Robb Report Luxury Home: Safe at Home
January 1, 2008
While working out plans for a finished 5,000-square-foot basement on Long Island, designer Annemarie diSalvo’s clients asked about adding an indoor batting cage to the space. "I had to stop for a moment," she remembers. "I hadn’t seen that before and I needed to do some research on batting cages."
The basement had already been tailored for the adults with a billiard room, wine cellar and gym. But the clients wanted a toy that their three baseball-loving kids—ages 9 to 15—could enjoy.
"Typically there’s not a lot of padding in the usual batting cage, but we installed quite a bit," says diSalvo. "We used gymnastic floor padding around the room, including on three walls and the nine-foot ceiling." A tempered glass wall faces the gym, and protective netting covers the glass and walls to shield against hard-hit line drives. The pitching machine is operated by a remote control that the batter wears on his leg or arm.
"When I first looked at indoor batting cages, I saw that they were essentially ‘cages’ placed in the middle of a large room," says diSalvo. "We needed to make this one fit into the decor. The padding and glass help cut down on the noise and the window gives you the sense that it is part of the gym. The walls were painted navy and white, the colors of their favorite team, the Yankees."
The cost of a project like this is around $30,000, and diSalvo sees it as more than the usual home improvement. "It has universal appeal; these clients have entertained in the billiard room and they’ve had parties migrate over to the batting cage, where people like to take a few swings. It’s really not just for the kids."
DiSalvo Interiors, 516.873.6011, www.disalvointeriors.com
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