Luxury Lifestyle, Design & Architecture blog

Goldgenie Creates the Most Expensive Bike Completely Plated in 24 Carat Gold The luxury brands become hyper active during the Christmas season and often come up with lavish and even outlandish gift ideas. Goldgenie, based in London, is something of a specialist in creating luxury gifts and can practically gold plate anything. Golden watches and mobile phones have become common so this year they have brought out a men’s racing bicycle covered completely in 24 carat gold plating. It is the most comprehensive job of gold plating you will ever see as even the handlebar, spokes and chain has also been gold plated in pure gold. As a result it has not only become the most luxurious bike but the most expensive bike carrying a price tag of a whopping £250,000. It is not only the most expensive bike but more expensive than a Ferrari and will surely give bragging rights to the owner. Its uniqueness and golden finish makes it a greater status symbol than luxury cars. Goldgenie has gone a st...

There is a nip in the air and Christmas is knocking at the door. As for the Christmas trees and ornaments, they are making their first appearances of the season. Leading the way are the most expensive Christmas tree by Japanese jeweler Ginza Tanaka and the enormous Swarovski star. The Most Expensive Christmas Tree Ginza Tanaka is famous for his lavish gold creations. You might remember the $850,000 Gold Christmas Tree he created in 2006, or the Ginza Tanaka Mickey Mouse from 2008. This year, Tanaka is being even more extravagant as he creates yet another Christmas tree that is worth its weight in gold. Crafted from 12 kilograms of solid gold, the 2011 Christmas tree by Tanaka soars to a height of 2.4 meters and costs an equally high $1.95 million. This may not be any competition for the odd $19 million diamond handbag, but it remains by far, the costliest Christmas tree ever. Even the ornaments are made of gold. You will find golden plates, 50-odd heart ornaments and gold ribbon ado...

Now you have a solid gold 24 carat bicycle which has naturally taken over the record of the most expensive bicycle in the world. The House of Solid Gold, based in California, USA has created this unique mountain bike. This limited edition bike is almost entirely covered with 24 carat gold and as a result carries a whopping price tag of £600,000. There are other high end features that add value to the most expensive bike including a customized seat cover crafted from brown alligator hide and a unique water bottle, which is coated in solid gold and decorated with stingray skin. The CEO of House of Solid Gold, Hugh Power said that he got the idea about creating this bike when he was mountain biking on a similar bike. It was a challenge to cover the entire bike in gold and customize it with all the latest hi-tech gear. He is more than satisfied with the final product as he has successfully covered 99% of the bike completely in gold without compromising on the performance of the bike. It...

The news of the birth of the British Royal baby on 22nd July 2013 was received with joy across the world. The son of Prince William and Kate has been named George. To commemorate the birth of HRH Prince George of Cambridge the Royal Collection Trust is releasing a special edition cup made of English fine bone china. The tiny prince is third in line to the throne, after his grandfather and father. The limited edition cup will be the most expensive royal product being released on the occasion and would be priced at $260. The fine cup has been exclusively commissioned by the Royal Trust. The Cups are Being Handcrafted Using Traditional Methods The design on the cup will exhibit the unicorn and lion from the Royal Arms gracefully supporting the coronet of TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The design will be surrounded by Oak leaves that have been taken from the coat of arms of the Middleton family. The cup which is being called the Royal Baby Commemorative Limited Edi...

The Hakkasan at Las Vegas is the first nightclub for the restaurant brand. The chain has restaurants at many hotspots around the globe including London, New York City and Miami. The nightclub at Las Vegas is housed in MGM Grand Hotel & Casino and has been developed as a five-level culinary and nightlife mecca. The highlight of the nightclub is their bottle service which costs $500,000 and is easily the world’s most expensive service of its kind. The package they offer is called the Armand de Brignac Dynastie Collection that consists of nine bottles of the champagne. Three of the bottles in the collection are in new sizes and have been created specifically for the package. The Collection Created Exclusively for Hakkasan The bottle sizes are 4.5 liter for Rehoboam, 9 liter for Salmanazar and 12 liter for Balthazar. The collection has been created exclusively for Hakkasan and its high rolling guests. The gilded bottles have been specially designed and feature pewter ace of spades...

The website focused on cars and related matters, Jalopnik has been trying to determine as to which is the most expensive rental car in the world. For the rental to be the highest the car also needs to be the best and capable of the best performance. There are several contenders for the top spot. The readers of the site have also posted their comments on the site with information. The Bugatti Veyron is considered to be the fastest car in the world and it is available on rent for as little as £16,500 per day. If you want the car for the entire weekend it will cost you £45,000. It will sound even more expensive when converted to American dollars. There is a Definite Demand for Dream Cars on Rent Car rental companies are also trying to get some dream cars in their fleet. Hertz caters to the mass market but Gotham Dream Cars is offering a Rolls Royce Phantom Drop head Coupe. The dream car is available for just under $5,000 for a day. The tariff perhaps includes the cost of gas as well ...

Trip Advisor has released its latest TripIndex Cities that ranks the cities on the basis of the expense a visitor would make. Oslo, the Norwegian capital tops the list as the most expensive amongst the world’s key cities. Visitors to Oslo would have to pay an average of $561.26 for a night out in town. The list is dominated by European cities with Sydney being the only exception in the top eight cities. According to the report a night out in Sydney would cost a visitor $445.64. TripAdvisor has calculated the cost for a couple staying one night in a four-star hotel, cocktails, a two-course dinner with a bottle of wine, and return taxi fare of 3.2 kilometers each way. Sofia, Warsaw and Budapest are the Most Affordable Cities in Europe Sofia, Bulgaria Europe as a continent is the most expensive, but the interesting part is that the least expensive city is also in Europe. The spot is occupied by Sofia in Bulgaria which was declared the cheapest city overall with the visitors e...

Calling a beach the most expensive sounds a little odd, particularly when you are not buying it outright. But in some cases the maintenance and expansion of a public beach requires huge investments making the beach rather expensive. According to this parameter the most expensive beach in America is the Rockaways. The beach has shrunk due to the havoc created by Sandy. The narrower beach will look more crowded this summer. Luckily the US Army Corps of Engineers have taken it upon themselves to replace the lost sand and restore the glory of the beach. The investment involved in the project will make the beach even more expensive. Army Corps Had Moved in Millions of Dollars Worth of Sand The old residents of the area remember both the erosion and the reconstruction of the beach. John Cori, 50, who is a resident of Rockaway remembers the grandeur of the beach when people had to get down 14 steps and jump another 4 feet to get to the beach. He also remembers the fate of the beach when th...

Most expensive suit may come up from the most unlikely place. Hong Kong is known for its expensive real estate but a tailor in the city has produced a suit that he claims to be one of the most expensive in the world. When you think of expensive suits, the names that come to mind are Saville Row or Ermenegildo Zegna who custom make suits in some of the most premium and exclusive material. Of course there are designers who create one off pieces and embellish them with precious stones and metals to claim the honor of being the most expensive in the world. Suit Stitched With Gold Thread Has Gold Buttons Encrusted With Diamonds Stuart Hughes of Manchester, England has created a bespoke suit that carries a staggering price tag of $892,250. He has no doubt used premium material like cashmere, wool and silk but the price has been pushed towards a million dollars by embellishing it with 480 individual pieces of 0.5 carat, color G, vs2 quality diamonds. The Hong Kong tailor has used 22 cara...

Marchi Mobiles, known for their premium vehicles have released their latest and the most expensive motor home which is perhaps the ultimate luxury vehicle, the eleMMent Palazzo. Their eleMMent series has been created to address the needs of the super rich who love the extraordinary. It is a new class developed in the ultra premium segment. The futuristic design of the Palazzo makes it look like a space age vehicle. It is also larger than an average motor home and definitely more expensive as it carries a price tag of£2 million. The eleMMent Palazzo has been made available for sale in Dubai. The motor home is obviously targeted at the oil rich sheikhs and that’s why it is being showcased in Dubai. The State of the Art Mobile Home Washes Itself After a Day’s Drive It is a large motor home with an enormous master bedroom. The luxury amenities on board include a 40-inch TV, on-board bar, fireplace and even its own rooftop terrace. However, the highlight of the luxury vehicle i...

Commissioned by a wealthy Chinese entrepreneur, undertake the Stuart Hughes decided with one of his valuable interpretations to make the Apple iPhone 5 smartphone currently the most expensive in the world. The specimen in question of the iPhone 5, baptized with the name Black Diamond, was produced by Hughes as exemplary only, and the value assigned to it, it's been a full 10 million pounds. A price really out of the ordinary, justified by a total reconstruction in 24-carat solid gold and by the presence of 653 diamonds of great value. While the side was over 600 hand-set diamonds, in fact, another 53 diamonds characterize the rear logo and the home button of your Apple device, while gold makes its contribution to the splendor. The iPhone 5 Black Diamond, already delivered to the anonymous buyer, and has already been nominated to become part of the record books as the most expensive and precious smartphone in the world .

Yahoo has announced the acquisition of Tumblr for a staggering price of $1.1 billion. It is microblogging platform and social networking website. It has become the fourth most expensive acquisition Yahoo has made in the last 16 years. It can be labeled as the most expensive acquisition if we take into account the amount of cash involved in the deal which was officially announced on May 21. Tumblr was founded by David Karp who never finished high school or enrolled in college. He was involved with several technology startups before he founded Tumblr at the age of 20 six years ago. He is expected to make $250 million from the deal and joins the select circle of entrepreneurs who have struck it rich before turning 30. The Blogging Platform Grew in Value in Just 6 Years David has made Tumblr what it is in a relatively short time because of his programming skills and website design acumen. He had worked for a startup in Tokyo also for few months. On his return to US he became the chief te...

Chanel No.5 is probably the most iconic perfume ever. Marilyn Monroe once quipped, ‘What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course.’ These words were enough to immortalize the perfume’s reputation. But the fashion house believes in keeping alive the allure of the perfume. They have unveiled a rare collectible version of its perfumes. The edition is called Grand Extrait, and will cost an eye popping £2732.24 per bottle! And it is not the fragrant concoction that is behind this exorbitant price tag. The perfume will remain the same. It is the packaging that has added the value. The bottle has been crafted in a mold by a specialized glass maker, which is then placed in a hand-assembled and crafted case. Now would someone really pay more than £2500 extra just for the bottle? There is no dearth of people out there with way too much money to splurge. But I would have expected something a bit more eye catching than what Chanel is actually offering. Some time back it had roped in Brad...

Back in 2006 when property prices were on the rise and economic optimism was in the air, investor J. Christopher Flowers purchased a luxury mansion in Manhattan for $53 million. The property in question was the Harkness Mansion , a mega-mansion that stands on 4 East 75th Street . Back then, the $53 million that Flowers paid for the building was a record-breaking sum that grabbed real estate headlines across New York. But the real estate market is no longer in a happy state. It is still struggling to shake off the negative impact of the global economic recession. So even the most expensive mega-mansion in Manhattan was sold at a big loss. According to reports, this mega-mansion Flowers has agreed to sell the property at $36.5 million. That would be a total loss of $16.5 million, given that Flowers spent $4 million just gutting the place. Apparently, Flowers has been trying to sell the 20,000-square-foot townhouse for a while now. Initially, he was willing to sell the New York ...

Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay The growth of emerging markets led by China has made Hong Kong the most expensive shopping area in the world. A study done by Cushman & Wakefield reveals that New York has given way to Hong Kong as the retailers located in the luxury area of Causeway Bay paid an average of $2,630 per square foot. This was a growth of over 34% compared to the previous year and was fuelled by about 30% growth in sales driven by the tourists and mainland residents. London may be the most expensive when it comes to the super prime real estate but its Bond Street slipped out of the top ten list of the most expensive shopping area resulting from a weak national demand. We bring for you the top ten most expensive shopping area in the world. Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay Average annual rent: $2,630/square foot The luxury goods on Causeway Bay witnessed greater demand mainly by mainland residents who find the prices in Hong Kong cheaper. Causeway Bay overtook 5th Avenue as...

Recent trends indicate that beach huts are commanding very good price in the real estate market and one such cozy wooden hut has hit the market with an asking price of $2.5 million. It must be a record for a beach hut. The red wooden hut is located in the Hawaiian countryside. The nearby small town is called Laupahoehoe which has a population of only 581. The small little cozy hut measuring only 484 square feet hopes to attract international buyers. Sotheby’s is handling the sale and have pitched the beach hut as a slice of paradise. It provides fascinating views of the pacific and the Laupahoehoe countryside. The Hut Comes With 20 Acres of Lush Hawaiian Countryside The steep price tag becomes somewhat justifiable because the hut comes with 20 acres of lush Hawaiian countryside. It is an ideal hideaway if you want to get away from your hectic lifestyle and switch off completely for a break. The tiny home has its own private access road and rocky beach. The residents can fish, snor...

1963 Ferrari 250 GTO World's most expensive Vintage cars sold for over million dollars and above Price: $32 million Year of Sale: 2012 From year 1962 till 1964, only 39 of Ferrari 250 GTO cars came out of the manufacturer’s factory, and ever since then, these exclusive and rare cars commanded hefty prices at the auctions. Topping the ranks amongst most expensive Ferrari car auctioned in United Kingdom, this particular vehicle will now grace the new Spanish owner’s car collection.    Reportedly, Mr. Jon Hunt, the head of Foxtons Estate Agency is said to be the one who sold off his Ferrari 250 GTO, but the silence has left the name of the seller under scrutiny. Further, this vehicle is also known to be the fastest Ferrari cars of that generation. And, noted celebrities like Pink Floyd drummer Nick Masson and DJ Chris Evans are also known to be the owners of the same car.

About a year ago, the Aston Martin Super Sport made waves by becoming the most expensive car in the world. But the previous record for the costliest car in the world was held by the Bugatti 300 Veyron 16.4s, priced at $1.74 million. This year, we have a new claimant to the throne of the world’s costliest car, also from Bugatti. A businessman in the United Arab Emirates has purchased the most expensive car ever for a staggering amount: $2.4 million (Dh8.8 million). Named the Bugatti L’Or Blanc, this super expensive luxury car has been designed and developed by Bugatti in collaboration with German porcelain manufacturer KPM. Bugatti has already made it to the record books for the fastest car in the world. So the Bugatti L’Or Blanc would simply be another feather in the French car manufacturer’s cap. Like many of Bugatti’s other high performance models, this luxury car boasts of a smart, sleek streamlined exterior. The outside of this high-end vehicle is white, accented ...

Golf and prosperity strongly correlate to each other, and that is because in order to play golf you need a lot of time. If you are wealthy it also implies that you have a lot of time to invest in playing golf. If you however wanted the best of all golf courses, you should head straight towards Monaco. The glamorous state has the world’s most expensive golf cart which costs a horrendous $52,000. The Garia Soleil de Minuit is manufactured in the same factory as Porsche Cayman and Boxter. It is being touted as something that a true golf lover has to experience and apparently it provides amazing on-course driving experience. Some of the features that you could expect in the Garia Edition Soleil de Minuit are carbon roof, one-off custom paint, two-coloured hand-stitched luxury seats, alcantara roof lining and several other luxurious features. The base price is $17,499 but if you want the most exclusive one you better be ready to shell out $52k. If you had the kind of money...

While the whole world is still paying tribute to Michael Jackson and while media is still cashing on the death of the King of Pop, here is a guy who has put up on sale an energy drink endorsed by Michael Jackson. This energy drink is one of the few ever to be put up on sale and now that Michael Jackson passed away, this Michael Jackson energy drink has been known to even have a dedicated fan site. In fact, Michael had a hand to play in the contents of the drink and he made sure the drink had nothing artificial in it. It contains 1.7 % juice and many fruit extracts along with Magnesium Carbonate, Guarana Extract, Caffeine and Flavouring. The energy drink also comes with a number of vitamins like Vitamin C, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin B6, Thiamine (VIT B1), and even other nutrients like magnesium. Beosal, the owner of the energy drink has kept it unopened for about 11 years and has quoted a price of $50,000. The mystery MJ energy drink will certainly attract the att...