TOMMIE LIN KESTEN | PHOTO BY HUCK BEARD

If Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s Tommie Lin Kesten should ever need a reminder of the sacrifices she made to become a principal dancer — including missing high-school dances and parties, moving away from her family to Florida at age 15 to attend the Miami City Ballet School — all she’d need to do is look to the walls of the dance studio at her home in the South Hills.

Strung from the ceiling are hundreds of blush-pink pointe shoes the now 24-year-old Baldwin Borough native has danced in over the years. At one point, Tommie tried to count them; she lost track.

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A LOOK AT THE IN-HOME DANCE STUDIO. | PHOTO BY HUCK BEARD

“These are all the shoes that I wore before I got my job,” she says. “So all of these are the ones that my parents paid for to get me to the point that I’m at now.”

It’s just one of many custom touches that fill the three-story home designed by Tommie and her mom, Lynnette, and handbuilt by her contractor dad, Tom, who owns Kesten Poured Walls, Inc.

“I’ve always loved interior design, just because my mom’s so good at designing,” Tommie says. “My dad has always been like, ‘Oh, it’s always been my dream to build my kids their dream homes,’ so it was really fun to finally do that.”

PHOTO BY HUCK BEARD

The light-filled studio is decorated with nutcrackers, which Lynnette buys for her daughter every year in honor of PBT’s annual performance of “The Nutcracker.” (Tommie has performed in the show over the years as Marie, the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Snow Queen and Elegance.) The studio also has a cold-plunge pool and sauna where Tommie can rejuvenate after a long day of practice. In another alcove off the dance room is a custom painting done by a friend of Tommie’s older brother, Ty Kesten, who passed away in 2016 after a motocross accident.

“This is [Ty] getting ready for a race, and she painted it to look like a photo I have,” Tommie says.

TOMMIE LIN KESTEN WITH COLIN MCCASLIN, FROM PITTSBURGH BALLET THEATRE’S “ROMEO AND JULIET.” | PHOTO BY MICHAEL HENNINGER

Across the way is a speakeasy-inspired study, painted a moody gray-green, with a secret door leading to the kitchen pantry; Tommie’s dad is still trying to figure out how to use a book as a lever for the shelves to swing open to the passageway.

THE STUDY, WHICH FEATURES A HIDDEN DOOR. | PHOTO BY HUCK BEARD

While the pantry hides what Tommie calls her “less-pretty essentials,” such as a microwave and toaster, the kitchen itself is an industrial yet feminine showpiece with black subway tiles and a black quartz countertop, softened by indoor plants and woven overhead light fixtures.

THE KITCHEN | PHOTO BY HUCK BEARD

Underneath the massive wood island is a custom feeding station for Tommie’s beloved French bulldog brothers, Pork (the rounder of the two) and Beans. The 2-year-old pups also have their own hidden playpen (although Tommie says, these days, her guys have the run of the house) and a second-floor dog-washing station surrounded by black-and-white tile with drawings of canines Tommie found at ProSource of Pittsburgh, a home improvement store.

PHOTO BY HUCK BEARD

Beyond the open-concept kitchen and dining room, where there’s a custom table built by Tom, is the two-story living room, which features a tall, two-sided fireplace with a view of the outdoor space as well as an intricate, black-paneled accent wall that Tom built to his daughter and wife’s specifications — at times using a crane to apply the wall-treatment in the 21-foot-tall room.

THE LIVING ROOM | PHOTO BY HUCK BEARD

Tom also fabricated the metal staircase railings dreamed up by Tommie and Lynnette, as well as the first floor’s glass, metal and wood bar shelves. Rather than sub the labor out, Tom would work on his daughter’s house for hours each day before and after his regular job, often working from 6 in the morning until 11 at night. Including site work on the property, the house, which was finished last February, took just over a year to build.

“[My mom and I] loved showing him a picture of something we’d see in the real world and say, ‘We want that,’” Tommie says with a fond smile as she looks over at her parents. “His first reaction is always, ‘That can’t be done.’ And then he does it and it’s better than anything we imagined.”

The second level contains three bedrooms, including Tommie’s primary suite; space for two more bedrooms waits on the third floor. The main bathroom features a wet room and a separate tub where Tommie likes to soak in epsom salts after a performance, as well as a connected custom closet outfitted with a glamorous chandelier.

THE PRIMARY BEDROOM | PHOTO BY HUCK BEARD

For the dancer, who has been with PBT since 2018 and will next perform as Juliet in the company’s February production of “Romeo and Juliet,” the home is the culmination of her dreams of living near her parents, who reside just down the road, and dancing in her hometown.

“For all ballerinas, it’s really hard to get to the professional level, and even harder to get to do that in your hometown,” she says. “I’m really lucky that I can do what I love and I have all the people I love around me.

“Me and my mom, we’re best friends. She always says, ‘You’re better to bloom where you’re planted.’”

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