Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/577402
// gadgets // AMP it uP photography courtesy of shapiro & sher (basketball); by heath richards/tboNe art co. (blaNchard, amp) A V C l u b A m p u p Y o u r S t o r A g e You don't have to own a sports franchise to enjoy high-end media throughout your home. The Kaleidescape Alto ($2,495) can store up to 100 Blu-ray – quality (or 600 standard-quality) movies, all downloadable from a cloud-based server. HP Media Group, 702- 897- 8990; hpmediagroup.com Tom Blanchard and partner Heath Richards started TBone Art Company a few years ago to repurpose unused household items. Sure, they can whip up a cabinet for your bourbon collection from an old guitar amp, but even better, bring them your most eccentric ideas and see what magic they can conjure for you. "All the pieces have stories," says Richards. "We want to bring those stories to life." TBone Art Company, 702-340 -2699; tboneartco.com The ultimate men's den includes a regulation NBA half-court. below: Tom Blanchard's rock 'n' roll fantasy den. wall is a fat-panel screen connected to a housewide media server that can dial up 24 terabytes of music and mov- ies at the touch of a button. Nearby is a signed LeBron James jersey. The den also features a plush walk- in bar. A circular bar table frames one side of the space; at the other is a gorgeous pool table with carved accents. The room is painted a shade of purple that echoes the color of the Sacramento Kings, the basketball franchise the Maloof family owned for more than a decade. Hand-carved wooden details lend the space ele- gance, and much of its handsome but casual energy comes from the deep- brown hand-scraped hardwood foors. On the ceiling, fat walnut boards help dampen noise. But if this all sounds too dark, just turn to the far wall, which opens onto a sunken outdoor patio that flls the room with warm light. The nearly 16,000-square-foot home of a sports-loving businessman—listed by Shapiro & Sher Group for $9.5 million (lasvegasfnehomes.com)—on the shore of Anthem Country Club's lake features a basement recreation space with a full bar, home theater, and pool table. But the real men's den is the full-size Olympic volleyball court and regulation NBA half-court, with a ceiling of steel and diagonally intersecting wood beams and a foor hand-laid in foating parquet, just like an NBA court. Best of all: The court has a curving glass-walled seating area, so friends can pull up a chair, have a bite or a drink, and take in the action courtside. Realtor Ivan Sher reveals that this ultimate male domain has a backstory: Located in a detached building that also features a massage room, a bedroom, and a four- car garage, the room was built by the current owners as a kind of elaborate privacy screen. "The home itself was exposed on one side to the neighbors." In Mountain's Edge, Tom Blanchard's den is not only a do- it-yourself tour de force; it's also a reimagining of what we want from such a space. The den that Blanchard converted is located just off his home's entry and flled with musical equipment that he has salvaged and repurposed as an artistic expression of his life's story. Drums hang from the walls—a reminder of the Detroit native's days playing drums in a rock band—with artwork honoring rock 'n' roll legends like Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix painted on the drumheads. The drums are backlit with multicol- ored LED lights that can be controlled from his iPad, allowing him to create different moods. Resting on tables that Blanchard built from reclaimed wood are old guitar amps whose interiors he gutted, turning them into small liquor cabinets. For a lover of music and cocktails, it's the perfect combination. Blanchard notes—and this is undoubtedly the key to the rehabilita- tion of the man cave as a respectable space—that he created the room as a place where his wife and young daughter would want to spend time. "It's nothing to be ashamed of," he says. "This is a refection of everything that made Daddy happy and every- thing that made him who he is." V 106 vegasmagazine.com HAute propertY