Super Bowl Champion Vernon Davis Opens Up His Custom Wellness Retreat in DC—as He Tackles New Career as Home Flipper

Super Bowl champion Vernon Davis is scoring touchdown after touchdown in his new post-NFL role as a professional house flipper—including the work he completed on his own custom dwelling in his hometown of Washington, DC.

The 42-year-old retired tight end, who played for the San Francisco 49ers, the Denver Broncos, and the Washington Commanders from 2006 to 2019, entered the field of real estate flipping in the middle of his 14 active seasons in the NFL, though he first trained his eye for aesthetics while studying studio art in college.

After co-founding Modern Class Design, a firm that specialized in luxury spaces, in 2012 the two-time Pro Bowler scored home design projects with several high-end clients such as teammate Aldon Smith, as well as his brother and fellow professional football player, Vontae Davis, who died in 2024.

Today, Vernon reveals in the latest installment of Celebrity Sanctuary that he is leading the drive for “about seven” house flips, as his business playbook calls for snapping up properties when they turn over in his hometown.

“It's been fun going through back to my old neighborhood where I grew up at because I understand the market,” he explains. 

“People usually just come to me whenever they're moving and selling their home, they just come to me and that's how I usually get these homes. I don't have to do much work because they already know that I'm buying a lot of the properties in that neighborhood,” he adds.

In an effort to level up his renovation game, the NFL legend recently teamed up with HGTV star Mina Starsiak Hawk to be contenders on Season 7 of the network’s renovation competition show “Rock the Block.” 

The athlete tells Realtor.com® the reality TV move motivated him to develop new skills that he can put into practice at his remodels and potentially one day, on a home makeover show of his own.

“I think we can go down that road for sure, why not?” he asks, before sharing how participating in “Rock the Block” is all part of his professional long game.

“It was something that I've been pursuing, just different in a sense, but I thought it would be fun,” he says. “I thought it would be something that I would go to and learn, which I did, and cultivate relationships.”

“I learned a lot of stuff,” he adds. “I learned how to create things, I learned how to use my hands more, I learned the essence of, like, tile work, pavers, just the whole nine—anything that comes to building a house from the ground up.”

Although it was his rookie season on the show, Vernon is a veteran in executing his vision for a property from start to finish.

Indeed, Vernon bought his five-bedroom, seven-bathroom, 5,600-square-foot contemporary-style home that he shares with his 18-year-old and 12-year-old sons, 14-year-old daughter, and Maine Coon cat Rocky, three years ago while it was still being built.

In this edition of Celebrity Sanctuary, Vernon gives a play-by-play of the design adjustments he made during and after construction, particularly inside his wellness-infused primary suite, to make the place a total touchdown.

I chose this home because it fits what I'm into. I love contemporary. I love modern. Anything that's just different and artsy. I went to school for art studio so everything that's incorporated into my life usually has some kind of coolness to it, you know, different. 

I found the home, but when I came in, I changed a lot of things. I added a music studio. I added a steam room. I added electric toilets. I put a theater downstairs.

Those [renovations] I did before the home was finished. I came in when they had drywall and stuff going on, but the backyard, I did the whole backyard by myself.

The backyard was just dirt. I put a basketball court with a sports court flooring. I added a deck. I wanted sections, so I put the deck in the middle, I bought this 20-foot hot tub, and then to the right is a firepit.

I went to go handpick all the trees out myself. I have magnolia, skip laurels, I have green giants, evergreen trees out back. Then I put lights and added [a] sound system. I'm still working on my sound. I need to put sound behind the fireplace now, but I got it on different sides of the house when I play music.

I just painted the [outdoor] wall downstairs black because what happens when you have grass, the water splashes and it runs down. If your brick is white, it'll run down and make it green, so I painted it black so you can't even see the green. It looks great. It looks cool.

I put these artificial plants up on my deck so you can't see. It’s kind of blocking the hot tub and then I have two evergreen trees blocking the other side. It's cool. I have these string lights hanging from the fence all the way to the house. 

I kind of changed a lot of things. I came in and made it my own thing. I wish I would have found the house a lot sooner so that I could have more freedom to do whatever it is that I wanted to do, but it's cool.

I would describe the style of this home as cool and sleek.

Sleek would be the design of the house from the top. From the moment you walk up to the house, the roof is nice and slanted, and then when you walk in, you can see different, like, cuts within the wall, and the ceilings have texture and character going on with it.

And when I say cool, it's just the coolness, like, the music studio, you have the steam room, you have the theater downstairs with the lights on the wall.

I had a designer to help me, but I picked out everything. She couldn't take over because I knew what I wanted. I picked out the lights. I picked out the colors, the flooring, everything. I just needed her to be there when I wasn't there because there was a lot of workers coming in. She kind of orchestrated everything. She had some input, but I picked out everything.

My bedroom [is my sanctuary] for sure. I got the nice blackout curtains. I have the high ceilings. My ceilings are probably like 30 feet high. And then I have everything in it. I have my steam room, I have my shower, my electric toilet, I have my closet with all my belongings. 

Anything sentimental, I would say my brother who passed away about two years ago, I got a suit made for him, but I ended up keeping it, so I have it hanging. I have this rack, it's a piece that I have in my room where you hang your suits and stuff on, so I just keep that suit hanging right there.

My room is dark. It feels kind of like a spa. The walls are dark black, the blackout curtains are black with the white trimming around the curtains from the window. I have a huge TV right between the tall windows and I have an entertainment display underneath the TV.

I have a nice little sitting area with a plant that I put behind it with the nice light I got from Wayfair. I have a nice bench at the end of the bed. Then I bought this big, round, arched mirror that I put on the other side of the bed with a cool, contemporary little seat. It's just a little seat that I sit beside the mirror with a nice Miami-style plant right beside it.

It's just peaceful. It's very cozy and peaceful. It's the space where I go and I take a breather, listen to my spiritual podcast every single evening. I go, I lay on the bed, listen to it, absorb it, take it in. I'm allowed to get away from everything.

[My kids] love it. They have to stay out. When I go in, I tell them to stay out. You can't come in here. 

I feel like when I go in there, close the door, I can just get away from everything but my cat. He's scratching at the door, moving the handle, trying to get in. He's the only one that don't allow me to do what I need to do. You know what I'm saying?

Seriously, this cat, he's everywhere I go. He's like a shadow. His name is Rocky. He's an interesting cat. He's a big cat. He’s 25 pounds. He's a big, big Maine Coon cat. He's huge. He's a character.

A perfect day [in my sanctuary would be] I walk in, turn the steam room on. I get in the steamer, then shower, get out. As I'm doing it, I have the music playing, my speakers on, playing music. After that, I'll go and lay down. I'll lay back, take a breather, turn my spiritual podcast on, listen to it, and just lay there and take it in.

And then after that, I'll cut that off and then I'll start looking at emails and things of that nature. Then I'll get up and that's it. 

I would like to add a balcony [at my home]. Also, what I'm working on now as we speak, I'm putting [in] a sauna, one of those round saunas. I put one in the corner of my trees and I'm gonna have pavers and I'm putting a cold plunge right beside that.

After I got back from “Rock the Block,” I created a wood shop in my garage and I put these wood panels on my wall. I bought these wood panels and put them on my wall in the house.

I found this house before I started “Rock the Block,” but now, knowing what I know now, I look forward to moving again, probably [in] the next four years.