Arizona Cardinals, Robert Griffith's Dream Home Featured in the February Issue of Decor & Style Magazine

San Diego, CA, February 10, 2006 --(PR.com)-- Cardinals Safety Robert Griffith opens the doors of his California dream home for the first time to give viewers a sneak peek of his two year project.

(Excerpt from the February issue of Decor & Style Magazine. For the full story and photos, log onto their website at www.Decorandstyle.com/february.)

TREASURE TROVE
by Rowena Kelley
photography by Jim Brady

A football player travels around the world to furnish his Del Mar home

The last thing you’d expect to find inside an antique store in High Point, North Carolina, is a 6-foot, 200-pound football player shopping for leather club chairs. Especially a hard-hitting All-Pro safety endorsed by Nike, with more than 1,100 tackles to his name, plus appearances in Sports Illustrated, The Young and the Restless, even a music video with Vivica A. Fox. But that’s exactly where Robert Griffith of the Arizona Cardinals spent some down time, “power shopping” for two days to find pieces that would suit his 9,100-square-foot home in Del Mar.

Located in one of the newer luxury estate and custom-home developments in Del Mar, Griffith’s home is nowhere near historic, so he worked with Los Angeles interior designer Lyssa Wittlin to make it feel “300 years old.” They not only expanded the existing six-bedroom layout to accommodate a wine room, weight room, home theater, game room, and a dry and wet sauna—they built the new home around Griffith’s collection of sculptures from Africa and New Guinea.

“I’ve been collecting art and antiques for more than 11 years,” Griffith says while dusting off a tall wood sculpture from New Guinea, an acquisition he made seven years ago that now stands in the corner of his living room. “The people that made this Bwa Bird put it in front of their village because it symbolizes life, similar to a fertility figure,” he explains. “This is one of only 40 in the world.”

The sculpture stands majestically beside tall glass doors that open onto a zero-edge pool. In the evenings, the aqua-blue water vanishes into city lights. The original blueprints called for a wall with one window, but Griffith knew to take advantage of the view. Wittlin softened the room with silk drapes and a sofa upholstered in chenille.

An avid traveler, Griffith wanted his home to remind him of trips to such places as Paris, Peru, Italy, Japan and London—one of his favorite cities. After 16 months of construction and interior design, grass now grows between stone pavers beside a lily pond out front, a stone archway welcomes guests, massive wooden doors with hand-forged hardware open rooms, and 40 sconces shaped like medieval torches bring soft amber light to hallways. Furniture and accessories also were deliberately chosen to add volumes of history to the home. The living room alone feels like a trove of old treasures. Inside are a 250-year-old Italian mezzanine table, an 80-year-old Chinoiserie side table, an antique Japanese rice container, and a buoy from an old Netherlands sailing vessel.

“One of my favorite pieces is the armoire in the family room, made from a set of doors Robert found in Paris,” Wittlin says. She commissioned a cabinet maker to build the armoire so that shelves and paneling would perfectly match the circa 1890s doors. The “new” armoire is 9 feet tall by 11 feet wide, and hides a high-definition plasma television—one of 14 that can be easily accessed for game highlights.

The youngest of five children, Griffith remains close to family and friends, both in and out of San Diego. Four bedrooms and a homework station upstairs keep his nieces, nephews and 10 godchildren busy. His mother, of course, has a room to herself when she visits from Atlanta. A photograph of mother and son—taken at the opening night of Griffith’s latest venture, Visions Restaurant in the Gaslamp—is proudly displayed on a Charles L. Dix limited-edition butcher block that Griffith bought on Ebay for $25. And lounging on a bed in the family room are the newest additions to the family: Nikita and Nairobi, Vizslu puppies in training.

A good spirit and knack for easy entertaining also make Griffith a popular host. While designing the house, he considered comfort every step of the way. “I wanted a house where people wouldn’t have to take their shoes off,” he says. “I want my guests to be able to put their feet on whatever they want to, so I chose materials that won’t show wear and tear.”

One of the most popular rooms among friends, the game room displays a marriage of old and new. Baumert designed a shelf to hold Griffith’s collection of antique water bottles from Scotland, Peru and Amsterdam, and used old pool sticks to create racks for wine, beer and cocktail glasses. To top the bar, the team selected copper, a perfect fit for a house where guests “shouldn’t worry about coasters.” In keeping with Griffith’s love of old things, the room features a 1920s roulette wheel converted to a table, three Turkish vessels, a 1920s punching bag, and a pair of Paris club chairs from the early 1900s—one of many finds at Randall Tysinger Antiques in High Point.

A pair of 100-year-old stone sculptures—a female with child and the other, a male warrior—brings these stories into the master suite. Made by the Lodi tribe, one of two nomadic tribes in Africa that do not make masks, the sculptures fit well with the exotic, masculine design of the room. An antique screen from the Philippines serves as the head board, while a table made of reclaimed tiles holds books on real estate (Griffith already owns properties in Arizona, Costa Rica, Florida, Georgia and the Bahamas).

While Griffith is serious about collecting art and antiques, he hasn’t forgotten the joy in collecting modern-day luxuries. His walk-in closet hosts 300 pairs of shoes, his wine room is set to hold 3,000 bottles, and his expansive office displays shelves of footballs, helmets and other memorabilia from his 12-year football career. Albeit sophisticated, Griffith’s style is indeed rooted in his love of old-fashioned fun.

In the dining room, down-filled leather benches seat guests comfortably in a room fit for a king. Plush silk hangs on walls painted in burgundy and glazed with gold. A wrought-iron chandelier from La Casa de Mexico in Riverside lights the feast, while a pecan parquet floor tones down the formality.

“I wanted the dining room to feel as comfortable as a lounge,” says Griffith, who, if he had enough room, would have chosen a square dining table with space for 16. “Now, after we get done eating, we can all relax before we have to decide who has to clean up.”

A self-described “breakfast guy” who loves eggs and French toast, Griffith says that while he and Wittlin thought of everything for the kitchen—including a pot filler, a hand-hammered copper sink and an expansive island topped with distressed oak—the one special find is a tile backsplash hand-painted by an 18-year-old artist. The scene features a castle with seven trees.

“The trees symbolize the seven of us in the family,” Griffith says. “And those are my front doors.” He points to arched wooden doors in the middle of a medieval countryside, and smiles like a player that has just experienced the perfect game. And he should, for he has indeed made this home his castle.

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