How do you decorate a nearly 20,000-square-foot house with 10 bathrooms, six bedrooms, five wet bars and an indoor pool? Twenty-three animated figures and six artificial Christmas trees on rotating stands are a good start.
There’s just one problem: Sally and Matty DiAngelo are hosting 100 people this weekend for a Thanksgiving-themed birthday party.
No Christmas decorations yet? No biggie. Even without trimmings, the mansion they call Walnut Hill has more eye candy than a million sugar plums.
On Dec. 6, this house in Peters, Washington County, will be one of four open for the Watchful Shepherd Holiday Home Tour. Organizers expect it will take at least a half-hour to tour just this house. Honestly, you could spend an hour and still miss something.
Like the stuffed leopard in the two-story entry. Or the life-sized Buddha statue in the dining room. How about the elevator hidden inside a tiled water feature in the great room? Or the piano-shaped bar in the basement where the entertainer formerly known as Matty D. performs?
It’s hard to believe they have lived here only two months. After buying the house and 21-plus acres at auction in July 2014 for $3.4 million, the couple lived in their old house nearby while an army of workers made over its soaring spaces.
It’s not that they didn’t like what architect Joseph Indovina created 28 years ago for the original owners. “It’s great but it’s not the DiAngelos,” she explains.
The couple worked closely with Ashley Powroznik of Shawnea Lane Interiors and John Simpson of Simpson Construction Services in Bridgeville. The designer and contractor offered lots of input at weekly meetings with their clients but make no mistake: This is the DiAngelos’ redesign, starting with their favorite off-white paint — Tenné by Pratt & Lambert.
“We’ve used it in every house. Our kids tease us — ‘ Tenné! Tenné! Everything’s Tenné!’ ” Mrs. DiAngelo says.
They personally chose the 100-plus light fixtures, granite, marble and onyx counter tops, all furniture, paint and wall coverings, even the white carpeting that is so thick their grandchildren can make snow angels. The DiAngelos made regular buying trips to High Point, N.C.
“Nobody’s putting stuff in my house that I can’t see,” he says.
The top-to-bottom makeover began in the kitchen, where Mr. DiAngelo turns out cheesecakes, tiramisu, spaghetti sauce, filet mignon stuffed with crabmeat and other delicacies on a 48-inch Wolf gas range. He loves the warming drawer, Miele built-in coffee machine and huge Sub-Zero refrigerator hidden behind panels that match the Wood-Mode cabinetry.
“Why do we need two dishwashers?” his wife once wondered.
“We’re having 100 people on Saturday for a 1-year-old’s birthday party,” he says.
Their guests — including three grown children and six grandchildren — will be busy with a High Definition Golf simulator that projects life-sized scenes from 20 famous courses on a wall, a 9-foot Olhausen pool table and matching shuffleboard and the 45- by 20-foot indoor pool with a waterfall-fed spa and another 10-person hot tub on the patio. The smallest guests probably prefer the 30-year-old Fisher-Price toys and Lincoln Logs in the playroom off the kitchen.
They might play in the wooded hills behind the house, the barn with stalls for 10 horses (but no occupants) or the screened porch. Mr. DiAngelo has visions of turning that space into an all-seasons room with a gas fireplace.
“That’s what we need — another room,” his wife jokes.
There are so many things to see that even the DiAngelos are sometimes surprised. Just the other day, he discovered a set of magnifying glasses in a guest bedroom they call The Marcellus because proceeds from their natural gas pipeline company helped pay for it.
While showing a visitor around the entry, he suddenly stops to admire a triptych of paintings depicting a sunset. Ms. Powroznik chose all of the artwork.
“That is really nice. Ashley, you did good,” he says.
Ticket locations
Keller Williams Realty, 1500 Oxford Drive, Suite 300, Bethel Park 412-831-3800
Miller’s Ace Hardware, 3400 South Park Road, Bethel Park, 412-835-4119
Malone Flower Shop, 17 W. Pike St., Canonsburg, 724-745-2850
Mt. Lebanon Today’s Tiffany Lamp Co., Galleria Mall, Mt. Lebanon, 412-561-2211
Miller’s Ace Hardware, Route 19 Washington Road, McMurray, 724-941-7970
The Cob Collection, 504 Valleybrook Road, McMurray 724-969-1600
Crossroads Florist, 115 E. McMurray Road, McMurray, 724-941-6610
Arabesque, 3204 Washington Road, McMurray 724-941-5266
Southpointe Health Club at Southpointe, Summit Corporate Center, 1001 Corporate Drive, 724-597-0014
David’s Limited, 50 N Main St., Washington, Pa. 724-228-1884
Kevin Kirkland: kkirkland@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1978.
First Published: November 20, 2015, 12:30 p.m.
