Leanne Ford’s 123-Year-Old Pennsylvania Home Offers a Breath of Fresh Air
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When you know, you know. And when interior designer Leanne Ford and her husband Erik Allen Ford found a circa-1900 house right outside of Pittsburgh, they couldn’t ignore that age-old adage (or their gut). "It sat empty for years. I truly felt like it was waiting for us," Leanne says.
The couple moved from Los Angeles in 2020—with their then-baby daughter Ever—to embark on their journey to transform the rustic-elegant space into their family’s forever home. Now, nearly three years later, the Fords have created a beautiful, healthy home environment that is perfect for hosting and nesting alike.
While updating the aesthetic, it was also important to Leanne to modernize the mechanicals of the home to work for her family. "Those needed to be done and done right before we ‘closed up’ the walls and finished the visual aspect," she says. "When starting a new interior design project, cosmetic changes, like picking out paint colors, is the fun part. But what's behind the walls—the electrical, plumbing updates, structural check-ins, HVAC upgrades, the not-so-glamorous stuff—those are often not talked about."
The Fords wanted to wholeheartedly embrace the Pennsylvanian home’s traditional charm with their redesign, keeping original details from the 1900s —like gorgeous molding, well-preserved floors, a wood-clad library, and even some tiles and wallpapers—in the revamp. "It has been creatively fulfilling as a designer, mixing the ‘fancy’ and rather traditional style that we inherited from the original architecture with our love for a laid-back and undone casual style," she says. "In many of the rooms, all I did was add our modern furniture and art—it just needed a little funk."
The Fords are only the third owners in the home’s 123-year-old history. "I like to think about the lives it's led and the parties it's held," Leanne says. "In fact, the style of this home has influenced my own style and aesthetic in so many of my other projects, it’s now part of my design DNA." The overall neutral palette of the house is layered with textures from its former lives to bring a casual warmth to the space.
One of Leanne’s more pleasant surprises during the remodel was finding hundreds of stunning first-edition and vintage books in the basement, "which have all happily found their way back up stairs to the living room and the library," she says.
There were a few spaces, however, that needed to be totally gutted, including the kitchen, bathroom, and basement. When the Fords found major mold behind old (and leaking) radiant pipes, the family realized the charm of the historic home stopped there, and some things—like their HVAC—needed to be contemporized. "Now, I am the first to admit I love radiant heat. In old homes, I tend to keep the radiators whenever possible," she says, "But as we dove into this basement renovation, I had a serious internal debate about working with the current and very old radiant system. At the end of the day the right decision for my family was to modernize our heating and cooling systems."
It’s what’s underneath the vintage-chic design that really takes this renovation to modern heights. The home’s original radiant pipes have since been replaced with new, more energy-efficient, modern HVAC systems, including two of Trane’s industry-leading heat pumps, which are paired with Trane’s ComfortLink smart thermostats. With their new systems, the Fords can now monitor or set their desired home temperature from anywhere at any time through the Trane Home app–giving them total control over their family home’s comfort.
All of Trane’s products are tested to withstand the harshest conditions (even Pennsylvania winters) to ensure that they’re ready to run through anything. Because of this, it has been named America’s Most Trusted® HVAC system for nine years running.
Similar to her overall construction mentality, Leanne wanted to do this process only once, and "after loads of research," she turned to Trane Residential for her family’s new heating and cooling system.
Knowing her family also has a terrible time with allergies, the Fords decided to incorporate the Trane CleanEffects® Whole Home Air Cleaner to reduce the presence of potential asthma and allergy attack triggers, including dust, pollen, mildew, and more. CleanEffects, which is 100 times more effective than a standard one-inch filter and is even certified asthma & allergy friendly®, gives the Fords confidence that their HVAC system is working continuously behind-the-scenes to keep their home’s indoor environment clean and healthy as they have guests come and go.
The renovated basement studio is full of a beautiful mix of vintage treasures and modern pieces. "My goal was to create a casual warmth throughout the home that would live happily with the ‘fancy’ we inherited," explains Leanne.
By removing the old boiler system and low hanging pipes and installing the modernized Trane forced air system, Ford was able to free up nearly 1,500 square feet of space for the home studio.
"As a lover and collector of old—old trucks, old clothes, old homes—I know all too well that they sometimes take extra effort to take care of," says Leanne. "While I don't always like to modernize a space...I make a living out of trying not to, in fact...modernizing some things is a must."
The Fords gave the walls of the basement studio a fresh coat of crisp white paint that beautifully reflects the sunlight that streams in through casement windows.
Leanne, husband Erik, and daughter Ever, playing together in their beautifully renovated kitchen.
Because while the vintage lighting or gorgeous wallpaper may be what first catches visitors’ eyes when they walk in the door, in the end, what they can’t see is the real star of this historic home’s makeover.
"The truth is," Leanne says, "how you feel in a space is just as important as how it looks."
Learn more about Trane Residential and clean air for your home at trane.com/residential.
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