32 Sconces and 11 Chandeliers Inside a Shadyside Townhome

The count starts with 32 sconces and 11 chandeliers hung across six rooms in a two-story townhome in Shadyside. Tim McVay and David Bush have lived there for 18 years. McVay is an attorney. Bush works in philanthropy. Both take part in the interior design.

The 100-year-old house sits on a major thoroughfare. Inside, the main floor runs front to back as one space. Guests move from the living room into the dining room and on to the den, where one of two bars and a small kitchen are located. Bush said he and McVay have their own aesthetic. He said the style is Hollywood Regency, Liberace and Chinoiserie. Most purchases came from yard sales, flea markets and auctions.

The walls carry mirrors, art hung gallery-style, and scenic wallcoverings by Papiers de Paris. The collection includes paintings by Olivier Foss and Geri Taper, along with antique oils, bronzes, busts, cachepots, obelisks, globes, framed photos, faux elephant tusks and blue-and-white porcelain. A pair of sconces once owned by decorator Dorothy Draper sits among the 32. Two malachite-colored chests came from the estate of Tony Duquette. McVay said the house began as a Georgian townhome and became something else. "It was a Georgian townhome and now it's a French bordello!" he said.

The couple bought the property from a divorcee. McVay said she had watched decorating television and used paint. A renovation followed over time. It added a new kitchen and two bathrooms. One bathroom has a copper tub on heated Italian tile floors, and both bathrooms have large glass showers. The middle of three upstairs bedrooms became a study with a vintage leather Chesterfield sofa and the second wet bar.

The pair are moving to their apartment in Palm Beach. McVay works remotely. Bush recently took a job directing a community foundation. The men have been active in Pittsburgh social life and have done the same in Florida, where they were named Palm Beach "Power Couple of the Year." Bush called the Shadyside house an embassy for their lives and said leaving it is bittersweet. "We're leaving that house better than we found it, and that's heartwarming," he said.

Bush said the work on the house continued room by room. "One room after the other, and what do you do after you finish? You move!" he said.