Upper St. Clair siblings begin home remodeling TV show
Photo courtesy of HGTV
Steve and Leanne Ford
Photo courtesy of Alexandra Ribar
One of the homes Upper St. Clair natives Leanne and Steve Ford restored for the new HGTV show “Restored by the Fords.”
Photo courtesy of Alexandra Ribar
Photo courtesy of Alexandra Ribar
One of the homes Upper St. Clair natives Leanne and Steve Ford restored for the new HGTV show “Restored by the Fords.”
Growing up in Upper St. Clair, Leanne and Steve Ford were always making home movies together.
“We were always using dad’s VHS camera when we were kids,” Leanne said.
All that work must have paid off, as the siblings recently started a HGTV new home-remodeling television show based in Pittsburgh called “Restored by the Fords.”
“We’ve been doing videos with our families and homemade music videos and stuff like that,” Leanne said. “All of those memories came flooding back as adults when we’re all of a sudden doing this with a professional cameraman. Everyone says that we’re so natural together in front of the camera, and I have to think it’s because we’ve done it since we were born.”
The show, which airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on HGTV and is in its first season, combines Leanne’s fashion and interior expertise with Steve’s construction knowledge.
“I moved into interiors when I did my own house almost eight years ago now,” she said. “From there it just became more and more jobs in interiors and that took over. I did a couple of jobs in Pittsburgh, so (Steve), who was doing building and carpentry, came and helped me on those projects, so we started working together a lot.”
After Steve and Leanne got in contact with HGTV representatives, they started searching for homes to renovate in the Pittsburgh area. One of the houses that intrigued them was on Edgewood Drive in Upper St. Clair, which is down the street from where Leanne owned a house.
The house was on the market and ended up being purchased by Brad and Heather Collins, who both agreed to being on the first season of “Restored by the Fords.”
Leanne and Steve renovated the entire home with a budget of $100,000, and the first episode of their home aired on Jan. 16, while the second aired Feb. 13.
Brad and Heather, both Mon Valley natives, decided they wanted to move back to Western Pennsylvania after having their two children, as they had previously lived in India, Manhattan and Miami.
One of the main features Brad wanted in the home was an indoor swimming pool, which the house in Upper St. Clair had.
“I swam in high school and even at W&J I swam a little bit. I’ve always loved swimming,” Brad said. “We got really lucky finding the house. That’s definitely a unique feature to be in the home.”
The house, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright disciple Don Owens, has several interesting features along with the indoor pool, including a small bridge and a waterfall inside the home.
“There’s a lot of stone and wood inside the home, so (the concept) is about taking the outside elements in,” Brad said.
Leading up to the final reveal of the home, Heather said she was eager to see the home, but she trusted Leanne and Steve. Heather added that since it was her first time on television, she enjoyed how her and Brad were able to be themselves.
“The best part was the fact that Steve and Leanne were so laid back and comfortable,” Heather said. “It was always like we were hanging out.”
“We have this amazing team we work with,” Leanne said. “Everything is natural and easy, as it should be. They don’t try to get anything out of us that isn’t happening anyway.”
Leanne also said she’s happy the show is fully based in Pittsburgh, with every home being in the Pittsburgh region.
“It’s pretty neat to watch. HGTV really loves Pittsburgh, which I appreciate,” she said. “We’re proud to be representing our town.”
For more information about “Restored by the Fords” visit, www.hgtv.com/shows/restored-by-the-fords.