My Own Home: 'We renovated our Dubai penthouse and now its valued at Dh17m'

Sophie and Hamed Ghavidel transformed their dream beachfront apartment

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  Hamed and Sophie Ghavidel own a four-bedroom penthouse on Palm Jumeirah, Dubai. All photos: Chris Whiteoak / The National

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  The dining area

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  The downstairs living area

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  The kitchen

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  The upstairs family room

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  The master bedroom

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  The walk-in wardrobe

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  The master bathroom

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  The sauna

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  The balcony

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  The view from the balcony

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  The beach club across the road

My Own Home takes you inside a reader-owned property to ask how much they paid, why they decided to buy and what they have done with it since moving in

When British PR professional Sophie Ghavidel and her Iranian husband, Hamed, were only months away from having their first child, they moved into a Palm Jumeirah penthouse that was full of potential.

Hamed, who works in property, loves a transformation project and began extensive renovations, overhauling everything from the penthouse's pipework to the infrared sauna and walk-in closets.

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They bought their home for Dh6 million but now, two years later, it’s worth Dh17 million, thanks to the upgrades and a booming property market.

The National takes a look around.

Please tell us about your home.

Hamed: There are four bedrooms – one is a study/bedroom. There are three very spacious bedrooms upstairs. They all have their own bathrooms, and two of them have walk-in closets.

There’s also a bar and a living room upstairs, then a dining area and sitting area downstairs. There’s also a maid’s room, maid’s bathroom, kitchen and a laundry room.

The downstairs living and dining area. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Why did you choose this property?

Sophie: I sold my PR business when I was having our first daughter and had a year where I was on maternity leave and had a non-compete agreement, and this whole house project fitted in.

Hamed: We wanted to find a home for our new daughter and I liked these penthouses because of their scale and the size. I always wanted to do something nice with them, because I feel like they're under-appreciated.

Why have you named your penthouse?

Sophie: We called it the Viola Penthouse because our daughter is called Viola.

Hamed: We had already named her. Then I picked out some marble and asked what it was called and they said it’s the Carrera Viola. So I said that’s definitely what I’m taking. Then it became the name of the penthouse too.

Sophie: It became a bit of a tribute to her.

What renovations have you done?

Hamed: The renovations took around 10 months. We had to correct a lot of things first. We increased the cooling capacity, we relocated the electrical works as per the new design, and all the air conditioning and piping.

Then, on the design side, there is a bedroom downstairs that we thought would be great for a study. I decided to open up that room and put in sliding doors so you can see the rest of the house. But if you need privacy, you just close the doors.

We put in a small spa next to the study, with an infrared sauna and provision to put an ice bath outside on the balcony.

The kitchen was a bit small, so we tried to extend it as much as we could. We opened it up at the front. We extended an island out towards the living room, and put in a fridge and a small breakfast counter.

The kitchen was extended and fully remodelled. Chris Whiteoak / The National

We've used marble in all the bathrooms. Then the master bedroom and bathroom and the walk-in wardrobe have had major upgrades. The walk-in wardrobe is about 40 per cent larger. In the bathroom we created a separate WC with an enclosure, two showers – his and hers, then a double sink as well.

Why did you choose Palm Jumeirah?

Hamed: I think it's the best location in Dubai. There are a lot of options to buy in Dubai, and we can extend as much as possible into the desert, but there is only one Palm Jumeirah that has already been established. There's limited supply of land and properties, so it's kind of like the Manhattan, if you compare it to New York.

We've seen continuous growth and it hasn't slowed down since 2020.

Sophie: I've always felt like the Palm, and maybe also with DIFC or Downtown, it's one of the few areas in Dubai where it's finite. You can't expand it, and you can't really build higher because you've got restrictions.

The property is in a prime area in Palm Jumeirah. Chris Whiteoak / The National

When I came to Dubai, and I was in my mid-twenties, I just remember having a very small apartment on the shoreline, the worst building on the shoreline when you come over the bridge. There was no view, but for me, when I was 20-odd, I felt like I was living. I thought, this is me. I was just so in love with the Palm and everything it represented.

What facilities do you have access to?

Hamed: We have access to the beach, to several pools, a gym. We have a sauna in the property. You have access to West Beach, all the beach clubs. There are a lot of nice beach clubs that are walking distance, but you can also walk over to Golden Mile. The mall is just a couple of minutes away. There’s a nursery there, different gyms, restaurants. It’s good for kids.

Sophie: It’s quite well located. It’s very easy to get to because you don't have to do U-turns, you just come around.

Did you buy with a view to selling it?

Hamed: It was to live in, but we said if we were going to sell it, it had to have an appreciated value. I always take that into consideration when I approach a property. But it was with a view to live in it and make it functional for a family or four or five.

Sophie: It seemed like an opportunity. What could we do with it? And along the way it morphed into the Viola. It ended up winning a design award in February and at that point we felt it had been great, but we wanted to look for a villa.

Where would you like to move to now?

Sophie: We're exploring different options.

Hamed: I personally like Jumeirah a lot because I've been in Dubai for 27 years, and Jumeirah is one of the oldest communities. But Palm is always an option.

I don't look at properties just with one angle. There are so many different factors that need to work together.

Location is one thing, but then the property itself. The way it's laid out, the opportunity to upgrade it and add value to it. Then the deal in terms of price and return on investment. You need to put all these factors together and if everything works, then it's a go.