I remember walking through this formal dining room space on my first meeting with my client in his spacious East Chula Vista home. He was sharing with me how the previous owners had the room set up for formal dining and I remember saying to him, "you don't strike me as the type of person that does holiday entertaining". He concurred. He is an entertainer and this is most definitely an entertainer's home but I'm not a fan of adding a formal dining arrangement if it's just going to sit empty. I suggested a Billiards Room to him and saw a spark light up! My client is a single dad so he was able to envision not only having his buddies over to shoot some pool but he knew that his kids would have a blast with it as well. We immediately started brainstorming.
If you’re fortunate enough to have the space and the possibility to have a Billiards Room in your home, then there’s plenty to think about before decorating it. You can't just plop a pool table down in the center of the room and call it a day. Well, you could but not when I'm at the helm. I wanted this space be a reflection of my clients personal interests.
"A lot of people think international relations is like a game of chess. But it's not a game of chess, where people sit quietly, thinking out their strategy, taking their time between moves. It's more like a game of billiards, with a bunch of balls clustered together."
-Madeleine Albright
Since this is a bachelor home we went ALL IN on the sports inspiration...the Lakers to be exact. My client already owned this Special Edition Bryant Lakers Jersey so we decided to have it custom framed for the space.
My client had his old football jersey's in his closet as well so I thought it would be the perfect place to display them. They give this room some much needed provenance.
Next on the agenda was the most important piece....the pool table. We contacted a well known local company, Olhausen, and ordered a customized ball & claw foot, matte black pool table with purple felt! We rolled in there knowing that we wanted a pool table but we didn't know much else. They really took the time to educate us on their products (Made In USA) as well as help up select just the right sized table for our space.
I wanted something large and impactful for the walls since this is the first room you see when you walk in the home. My client and I collaborated on ideas cause'.......sports is not exactly my zone of genius. He suggested the Staples Center where the Lakers play and we were off to the races! I came up with a concept to have this wall art wrap the corner of this room. I wasn't sure if this was something that ONLY existed in my head or if it could actually be done. I called my friends at Impact Visual Arts and they came up with the perfect solution and executed it to perfection! I had them print the Staples Center on acrylic for a saturated, reflective look. When you see it in person, it looks like a high def television. I'm totally obsessed with it!
Here is how the art looks installed on the wall. Pretty stunning. The bar is conveniently located next to this space so I added a pub table to this space as well. Speaking of bars....I'm seriously crushing on this retro Jonathan Adler Rocket Decanter with it's 16 karat gold tip.
We all love a good BEFORE and AFTER transformation, don't we? See how I transformed this space from Builder Basic to a Stylish Billiards Room...
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