Living California Dreams

Pooling together their creative ideas and talents, this Emirati family designed and built their perfect home in Abu Dhabi from the ground up, inspired by the architecture of Beverly Hills and luxury home stores

- Eleanor Joslin

This grand home in Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, inspired by the mansions of Beverly Hills, is a dream come true for Eman and Taha Bani Hashim, who spent three years building the property after receiving a plot of land from the government in 2011.

‘It was my dream to build our own house, one that would stay as the family home well into the future,’ says Eman, who not only works as an Emiratisation Support Centre Manager at The UAE Academy but is also forging a following on Instagram as a fashionista, dispensing styling advice to women all around the world through her Instagram account, MamaHepburn.

‘I loved the architecture and open-plan layouts of the homes in Beverly Hills when we’ve stayed there’, she says, referring to 15 years of regular holidays to the States while her two daughters studied in California and Massachusetts. ‘The interior décor is also very much inspired by Ralph Lauren stores in the US as we love the way they look and we’ve tried to bring this into our home.’

The panel moulding on the walls, the staircase and the front door are all inspired by the boutiques of the luxury American apparel and homeware brand and were custom-designed by the couple. ‘What I love most are the white, clean walls with no photos or art on them. We like a clean, quiet and simple look. When people come over they always compliment us on this as it’s quite unusual.’