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ROBYN E. BLUMNERAs teens, the two Tampa Bay Lightning stars used to share a dorm room. Today they share a designer. Their waterfront Harbour Island condominiums reflect their personal tastes.
TAMPA - Posters of movie star Kim Basinger graced the walls of the prep-school dorm room Brad Richards and Vinny Lecavalier shared as teens in the mid 1990s at Athol Murray College of Notre Dame.
The two, now centers for the Tampa Bay Lightning, met at the premier Canadian hockey academy in Saskatchewan, where they were being groomed for the athletic stardom that was to come. Design, however, was not part of the training. "We just decorated with girls' pictures," Richards said.
Many years and many millions of dollars in hockey earnings later, the 23-year-old close friends have substantially raised the bar when it comes to the art of living.
Expensive cars sit in their parking spaces (Lecavalier drives a Ferrari, Richards a Mercedes) outside their respective waterfront condos, in adjacent buildings at Harbour Island. Step inside the condos and the first thing you notice are their massive televisions, the kind that declare themselves kings of the house. Still, they have not allowed electronics to trump design.
Who would have thought these single star athletes would have wanted much more than a couple of shelves on which to stick their hockey trophies and big refrigerators for beer and leftover pizza? But in fact, both sought magazine-ready interiors. Their homes are full of expertly crafted built-ins, custom silk draperies and hand-screened wallpaper. There's not a trophy in sight (nor a poster of Kim Basinger).
With the help of Doug Preiser of D.V. Preiser Designs of Tampa, each has constructed a high-end space relecting his personal taste. Richards has a wonderland of neoclassical minimalism; Lecavalier has chosen classic elegance and tradition. Both say they love the results.
Richards was the first to work with Preiser, whom he met through a mutual acquaintance. To illustrate what he was after, Richards brought Preiser some magazine pictures from the movie Wall Street. That was a jumping-off point. Richards "liked drama," Preiser said. "And so I decided to create an atmosphere that's somewhat like a private, in-house nightclub."
The focal point of Richards' 1,500-square-foot condo is a floor-to-ceiling, putty-colored built-in for the large television and stereo system. The hand-lacquered wood furniture was finished at an automotive shop to create the desired sheen. Flanking the television are black columns with coppery bronze capitals.
The floor is a masculine twist on harlequin, with individual black and putty carpet squares bound together in a checkerboard pattern. Small red spotlights hang from curving metal tracks that snake around the room, the kind of lighting you see at chic restaurants and bars. An oversized red leather armchair and ottoman is simply the coolest piece of furniture in the place, dwarfing the sofa.
Where the dining table should be, Richards has placed a large black circular ottomanlike seating unit. "I don't use a dining room," Richards said. "Not when you are single and living by yourself."
What he did insist on was a showcase fish tank. "Obviously, when you live on an island, fish are always going to be a part of your life," said the native of Prince Edward Island whose parents are lobster fishers.
In the bedroom, black wallpaper printed with silver rings sets off the custom ebony-stained mahogany furniture. The long headboard wall is all mirrors. According to Preiser, they were going to mirror the ceiling, at Richards' request (a feature Lecavalier wanted, too), but for both of them "it didn't work out."
If proper attire at Richards' swank home is black tie, then haul out the jodhpurs and tweed jacket for Lecavalier's. The son of a former Montreal fire lieutenant father and a mom who works for Canadian unemployment may not have been to the manner born, but he's comfortable with it now. Stately carved and distressed walnut built-ins surround the wood-burning fireplace and the living room's substantial television. Lecavalier has chosen rich, autumnal colors - golds, bronzes and browns - that warm his 1,700-square-foot home. Like Richards, he also has a master fish tank, but that is where the similarities end.
"I wanted really old," Lecavalier said. "I didn't want just modern where in three years it might go out of style."
Yet, in addition to the luxurious damask upholstery and the side table with ball-and-claw feet, modern touches add freshness to the formality. A gray abstract painting above the sofa balances an elaborately framed cathedral scene across the way. Everywhere you turn there is another piece of original art.
"I love paintings," Lecavalier said. "I don't know much about (art). I just love it in the house."
Lecavalier's Old World stylings continue into his bedroom, where faux hand-hewn beams crisscross the ceiling. "They were made in Germany," Lecavalier said, reaching up to knock one without a hint of pretension. "It's like foam."
Another custom feature is the stand-alone shower Lecavalier had renovated with synthetic stone blocks. "Rustic" and "masculine" are how Preiser describes the overall effect.
Preiser said both condominiums are works in progress, still in need of some finishing art and accessories. (He and the owners declined to say what the design work and furnishings cost, although Richards said he gave Preiser a budget "and he blew it right away.") But the hockey stars might not stay in their creations long enough for the job to be completed.
Richards, who owns a house on Prince Edward Island, is starting to think about buying a house in Tampa. He says he needs more room for all his visitors. And while Lecavalier doesn't see himself moving in the near term, he did say he missed aspects of single-family home living. "When you've been in a condo for five or six years, you start to want your own driveway," he said.
One thing is certain: Wherever they end up, their matured style will go with them. No more poster girls. Any nudes on their walls now come hand-painted, signed and designer-approved.