Von Walter & Funk Brings Home Goods Store to Upper Lawrenceville
The boutique features a carefully curated — and creatively staged — selection of home, garden and vintage decor.
boutique opening
Upper Lawrenceville is home to a new home-décor and accents boutique. Owned by Shawn Aversa and Jamie McAdams, Von Walter & Funk opened on Butler Street in mid-October.
Named after McAdams and Aversa’s respective maternal grandmothers, Von Walter & Funk specializes in high-quality home, garden, apothecary, papers and vintage wares. Pictures of Janet Irene Von Walter and Harriet Pauline Funk hang in the store as a tribute to family and as inspiration.
“My grandmother taught me everything I know about design and decorating, from picking the right colors in a room, to wallpapering, to refinishing and repurposing furniture and junk we’d find on a pick,” says Aversa, who quit his full-time job to open the boutique.
Lines carried at the shop include Garnier Thiebaut bed linens and Match Pewter tabletop, as well as niche brands such as Nest Fragrances, Rifle Paper and Faribault Woolen Mills throws and blankets.
Many of the specially curated goods have a story behind them, and Aversa and McAdams are happy to share those stories with customers. Aversa says he and McAdams want shopping at Von Walter & Funk to be an appealing experience.
“We wanted it to be engaging, and not your typical quick trip to the store to grab a couple of items,” he says.
Von Walter & Funk will host a grand opening party from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21 with wine pairings, hors d’oeuvres, seasonal cocktails, giveaways and more.
(5210 Butler St., Lawrenceville; 412/784-0800, vonwalterandfunk.com)
design inspiration
At the request of her Palm Beach-based clients, interior designer Valerie McGreevy Tatalovich — owner of Valerie M. Interiors in Sewickley — created an opulent jewel box of a dining room. “We had a blank slate from which to start,” says Tatalovich.
To enhance the oceanfront manse’s beach setting, Tatalovich, who specializes in luxury residential renovation and design, chose a color palette of muted greens and blue, merlots and soft sand tones.
Giving the room a decadent feel is the detailed “boisserie” wood-wall paneling and coffered ceiling, which Tatalovich created using JP Weaver Co.
Tatalovich also designed the patterns for the custom-made rug and the hand-painted silk drapery panels. The opulent dining chairs are covered in silk burnout velvet from Sabina Fay Braxton fabrics. A lavish crystal-and-bronze chandelier and sconces from Myran Allan, plus candelabras from Baccarat, add sparkle to the room.
“My favorite thing about the room is the boisserie treatment on the walls,” Tatalovich says. “It is a challenge to do correctly, but I feel the transforming quality is stunning!”
vintage inspiration
Antiques and repurposed pieces also have a great story to tell, and a quirky cabinet or lamp can add character and charm to a room. Pittsburgh Magazine talks to two interior designers about how to incorporate vintage touches to your décor.
news + events
Now this is some holiday cleaning! Get an up close look at the Omni William Penn Hotel’s three magnificent crystal chandeliers as the hotel lowers them for the annual cleaning process. Each of the 1,754 individual prisms on each chandelier, which stands 12 feet high and 8 feet wide, will be meticulously hand cleaned in the main lobby.
This year’s cleanings take place from 1 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5, Thursday, Nov. 12 and Tuesday, Nov. 17. At 5 p.m. during each cleaning, the hotel will pass out complimentary champagne to toast the housekeeping staff.
A “white-glove” inspection will follow the completion of each fixture. Information cards containing the history of the chandeliers also will be available to guests.
(530 William Penn Place, downtown; 412/281-7100, omnihotels.com/Pittsburgh)
Sherwin-Williams recently launched Paint Shield™, the first EPA-registered microbicidal paint that kills more than 99.9 percent of Staph, MRSA, E. coli and other infectious bacteria on painted surfaces.
