Home, sweet home

Fancy houses are one of my weaknesses. The Parade of Homes has always been one of my favorite events, and I liked the short-lived Street of Dreams even more because the houses were even bigger. If I had a lot of money, I'd probably spend too much of it on a really luxurious home with every amenity imaginable. But this is too much even for me:

Like many families with the means to do so, the Ambanis wanted to build a custom home. They consulted with architecture firms Perkins + Will and Hirsch Bedner Associates, the designers behind the Mandarin Oriental, based in Dallas and Los Angeles, respectively. Plans were then drawn up for what will be the world's largest and most expensive home: a 27-story skyscraper in downtown Mumbai with a cost nearing $2 billion, says Thomas Johnson, director of marketing at Hirsch Bedner Associates.

[. . .]

When the Ambani residence is finished in January, completing a four-year process, it will be 550 feet high with 400,000 square feet of interior space.

[. . .]

Atop six stories of parking lots, Antilla's living quarters begin at a lobby with nine elevators, as well as several storage rooms and lounges. Down dual stairways with silver-covered railings is a large ballroom with 80% of its ceiling covered in crystal chandeliers. It features a retractable showcase for pieces of art, a mount of LCD monitors and embedded speakers, as well as stages for entertainment. The hall opens to an indoor/outdoor bar, green rooms, powder rooms and allows access to a nearby "entourage room" for security guards and assistants to relax.

Wow, that's 200 times the interior space of my house -- and if I lived there, I'd spend most of my time in one corner of the living room or the kitchen, just like I do now. That would leave roughly 399,600 square feet for my stuff, which sounds about right.