Big Fat Deal: $5 million to be very Versace in Richmond

Each week, BCBusiness takes you inside one of the most outrageously upmarket real estate offerings in the province

Address: 3491 Barmond Avenue, Richmond

Price: $4,880,000

Listing: R2293726

The skinny: Five-bedroom, six-bathroom, 3,518-square-foot house on a 7,921-square-foot lot in Richmond

The bling: Being excessively wealthy is not without challenges, we know. It’s easy to be envied by your employees (business and domestic) and your grovelling relatives always hoping to be tossed a few crumbs from your elegantly laid table. But gaining the grudging respect of the high net worth cabal takes work. Money is only ever an issue when you want to make sure everybody knows you are dripping in it, and yes, the pressure is real. The trick: stay classic—that way no one can ever question your taste. And who could scream classic louder than that master of bourgeois understatement, Versace? Seriously, plaster the walls, the floors, the drapes and the doorknobs in enough gratuitous gilt, gold and animal fabrics that Donatella herself would feel right at home tripping across the marble (Italian, natch) floors in her triple-platform studded stilettos. None of this mix-and-match nonsense—once you’ve found your favourite purveyor of Eurotrash, you go all in, girl. Leave no vestige of the big fat V behind. Si bella!

The hidden extras: Media room, bespoke wine wall, top-end appliances, balconies, tray ceilings (hand-painted, apparently)