At home with Kendall Gill: a look at the NBA star's 'showplace'

KENDALL GILL of the Chicago Bulls may be an aggressive athlete on the court, but he's a refined gentleman at the crib. In 1995, Gill built his 5-bedroom, 7-bathroom home in the posh village of Flossmoor, III. (Flossmoor, an architectural wonderland located 25 miles south of Chicago, has homes that range in value from $125,000 to a cool $2 million). Gill, a millionaire bachelor, loves to entertain at home, often throwing elaborate parties for friends and family. But first-time visitors learn very quickly that no matter what they say, you should not refer to his home as a bachelor pad.

"I'm single, but I didn't want my home to seem like a bachelor pad," Gill says. "I wanted it to seem like a woman lives here too." And it does; there's no basic black-and-white decorating scheme for this Brother. When you enter Gill's foyer, you are bombarded with all of the colors of paradise, from the freshly cut gladiola flowers to the colorful art on the walls to the shellacked palm tree that sits in the corner.

"I decided to pick up my colors on some of the walls, in the flowers, and in the artwork," he says.

Gill's most treasured part of his art collection is the Andy Warhol suite, an area that's comprised of images of Muhammad Ali. The suite overlooks the spiral stairwell in the foyer.

The look and feel of Gill's home is all his own, but he's the first to admit that he's not above stealing decorating tips from others. Gill routinely finds some inspiration from the various upscale hotels that he visits during the basketball season and from other players" homes.

When an idea hits him, he confers with his Chicago-area interior decorator Cal Ashford and together they devise a decorating design for the home.

"His home is very eclectic," Ashford says. "And we try to make it interesting by mixing contemporary pieces with a few traditional pieces."

Gill also manages to blend the classy with the quirky throughout the house. Displayed on the wall in his "chill-out room" is the largest piece of artwork that he owns--a jazz-inspired piece by artist Robert Fisher titled "Swing" --an elegant, animated painting that gives life and bounce to the entire room. On the quirky end of the spectrum is Gill's comical collection of muscle men dolls that peek out from some of the most inconspicuous places.

"I want to let people know that I do have a sense of humor" he explains. "It's a nice house, but just sit down and relax."

In Gill's bedroom, his unusually tall bed is fit for a king, and even has a regal leather and suede purple spread. Additionally, there's a romantic fireplace, fresh gladiola flowers and the obligatory shellacked palm tree to adorn the room.

Adjacent to the bedroom is the spacious master bathroom, which has track lighting, a deep marble tub and marble fixtures.

Gill's walk-in closet (which is actually the size of a typical bedroom) is located on the opposite side of the master bathroom.

The walk-in closet is home to nearly 70 pairs of expensive square-toed shoes, spectator shoes, fine suits and luxurious watches. "You can always tell the class of a man by his watch and his shoes," Gill says in a serious tone. "Women need to know that."

Any woman of Gill's would also need to know her way around the kitchen.

In the kitchen, stately granite countertops and a sub-zero built-in refrigerator await the hungry. (But true to his bachelor nature, Gill admits that he's not much of a cook--all of his meals are prepared on his modest George Foreman grill.) He's most proud of his white oak hardwood kitchen floor, a decorating idea that he picked up from superstar Janet Jackson.

"I originally saw this floor in Janet Jackson's kitchen about 10 years ago when I was dating one of her dancers, and I had to have it," he says.

The man of the house loves to hang out in his spacious "chill-out room" where he often stretches his 6-foot-5 frame over his burnt-orange sectional couch to watch movies on his Panasonic flat-screen television, with a $30,000 Bang & Olufsen surround-sound theater system. A quaint fireplace sits underneath the television, so Gill can get even cozier on those cold winter nights.

Gill says that his shellacked palm trees (there are four throughout the house) are also used to evoke warmer feelings during the winter months.

"The palm trees give the house a tropical feel, right here in Chicago, something you don't really get," Gills laughs. "But I love it; it just puts me in a good mood, like I'm on vacation."

If the pall trees convey an indoor vacation, Gill's backyard mimics a small-scale resort.

On the far end of the backyard sits a basketball court that also doubles as a tennis court. Colorful, fragrant plants are blooming in the garden area, and Gill planted several evergreen trees around the backyard to create a natural privacy fence.

The martial arts enthusiast spends a majority of his day conditioning his body outside in the lap pool, on the basketball court and in his elaborate home gym located in the basement of the house.