When you know, you know. And when interior designer Leanne Ford and her husband, Erik Allen Ford, found a circa-1900 house right outside 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 one-year-old 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. Original details from the 1900s—like gorgeous molding, well-preserved floors, a wood-clad library, and terra-cotta tiles and wallpapers—were happily restored and paired with the Fords’ modern art and furniture for what Leanne calls “a bit of funk.”

But when the Fords found another original detail—black mold—behind old radiant pipes, the family was motivated to modernize the HVAC system as well with the help of Trane Residential. “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,” the designer says. “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 Trane XV20i TruComfort Variable Speed Heat Pump, as well as the Trane Hyperion Air Handler, came to be pivotal in the Fords’ home upgrade, providing the tools they needed to improve indoor air quality, save energy, and customize the comfort of the rooms.

While the vintage lighting or gorgeous trim may be what first catches visitors’ eyes when they walk through the Fords’ door, in the end, what they can’t see is the real star of this historic home’s makeover.

“The truth is,” says Leanne, “how you feel in a space is just as important as, if not more than, how it looks.”

Read more at dwell.com/trane.

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