
34:14It's the story, the fact it's entirely bespoke.
34:19It's not a disposable, vulgar, wealthy, dripping in gold and shiny marble.
34:26That's not what this is about. It's a one-off.
34:34Sally's desire for a one-off has led to ambitious design decisions, including covering an entire room in bright yellow satin.
34:43Her next stop is Milan, where she's persuaded an Italian company to produce the material especially for her.
34:51Cooking. It's like cooking.
34:52Yes.
34:54There's a lot riding on this moment, I suppose, but I'm excited to see what's going to come out.
34:59Looking a little orange.
35:02Yes.
35:02So, here's where we're headed.
35:07Okay, I can't bear it. Let's have a look.
35:09Yeah.
35:12Okay, I'm just going to do this.
35:13Yes.
35:13I mean, it's a lot darker than what I'm holding in my hand.
35:20By the time 120 metres come off the roll, it better have been a good decision.
35:25You're telling me that it's going to come out exactly like that?
35:29Nervous laugh.
35:30Sally, don't worry. Don't worry at all.
35:32Despite all this effort, Sally knows that if she gets it wrong, any new buyer might simply rip out all her hard work.
35:41It's not even that we have a client who says, that's absolutely what I want.
35:47We're second-guessing the reaction people might have.
35:50They may dislike a piece of art.
35:52They may not like the colour of some of the rooms.
35:55Who knows?
35:56It's speculative, and that's the nature of it.
36:02Following her inspirational snoop around her neighbour's house, Julia is out shopping.
36:11I already started looking for some ideas.
36:14I've been in quite a few shops in terms of the textiles, in terms of the furniture.
36:20Today, I will probably be more interested in a technological side.
36:24Hello.
36:26Hello.
36:26Hi.
36:27Hi.
36:28I'm Julia.
36:28Julia's house must suit her, her husband, and two very large dogs.
36:33Can I take your coat for you?
36:34Oh, that would be lovely.
36:36I like when the fridge is big, because, as I said, I store a lot of...
36:42I have a dog, and my dogs eat raw food, so I need a lot of storage for the freezer.
36:48If you look at these apples, that's been in there...
36:51Since October, six months?
36:54Yes.
36:54Oh, my...
36:55OK, this is very impressive.
36:58It's something that was designed by NASA.
37:00Oh, interesting.
37:01You're catering for NASA?
37:02Yes.
37:04Is this a fridge freezer as well?
37:05Yeah, this is a fridge freezer.
37:06I've known ladies that put one in the bedroom, so they keep their face creams and stuff in,
37:10but that's pretty out there.
37:13Very interesting.
37:14I love the idea.
37:15Julia's vision is for a very 21st-century version of Chelsea life.
37:22Outside my house will look the same, but on the inside, I would like to change as much as possible.
37:28Our house has to be modern, has to be comfortable.
37:31Hi, I'm Julia.
37:32I was just passing...
37:33Also, in the magazines, people are using a lot of leather as a decoration, not only on the walls, but also on the floor.
37:40So, basically, if I'm right now torn between the wooden floor, you know, staircase, which is quite slippery for my four-legged family,
37:48so leather is a good idea?
37:50Yes, I think so, too.
37:51And for the clothes?
37:53Yes, no problem.
37:54Oh, please don't tell me it's a whole bathroom on leather.
37:57So, how often are clients asking for the leather loo?
38:01Well, the toilet itself is probably an extreme, but for the bathtubs, it's just the super high-end luxury market.
38:09For some truly space-age ideas, Julia is heading to a small shop just off Oxford Street.
38:19I don't think your buzzer is working.
38:21It is working, but it's fingerprint recognition.
38:24Come in, please.
38:25Philip Hine runs Cornflake, which showcases the latest in smart home technology.
38:32So, here we are.
38:33We have a mirror TV here, and at the moment, we have the CCTV.
38:40Your outside camera just changed the angle.
38:42Correct, because what we have here is a tracking camera.
38:47If it sees the same face in, say, half an hour, more than three times, it can send you an alert.
38:54You're joking.
38:55To say there might be someone looking to break in.
38:58More interested than necessary.
38:59Correct, correct, Julia.
39:00Right, so now we'll go into the drawing room.
39:04I have two Sharpies.
39:06Yes.
39:06So, what kind of technology, and will they be affected?
39:11So, we can program the computer to feed the dog.
39:14You can give the dog water.
39:15You can even get devices now that will throw the ball.
39:18How lazy you have to get on now?
39:20You can also get devices that you attach to the collar that will give you the heart rate.
39:28If the dog is lonely, they have, like, a little camera, and I can talk to them?
39:32Yes, I've seen that as well.
39:33Yes, I've seen that as well.
39:34So, we'll go through here to the bar and games room area, okay?
39:40Oh, lovely.
39:42We can control anything from anywhere in the world.
39:46People spend a great deal of money.
39:47I mean, refurbs for us, when we're working with a client, they may spend £10 million on a refurb.
39:55They might spend £20 million on a refurb.
39:57£20 million on a refurbishing?
39:59Yeah.
39:59Okay.
40:00So, yes, so this is our cinema.
40:03We have a system...
40:04Over the coming months, Julia will visit hundreds of shops and snoop around many more neighbours' houses.
40:11While she is only a small player in the London property market,
40:15she'll use hundreds of craftsmen and artisans to help her realise her uniquely modern Chelsea dream.
40:23The international buyers bring in the different ideas here,
40:27especially the one who wants to improve the property they bought.
40:32So, they're hiring, you know, the upscale international designers
40:36who wants to bring something new, something innovative, something more interesting.
40:40It's brilliant because London is moving forward.
40:43It's advancing in technologies, in craftsmanship.
40:47And that's a big plus for London,
40:51because I don't think English people want to invest that much in interior design.
40:58And I think it's sad.
41:01Over in Sally's studio development, her precious yellow fabric has arrived.
41:06It's not a bad colour.
41:07I mean, I think it'll be a bit much, but it's not a bad colour.
41:16Woo-hoo!
41:22Fantastic!
41:24Oh, my goodness!
41:25It's extraordinary, isn't it?
41:29It doesn't even look like fabric.
41:31Absolutely amazing.
41:33It's subtle and intriguing, I suppose.
41:36That's exactly what I wanted it to be.
41:40Good job, guys!
41:42How do you get it so tight?
41:44It'll take another month for the rest of Sally's furniture to arrive,
41:48and for her ambitious, if risky, project to complete.
41:52Sure, it's much safer to do what everybody else does.
41:57But, you know, if you just sort of take every project
42:01and do it in a generic way, then, you know, why bother?
42:06I'm not interested in projects like that.
42:09We need something that actually sets it apart from everything else.
42:14It's not long before all the noise has attracted Mr Chelsea himself.
42:18What do you think?
42:28Well, it's... I think it's good, actually.
42:31I think it's the sort of yellow that was filled with light.
42:34Oh, thank God!
42:39I believe, anyway.
42:41You can see...
42:42But the fabric walls aren't the only thing David has to stomach.
42:46There's only one in the whole world.
42:49And it's made from plastic cable ties.
42:52Plastic cable ties.
42:54Don't you just love it?
42:59David's even arrived on the same day
43:01that the bog oak table is delivered.
43:03It's been carbon dated between 7,000 and 8,000 years old.
43:08It comes with a certificate.
43:108,000 years old.
43:108,000 years old.
43:11It's pretty humbling, actually.
43:14Whoa.
43:16It's good.
43:17The brass was the bit I was really worried about.
43:20So what we've done is we've poured brass...
43:22You've filled.
43:23..in where it's naturally split.
43:25You can see it here, actually.
43:27This is very, very nice.
43:28I like this brass infill.
43:31That makes it into a work of art, doesn't it?
43:33A stroke of genius, really, filling it with brass like that.
43:37Looks great.
43:38For David, it's perhaps all a little overwhelming.
43:42Something which I've never encountered before
43:45is dressing up, one might say,
43:49a flat or a house for sale
43:53in such an extravagant and expensive way.
43:58I suppose I find myself not very in tune
44:01with the modern idea of interior design,
44:06which is very sort of quirky.
44:13For Sally, this is another chapter
44:15in the rejuvenation of London's historical streets
44:18and the natural evolution of Chelsea's neighbourhood.
44:23Let's not pretend that this is a new phenomenon,
44:25and that this is foreigners moving in
44:29and taking over our city, and we have no benefits.
44:33Refurbishing old buildings is a very expensive business.
44:37Time and time again, people trot out this, you know,
44:40foreign money, it's bad, we don't want it.
44:43It's too easy to say that.
44:45There's an aspect of this
44:47that I feel very proud to be part of.
44:50You know, we are actually breathing new life
44:52into old buildings.
44:59As long as London's property
45:01remains the safest place
45:03for international investment,
45:05developers and international clients
45:07will continue to transform
45:09these exclusive streets.
45:12For some, this will spell the end of a community.
45:16So this is going?
45:18Yeah.
45:18Two of those.
45:19Those, that's going.
45:21I've emptied them,
45:22because I thought it would be better,
45:23and I've emptied the desk, too.
45:24Oh, beautiful.
45:27I've been hiding under the sofa for many years.
45:30The building was purpose-built for artists
45:35and artists to be able to live and work.
45:39It is sad to see the purpose of the building go,
45:44but that's happened all over Chelsea, I think, I fear,
45:47because it's become so expensive.
45:50Whilst for others,
45:51it will simply mark the beginning of a new community.
45:57Oh, look at this.
45:59I love this street.
46:02And this is former art studios.
46:06Original family, I think, still lived there.
46:09Or maybe lived until recent times.
46:15Should they stay or should they go?
46:17Kirstie and Phil's Love It are listed back
46:19for a brand-new series next Thursday night at 8.
46:23Tomorrow night at 8,
46:24caravan builds,
46:25wilderness lodges and garden retreats
46:28like you've never seen
46:29some of George Clark's amazing tree houses.
46:32But next up tonight,
46:33British Army Girls.
Recommended
47:32
|
Up next
46:39
45:21
57:59
1:29:50
47:27
47:09
58:55
58:53
58:59
59:00
59:13
59:07
47:38
46:59
46:45
45:29
47:00