Leanne Ford’s 123-Year-Old Pennsylvania Home Offers a Breath of Fresh Air
A state-of-the-art HVAC system quietly modernizes the lovingly restored, century-old house.
A state-of-the-art HVAC system quietly modernizes the lovingly restored, century-old house.
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."
Photo by Amy Neunsinger; Styled by Hilary Robertson
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.
Photo by Amy Neunsinger; Styled by Hilary Robertson
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.
Photo by Amy Neunsinger; Styled by Hilary Robertson
See the full story on Dwell.com: Leanne Ford’s 123-Year-Old Pennsylvania Home Offers a Breath of Fresh Air
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