Size matters: How to Live Large
The Ballous are relative newcomers to Philadelphia: Roger, 53, is president of CDI Corporation, which provides engineering and technology outsourcing, and the couple has lived in nine different cities, including Greenwich, Connecticut, Fort Lauderdale and New York City, in 27 years of marriage. They came to Philly from Washington, D.C., where they owned a similarly large house that was also Georgian in style; the English and French antiques they’ve collected over the years came with them, and fit very well into the Society Hill house, which they decorated with the help of a friend from D.C., interior designer Glenda Lewis. “We like living in the city, and we love Philadelphia — the Kimmel Center, the Orchestra, the Antiques Show,” enthuses Georgeann.
Social animals that they are, the Ballous outfitted the second floor’s library as an inviting room for cocktail parties. A sense of intimacy is created via the soothing wall color — lighter than milk chocolate, more like a very creamy latte — and comfortable seating areas. Paintings hung low, including several contemporary landscapes by Stephen Hannock, bring the lofty room down to scale. In front of one sofa, a coffee table made from a huge glass top on an intricate iron base is ideal for accommodating wineglasses and canapés, and also holds glass figurines and a glossy wood “smoking chest” bought by the couple in New Orleans. On a side table is a collection of inlaid tea caddies of varying sizes; above the baby grand piano is an oil painting of a boy playing the mandolin that the Ballous found in Germany. But not all is pristine: “You have to have the ridiculous with the sublime,” says Georgeann, pointing to a bright neon palm-tree sign she bought in Florida and plugged into the marble bar between the family room and the library.
In fact, there’s a bar on nearly every floor of the house, even a custom-made traveling bar purchased in Nantucket in the third floor’s master suite, which was configured by combining two bedrooms. Carmen Vona of Carmana Designs used medium-density fiberboard to build exquisite cabinetry painted a smooth butter color that conceals the Ballous’ closets and television. Across from the TV is a snug gold sofa that Georgeann confesses to falling asleep on regularly.
Another space for entertaining and hanging out with the kids is the Ballous’ large garden, which they planted with magnolia trees and paved in slate. The family has dinner there frequently in the spring, and likes to grill year-round. But the house’s secret party space is one of its smallest, darkest, and most beguiling rooms: the 2,000-bottle-capacity wine cellar, climate-controlled to a perfect 56 degrees. It’s approached by a European-style stucco hallway with original brick floors. “These are from my grandmother’s dining room,” says Georgeann of the two buffets that line the hall leading to the cellar and a dining table that centers the wine room.
