Features: The Ultimate Philadelphia Dream House

THE MASTER BEDROOM

 Could it get any more romantic than this Gladwyne bedroom? It practically speaks French, though designer Lori Shinal, of Lori Shinal Interiors, describes it more broadly as “European, with casual elegance.” She traveled abroad to pick up the pieces that define the space—the exquisite chandelier and sconces from Provence, the old-world mosaic tile crafted in Italy for the fireplace, the dark walnut corbels in the entryway to the adjacent sitting room (also from Provence). Even with all the drama those touches add, they don’t compare to the Shinal-ization of the room—the upholstered walls, the dropped ceiling with the cherrywood dome-like inset, the lush
ballroom-stripe draperies on the windows that, when drawn, make the bedroom even cozier. And this is only one part of the master suite. There’s the woman’s dressing room with the handpainted cabinets and floors, the man’s dressing room with the luxe silk rug, the 13-and-a-half-foot cabinet shipped from Provence, the massive bath with Giallo Rosato tumbled marble from Italy, and the TOTO commode, with so many bells and whistles, Shinal says, “It could also drive you to the mall.”

Do-It-Yourself: When you start designing a room, find something you’re passionate about and design around it. It could be a rug, a piece of art, a 17th-century gilded chicken statue. For this room, it was the drapery fabric. Shinal discovered it when she was in design school and fell so deeply in love, she wants to eventually wear it. Literally. As a skirt. —V.G.

Lori Shinal Interiors, 716 Williamson Road, Bryn Mawr; 610-520-0810.