Houston Texans player Danny Amendola appears to have slipped under the radar as a new Austin-area resident, just as he has slipped past so many defenders on the football field.
The 35-year-old Amendola recently gave Architectural Digest an exclusive tour of his 4,768-square-foot home on a 1-acre lot along Red Bud Trail in West Lake Hills. Until the Architectural Digest article appeared, many of us likely were unaware that the pro athlete and model was living in our midst.
Realtor.com lists the value of the four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom property at more than $3.2 million. Property records show Amendola bought it in June. In 2017, the property hit the market at $2.1 million.
Architectural Digest delves into great detail, of course, about Amendola’s approach to designing the ranch-style home, which was built in 1968. The aesthetic throws off a midcentury-modern vibe blended with modern-day elements.
“What I wanted to do here was to create depth and weight with the various textures we used. There’s a lot of steel on the walls in the back and heavy tile for some of the living room to add more warmth, to make it feel grounded, defined,” Amendola explains.
Austin architect Tray Toungate, Austin interior designer Christina Canales, and real estate agent/friend Lisa Sherwood collaborated with Amendola on the home renovation. The updated home features pieces of furniture and art that Amendola has collected throughout his NFL career.
“Parts of the home include art that I held for years and years,” he says, “and waited to frame before putting them [on] a specific wall of a specific home.”
While the NFL wide receiver may be new to the Austin area, he’s certainly not new to Texas. Born and raised in The Woodlands, he played college football at Texas Tech University.
In 2008, he signed with the Dallas Cowboys as a free agent but never saw time on the field beyond the practice squad. The same thing happened the following year with the Philadelphia Eagles. But later in 2009, he finally played in a regular-season NFL game after joining the St. Louis Rams. His stretch with the Rams ended in 2012.
Amendola spent the longest span of his NFL career (2013 to 2017) with the New England Patriots, when Tom Brady still quarterbacked the team. He won two Super Bowl rings as a Patriot. Amendola then did short stints with the Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions before inking a one-year, $2.5 million contract with the Texans in September.
Four years before coming to the Texans, Amendola became the first NFL player to sign with Ford Models, one of the world’s top modeling agencies. Reporting on the Ford Models deal in 2017, People.com drooled that the gig cemented Amendola’s “hot athlete status.”
By the way, where does Amendola keep his NFL- and model-caliber body in shape? Not at home, as it turns out. His West Lake Hills abode lacks an exercise room.
“I’ve always tried to separate my exercise from my home life,” Amendola says. “I don’t want to go into the weight room feeling lazy and lethargic in my own house and get a mediocre workout in. When I’m at home, it’s my time to relax and be with friends and family. And whenever I go to the gym, I know it’s business.”
The Texans player now calls Austin home.
