Design your dream penthouse.
Ever dreamed of how you would decorate and furnish that amazing penthouse you will one day own? It will happen! Well we thought it might be fun to ask some local celebrities to do just that in the new Swansea Life/iCreate Penthouse.
What is the Swansea Life/iCreate Penthouse?
Swansea Life Magazine has teamed up with 3D architectural visualisation and graphic design house iCreate, based in Swansea’s SA1, to create the Swansea Life/iCreate Penthouse. This luxury apartment exists in the 3D world and, as such, can be located anywhere in the world. Only its basic room layout and dimensions are set in stone – everything else can be designed from scratch. Each month, a different celebrity will be asked to choose how they will use the space and decide its interior decoration.
We ask our local celebrities to decide:
Where in the world would their dream penthouse be?
How would they use the different rooms?
How would they furnish and decorate the interior?
This month’s designer: Tommy Bowe
Voted the RBS Six Nations 2010 Player of the Tournament recently, the Ireland and Ospreys wing is regarded as one of the most dangerous wingers in world rugby. He has also settled nicely into life in Swansea since joining the Ospreys in 2008 and we will be seeing a lot more of him about town as he recently signed an agreement that will keep with the region until at least 2013.
A pad for the boys
With a cinema, kit room and games room, Tommy Bowe has created a dream bacehlor pad in this favourtie city of Cape Town, South Africa.
Tommy Bowe is a single professional rugby player who trains hard and then likes to relax. The layout and design of his bachelor pad reflects this.
Starting from the outside, he says a barbecue area was very important to him. And he has also splashed out on a hot tub in this area. With his virtual penthouse located overlooking the stunning Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa, there can be few hot tubs in the world with a better view.
“It’ll be great to be in the hot tub with the views that are there,” says Tommy. “I was in Cape Town last summer with the British Lions. It is a lovely city; it seems a lot more relaxed than other parts of South Africa, with lots of nice areas with restaurants and bars. Also, when it’s cold here it’s nice and warm there.
“I also like the fact you can have a view with two sides: lovely blue sea and sand on one side and Tabletop Mountain on the other. Either one of those views would be amazing, but to have both would be even better.”
As for the big barbecue area, he says he loves barbecue food and it will be great for entertaining. “As soon as the sun comes out I love to have a barbecue,” he says. “With the big decking area and lovely apartment it will be a good excuse to have people over.”
The apartment inside resembles a New York-style open plan apartment. It incorporates big and airy spaces and high shelves to split it up a bit. “It also has a great big comfortable sofa – somewhere nice to relax,” Tommy says.
Incorporated into this open space is a huge open plan kitchen with a big breakfast bar. Tommy admits he is not exactly a keen cook, but likes the idea of cooking in close proximity to guests and feels the large breakfast bar is a more sociable place to eat than a formal dinning table.
Not that his mates would be watching him cook when there is a games room in such close proximity. He admits this luxury would not be possible were his personal circumstances different and plans to make the most of it.
“I think if I had a girlfriend I might not have a chance to have a games room, but when friends come over it would be a good place to relax, have a game of pool and a few beers,” he says.
This space is divided from the main living area by a large book shelf. And what would be on that? “I’d like to say I’d have loads of books. but it would probably be mostly DVDs, CDs, films like Crash, a few comedies and a few thrillers.”
Off the games room is yet another big boy’s toy: a home cinema room, but which also doubles as an office with a laptop and filing space. Tommy describes this as a “good spot for friends to come and watch a few DVDs”.
His bedroom is huge with an en-suite bathroom and shower overlooking the views of Cape Town (with glazed glass on the outside). Another unique touch is an under-floor fish tank in the bathroom. “I thought it would be something a bit different,” says Tommy.
The guestroom is also spacious. Tommy says he gets many Irish visitors in Swansea, but would expect even more given the attractions of Cape Town.
A final quirk of the house is the kit room. While on the one hand it seems a natural thing for a professional rugby player to have, it may surprise some that the players must wash their own kit.
“Being a rugby player, I have to wash two to three sets of kit a day so it’s nice to have somewhere to store it,” he says. “Yes we have to wash our own kit, and when training in the winter I may have to wash three different sets of training kit a day. I need plenty of space to hang it all out and store it.”
About iCreate
iCreate is a Architectural Visualisation company based in Swansea’s SA1. It has just launched a new 3D Floor Plans service for those trying to sell or rent their homes where you can order bespoke 3D plans. www.icreate3d.com
