In the City | On the Shore | Design | Dining | Fashion | People | Out & About | Events
GAME READY
No tickets for the big game? No problem. Designers make over the media room into the best seat in the house.
By Charlyne Varkonyi Schaub
If you think game planning is just for coaches and quarterbacks, it’s time for a new playbook.
As televisions have become bigger, thinner and sporting higher definition, how you watch the game is becoming as important as how your favorite team plays the game.
South Florida designers say their clients are asking for media rooms that mimic sports bars. They want innovative ways to display the television and furniture as comfortable as they find in a luxe theater. And now, with televisions that can withstand rain, wind and high temperatures, they can enjoy the game outside as well as inside.
“It used to be that we were always asked to hide the television in an armoire,” says Joseph Publliones of Joseph Publliones Interiors on Palm Beach. ”As we have become more technologically advanced, televisions have become slicker and slimmer. People are now showing them off as a kind of status symbol.”
Apparently more of us are seeking that status symbol despite the recent economic woes. About 7.2 million flat-panel sets were sold during the first quarter of 2009, according to DisplaySearch, a market research group. That’s a 23 percent increase over the past year’s first quarter.
“For most of my clients, this is a case where size does matter,” Publliones says. “They all want the largest television they can get.”
“Bigger is better” is the mantra for a divorced dad who lives in a 5,579-square-foot home on Palm Beach designed by legendary architect John Volk. Dad told Publliones he wanted a certain amount of wow factor so his two teens and two preteens would want to bring their friends home. The focal point of the 16-by-25-square foot media room – which includes three computers, a game table, guitars, a drum set and electric keyboard – is the 46-inch flat screen TV on which the family likes to watch the New York Giants play. The television, framed by a wall of zebra wood surrounded by a traditional white wall unit, resembles a piece of artwork.
Other clients prefer to make the TV a fancier focal point – like a fireplace. That’s the kind of media unit Publliones created for snowbirds from New York City whose second home is a 2,000-square foot condo in Palm Beach Towers on Palm Beach. The custom cabinet of ebonized oak surrounds the TV with mother-of-pearl inlay in smoke, almond and white.
Custom cabinetry created another interesting focal point in an 18th floor condo in the Residences at the Ritz Carlton, Coconut Grove, designed by Antony Chandler of Archiforma in Miami. The bookcase, with cubes set on an angle, surrounds the television, which is bracketed to the back of the unit and appears to be built-in.
“We do this style of bookcase quite often,” Chandler says. “It’s obviously something more playful and fun. The idea was to create a sophisticated coastal retreat that was as delicate and playful as it was elegant.”
Like many other upscale residences that rely on high-tech electronics these days, this one was wired as a Smart Home, where the security, lighting, heating, air conditioning and audio-video are connected to a computer. The coffered ceiling was created to hide the wires, and the closet to the left of the unit houses the computer that runs the home and 15 audio-visual components.
Elayne Stuart of Stuart Leff Design in Miami was asked to create a sophisticated version of a sports bar for a Chicago commodities broker who has a 3,500-square-foot condo in the Diplomat Oceanfront Residences in Hollywood.
“My client is a bachelor and a big sports enthusiast,” Stuart says. “He also is a big entertainer. It is important for him to have a bar area and have a sports event on the TV.”
Stuart created what she describes as a “casual, elegant sports bar area” featuring three stools at an 8-foot-long bar with a marble top. Another seating area has four leather chairs.
Don’t let the theme fool you. This is far from a clone of a sports bar. Stuart used custom-colored, kiln-textured glass on the wall and backlit it so at night the client can turn off all the other lights and enjoy the ambience of soft lighting. The 50-inch TV is mounted on wenge wood that floats on the glass.
Some sports enthusiasts never want to be too far away from watching their favorite sport – whether they’re relaxing on the loggia, working in their home office or entertaining in their home theater. That’s the kind of buyer that would feel right at home at the $12.95 million spec home built by Bloomfield Construction in Boca Raton’s Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club. It is another Smart Home, which controls everything from the security system to the home theater from a central computer.
The six bedroom residence has 10,859 square feet of air conditioned living space and includes nine plasma televisions and four with large screens. The home won PRISM awards from the Gold Coast Builders Association for Best Media Room and Best Outdoor Living.
The loggia, modeled on a sports bar, features a SunBrite LCD TV specially designed to be protected against rain, dirt, insects and extreme temperatures.
“We wanted to maintain what we were doing inside,” says Jeanne Manetti, senior designer with Decorators Unlimited in Palm Beach Gardens. “We decided to do a yin and yang with pebblestone and glass mosaic tile surrounding the TV and on the front of the bar.”
The loggia, which has a pecky cypress ceiling, seats five at the bar, and eight at the dining table. Another seating area is a few steps down from the loggia.
“Everything is directed toward entertaining as well as watching TV,” Manetti says. “If you are watching sports in the afternoon, how great it is to watch the boats go by.”
The upscale homeowner who buys this house doesn’t have to miss any of his favorite games even if work intrudes. The home office features a 50-inch plasma and two 27-inch TVs across from the desk.
The 70-foot long “Club Room” includes home theater, a bar, gaming table and office. Bill Hasey, president of Bloomfield Construction, loves candy so he asked Manetti to include a duplicate of a candy display that you find at movie theaters. Ultrasuede is upholstered on the walls to provide soundproofing.
“The interesting thing about media rooms like this is you can be watching football and be at the bar,” Manetti said. “But if you want to close off the theater you can do so. The wall is designed to hide the drapery with blackout material. All you have to do is push a button and it closes off the theater.”
SOURCES
Archiforma
2039 NW First Place, Miami,
305-573-2535, www.archiformagroup.com.
Bloomfield Construction
1877 S. Federal Highway,
Suite 202, Boca Raton, 561-368-5521,
www.bloomfieldconstructioninc.com.
Decorators Unlimited
4700 Riverside Drive, Suite 100,
Palm Beach Gardens, 561-625-3000,
www.decoratorsunlimited.com.
Joseph Publliones Interiors
44 Cocoanut Row, T-14, Palm Beach,
561- 655-1717, www.jp-interiors.com.
Stuart Leff Design
Miami and Scottsdale, Ariz.,
305-205-5818, www.stuartleffdesign.com.