10-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
They Didn't Need a Formal Dining Room. A $127,000 Ladies' Lounge Fit the Bill Instead.
In 2024, a professional-football coach and his wife paid $6 million for a circa-1920s, Mediterranean-style house in Pittsburgh. They wanted durable finishes and informal living spaces for their three kids and a dog, said their interior designer, Colleen Simonds, while flat-screen televisions were a must-have for watching sports. But the wife wanted a dedicated room for the mahjong games she hosts for friends several days a week.
So the 40-something couple spent $127,000 transforming a formal dining room into a space for mahjong, said Simonds. The family would eat their meals in the kitchen instead. 'She was very clear from the beginning,' Simonds said, 'that they did not want a formal dining room, and that instead she wanted this ladies' lounge area.'
