Expensed home décor splurges of the rich and powerful

Former Alberta Premier Alison Redford’s $1 million “Sky Palace” apartment has been the topic of much derision, including the most recent disclosure that she furnished the taxpayer-funded abode with $45,000 worth of—wait for it—drapes. Let’s see how Redford compares to other public figures with big-ticket home décor tastes.

• Former Tyco International CEO and convicted fraudster Dennis Kozlowski reportedly expensed a $6,000 shower curtain woven with gold to his one-time employer before getting the boot.
• Actor Daniel Radcliff, everyone’s favourite child wizard and fervent believer in the power of a good night’s sleep, once dropped $17,000 on a custom-made Savoir mattress.
• Demonstrating the true spirit of Christmas, former boxer Mike Tyson bought his first wife Robin Givens a $2-million bathtub for the holidays one year.
• Hans-Adam II, the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein, paid a cool $36 million for the “Badminton Cabinet,” an 18th century Florentine ebony chest inlaid with hard and semiprecious stones. Apparently, it really tied his living room together.