Lance Armstrong’s Very Boring Home

Lance Armstrong is best known as the American cyclist who won the Tour de France an unsurpassed seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005. He’s also well known for his successful battle with testicular cancer and his couplings with famous women such as Sheryl Crow, Tory Burch, Ashley Olsen and Kate Hudson.

In January of this year Lance Armstrong put his Dallas home up for sale. Situated on a rambling 447.8 acres of land with a bit less than 2000 feet of frontage on the stunning Perdernales River and approximately seven miles of mountain bike trails, the 4241 square foot home is a giant. The property includes a main home with five bedrooms and five full bathrooms and two noted living areas. The guest house is much more modest with only one bedroom and one bathroom. In addition to the property highlights, the home also features a private gated entrance a pool and a spa and a heated and cooled workshop with a full bath.

The home is located in a scenic area known as Deadman’s Hole. And quite frankly it looks as though Lance Armstrong’s decorator took that name a little too literally and created one of the most depressing interiors ever. For an area that’s incredibly beautiful and throbs with life the home does nothing to enhance that feeling.

From the outside Lance Armstrong’s Dallas home is actually quite beautiful and the brown on white exterior melts nicely into the rolling landscape. But from there the brown and white motif goes a little bit too far. The first thing you notice when you look inside the home is the overabundance of brown and white and the absolute lack of color, personality and life.

On the one hand you have to give the decorator and architect for that matter some credit for carrying the theme and the style throughout the building, the exposed timbers set against the while stucco is beautiful but in a home of more than 4000 square feet it gets tedious. And the repetition of these colors throughout without a blast of brilliant color or life is depressing.

Take the kitchen and dining area for instance. Even the photos in the kitchen are black and white and rather than sticking to the three colors in a scheme rule, it seems as if they’ve tried to use light as the third color to balance the brown and white. Either that or the realtor taking the pictures was so depressed by the dark and blah atmosphere that he or she decided to turn on every single light in the room to make it seem more lively and exciting. We do have to note that over the fireplace in the dining area there is a piece of artwork that does add a bit of color but it’s a muted color where an acid infused red or purple would have been so much more provocative.

The TV area or cinema room is just as drab. It’s understandable that the screen should grab all the attention in this room, but the screen is not even placed at an optimal viewing level as its set too low on the floor as optimal viewing should be slightly above eye level when sitting. Again there is a lame attempt at pops of color with some muted rose colored throw pillows but the muted color is again lost and completely boring.

Before we even hit the bedroom its pretty clear what we’re going to see. Brown and white, exposed beams and white walls, brown bedding and curtains with a pop of muted color in a red tone. And that’s exactly what we see, this time the muted color shows up on the nightstands in the form of lamps. Boring! Shouldn’t the bedroom be a little bit more inviting, especially considering the women Lance Armstrong has been linked with, you’d expect a lot of pizzazz and spice?

Speaking of spice, this would have been an excellent way to create excitement and a sense of life in this drab home, something you’d expect a world class athlete and cancer survivor to appreciate. Spice colors work incredibly well with a natural environment as they’re very nature bound themselves. Rich cinnamon browns and rusts, deep greens of leafy herbs, saturated reds of paprika, the varied hues of mustard, there are so many colors to choose from that would have kept the home’s architectural integrity while giving it life.

If redecorating this home seems like a challenge you’d love to attempt and you have a spare $12 million hanging around then this Dallas home could definitely use your love and passion for life and it would turn into something truly amazing.

*Photos courtesy home-designing.com

This article has been a guest post by Mike Caldwell, social media strategist for Bari Leather Furniture. You can read more of his articles such as Leather Furniture Styles – From Bari Leather Furniture, or Shopping For Leather Furniture – Bari Leather Furniture. or you can follow him on the new Bari Furniture Twitter Profile.