Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette photos The new gourmet kitchen has granite countertops and a wooden armoire.

Gary Funderlich and Rob Ridgeway share a penchant for art and an eye for detail. So it comes as no surprise that their grand Edwardian-style house in Shadyside is drop-dead gorgeous.

	Gary Funderlich and Rob Ridgeway's Howe Street home is featured on the Shadyside House Tour. Click photo for larger image. 28th Annual Shadyside House Tour When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow. Tickets: $15 in advance at Eureka! Chocolates and Gifts, 735 Copeland St., or Arhaus, 235 S. Highland Ave.; $20 on tour day at ticket booth at Winchester Thurston School, Ellsworth and Morewood avenues. Information: 412-361-3771 or www.shadysideaction.org.

What's more curious is why they bought it in the first place. The house they really wanted when they were looking a few years ago was a Stick Style Victorian on South Negley Avenue. But as luck would have it, they missed it both times it was on the market. So this house on Howe Street, which is on tomorrow's 28th annual Shadyside House Tour, was something of a consolation prize.

"When we pulled up, we just hated it," remembers Mr. Ridgeway, shop manager for the Sen. John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center. "It had yellow brick and an ugly iron porch with green trim, and everything was boarded up."

The house, built in 1915, was also too far from Walnut Street.

"When we first started to look, we never went past Maryland Avenue," admits Mr. Funderlich, who owns Tresor Gallery on Ellsworth Avenue.

Once inside, however, they started to reconsider. Although old-house restorer Randy Bennett had gutted it to little more than a shell, it still had many of its original architectural details, including oak floors, period fireplaces with mirrors and a grand maple staircase. They also loved the floor plan, which divides the three-story house into extremely large rooms.

One of the biggest and most fabulous spaces is the coffee-colored formal dining room. More than 20 feet long, it easily accommodates the massive antique dining table with harp legs the pair discovered at a shop in Frederick, Md. It seats 14 on chairs gleaned from an old hotel in Washington, D.C. They had it refinished along with a 1920s breakfront that still has its original curved glass. The room is so spacious that it requires two rock crystal chandeliers by Schonbek to properly illuminate it.

In restoring the house, Mr. Funderlich and Mr. Ridgeway tried to stay as true to the period as possible. They refinished the original oak and pine floors and refurbished the clawfoot tub in the master bathroom. They insisted that the original hardware on all the interior paneled doors -- slated for the trash -- be cleaned up and reinstalled. They also removed the dropped ceiling that a former owner had installed in the kitchen and commissioned artist Peter Boucher of Friendship to make stained-glass windows to replace originals that had been removed, including one on the second-floor landing.

At the same time, they incorporated a few modern conveniences. For instance, the new gourmet kitchen has granite countertops to go with its wooden armoire from Arhaus. It also has Bosch built-in ovens and a Dacor cooktop. (Mr. Ridgeway is a professionally trained chef.) The pair also finished the basement with a separate bar area and put in a radiant-heated driveway and one-car garage.

Gary Funderlich and Rob Ridgeway's spacious dining room accommodates a huge antique table. Click photo for larger image.

The second floor, meanwhile, now has a laundry and the third "guest" floor" has two new baths.

In addition to its period style, the house gets much of its aesthetic appeal from its artwork, most by artists represented by Tresor Gallery. A niche on the first-floor landing displays a sand-cast glass figurine by Sylvie Belanger and the formal living room holds a bronze Dam de Nogales sculpture of a hand holding an angel.

"It's almost like your spirit, leaving your body at the end of your life," Mr. Funderlich suggests.

Other notable pieces include a glazed pottery landscape by Studio Surette that hangs above the giant limestone fireplace in the living room, a tree sculpture made from twisted wire by Paul LeBlanc, and a fanciful painting of an outdoor art gallery by Toronto artist Howard Fox. The piece includes the owners -- who lived together in Toronto before returning to their hometown -- and their families.

With so much to see inside, you might miss the home's exterior pleasures. But you'll want to explore the small yard off the kitchen, which has both a waterfall and a patio surrounded by greenery.

"I can cut the grass in about 3 minutes," quips Mr. Ridgeway.

There's also a terrific front porch with a whimsical palm frond fan that serves as their living room in warm weather.

When they left Pittsburgh some 18 years ago, Mr. Funderlich recalls, they never could have imagined a neighborhood where they could sit on the porch together, enjoy a glass of wine and have neighbors stop by.

"It's been a really great transition back," says Mr. Ridgeway.