GET THE CATH KIDSTON LOOK
Anyone who’s ever fancied giving their home the Cath Kidston look could have recently bought the ultimate solution; her home.
The fashion and homeware designer has just sold her house for £5.5 million and, as well as a glass-and-steel extension, the new owner will also get a taste of Kidston’s design ethic, which is all over the property from the cool-white kitchen to the red and white lounge.
But the address comes with other connections. It was her husband Hugh Padgham – best known for producing Phil Collins and The Police – who bought the house in 2000 for £2.3m.
Kidston is also related to former PM’s wife Samantha Cameron and TV presenter Kirsty Allsopp, while her father was a racing driver and her uncle chairman of auction house Christie’s.
Cath opened her first shop, which she has described as a “glorified junk shop” in 1993 after studying design with Nicky Haslam. Her £250m company now operates all over the world.
Her Grade-I listed property overlooking the Thames in West London is a beautiful 17th Century mansion built for an industrialist’s daughter in 1720. Later it was used as offices for a nearby former brewery and then turned into flats, but has now been restored into a single dwelling.
Cath and Hugh added a contemporary extension by architects Wilkinson King, and the property now has three reception rooms, five bedrooms, two bathrooms as well as beautifully landscaped gardens.