Leanne Ford on Remodeling, Loving and Listing Her Sewickley Home

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Picture BY REID ROLLS

When HGTV star Leanne Ford initially rolled up to the crimson brick house with a substantial timber portico tucked away on 5 acres, she observed herself intrigued by both equally its condition and its fashion. 

“It was a extremely exceptional Mid-Century Fashionable in Sewickley Heights,” she remembers. “I’d by no means found that as a risk prior to.” 

Whilst the home, developed in 1950, was effectively-kept, the designer, who co-stars with her brother, Steve Ford, on ”Home Again With The Fords”  states it was calling for some va-va voom, and effectively, “I just appreciate a job,” she says. 

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Ahead of: LEANNE FORD WAS INTRIGUED BY THE Red BRICK Household WITH THE Substantial PORTICO IN SEWICKLEY

At the time, Ford and her spouse, Buck Mason outfits manufacturer co-founder Erik Allen Ford, ended up touring back and forth in between Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, and Leanne Ford — who grew up in Higher St. Clair — needed a property foundation nearer to loved ones. Following buying the four-bed room, 3,242 square-foot house in 2018, she expended close to a calendar year renovating the assets. 

“It was a total gut job,” she claims. “Once we started out, we did not stop.”

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Just before: FORD TOOK DOWN A WALL Among THE Kitchen AND Eating Area FOR AN Open up, AIRIER Truly feel

Alright, not a full gut work, the designer amends. Ford notes they reused the kitchen’s lower cabinets, which they sanded down to a pure-toned hue, and saved the initial windows in the household space. 

She also took down the wall among the kitchen and dining area for an open up, airier come to feel and extra high-conclusion appliances these types of as a Sub-Zero fridge and a Viking gasoline stove. In lieu of recessed can lights, she included a collection of eye-catching gold pendants.

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Image BY REID ROLLS

Serving as the kitchen’s centerpiece is a significant island with spectacular marble waterfall counter tops from Armina Stone. The Fords also added large bi-fold glass doors main out to the deck which, moreover offering a grand look at of the wooded residence, manages to provide inside of the experience of getting outside.  

Amongst the other standouts are a domestically handcrafted white oak sculptural staircase and artisanal concrete skim-coated walls.There’s also a world-shaped Isamu Noguchi pendant light-weight and a vintage wooden-burning stove in the phase-down spouse and children room.

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Image BY REID ROLLS

Magic in the Bed room

The primary suite is located on the home’s decrease level, exactly where Ford — apprehensive the room would feel also darkish — opened up the staircase to the upper degree to let in the light and extra much more bi-fold glass doors. The adjacent bathroom has heated floors, a double showerhead, steam space, two marble waterfall vanities and a wander-in closet.

The dwelling also options what Ford has identified as 3 “magical” freestanding bathtubs, among them a slate Native Trails concrete bathtub in the primary toilet which is surrounded by rocks. The rocks in fact have a drain underneath, so if drinking water spills more than the tub, it does not go onto the flooring. 

“I pass up individuals bathtubs,” Ford suggests with a chortle. 

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Photograph BY REID ROLLS

Of class, both equally the exterior and interior of the building, which includes the brick partitions in the relatives home, are painted in Ford’s signature white. This, the designer states, was an quick way to modernize the house. 

“The cause white operates for all the things is you notice the lines of the dwelling a lot more, which are genuinely attention-grabbing,” she states. “What felt dated prior to became crisp and modern-day when painted white. It’s truthfully pretty fall short-proof.” 

The Fords lived in the room all over the renovation. It is also where they introduced their daughter, At any time, when she was born in March 2019. However, as soon as the family members began paying a lot more time in Los Angeles, they made a decision to element with the property. 

“We didn’t necessarily mean to provide it,” Ford states. “It wasn’t our intention.”

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Image BY ROSEANNE MARTIN

Back on the Sector

Now, the home is when again on the sector. It is stated for $1.3 million.

Realtor Angela Pulkowski of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices states the latest operator, who purchased the home from the Fords as a second household close to the conclusion of 2019, decided to continue to be completely in Florida to be closer to relatives in the course of the coronavirus pandemic. The homeowner, who questioned to remain anonymous, also acquired a great deal of Ford’s household furniture. 

“He redid the driveway and he turned Leanne’s place of work into an additional spare bed room, but mainly it seems to be the exact same as when Leanne lived there,” Pulkowski states. 

The pandemic also is what encouraged the Fords to shift nearer to household which, apart from Ford’s brother, contains sister, Michelle, and their mom, Jackie. 

“We were paying additional time in L.A., which entirely switched when COVID transpired. It was all about household,” Ford suggests. 

The Following Significant Job

In June 2020, the couple marketed their California home and returned to the Pittsburgh location for excellent immediately after purchasing a historic older home north of the town developed by architect Charles Barton Eager. Television set viewers may possibly recall the home’s independent carriage house — the partitions of which Ford infamously stained making use of leftover coffee — remaining highlighted in the hottest season of “Home All over again with the Fords” as the siblings labored to turn it into a visitor cottage with an Outdated-Earth, English backyard garden vibe for Ford’s sister-in-legislation, Ali. 

Whilst there’s no word on what is following for “Home Yet again with the Fords,” which focuses on the brother/sister duo renovating residences for households boomeranging back again to Pittsburgh, Ford is at function on yet another task — an innovative residence flip.

“It’s in Upper St. Clair, and it’s my 1st time doing it,” she suggests. 

Followers may well comply with together on Ford’s Instagram as she renovates the primary Sears-Roebuck Craftsman-design and style package property. Presently, she has lifted the roofline of the residence to make a much more usable next ground and painted the interior a crisp white. The 4-bedroom residence, which Ford is placing the finishing touches on, is tentatively slated to go on the current market by December. 

“We virtually slash off the top rated dwelling to increase the roof,” she suggests of the task. “It was a large tadoo.”