Local Couple's Aleppo Township Home Featured in 'Country Living' Magazine

Leanne Ford Shaffer and Brad Shaffer know a lot about style. Three years ago, the creative couple started Acre Goods & Services, an agency with a focus on interior design, style and branding. 

But it was their own do-it-yourself project to completely renovate their Aleppo Township home that is getting attention.  

The Shaffer's home is currently featured in the September issue of Country Living magazine, which came out in August.

"Country Living has been my favorite magazine for a long time so its been really fun to be involved in it," Leanne Ford Shaffer said.

Called "the makeover issue," the glossy eight-page spread shows dramatic before and after interior home renovations. They purchased their new place—a former 1907 schoolhouse—shortly after they wed in 2010 but it definitely wasn't their style.

"It was very dated," Leanne Ford Shaffer said. 

Within a week they had begun renovating. And over the course of two years, they remodeled the entire house—everything from ripping up linoleum to reveal the original hardwood floors, to doubling the size of the master bath. 

A wardrobe stylist, Leanne Ford Shaffer has spent a decade doing a lot of photo styling work with fashion magazines. An editor from one of those magazines contacted Country Living about the Shaffer's home.

They liked what they saw and a photo shoot took place a year ago.

"They asked me if I wanted to style at first. I said 'I’d like another eye on it,' " she said.  

The magazine brought in their own interior stylist—at Leanne's request—and tweaked a few things for the shoot. The couple is pictured together with their terrier, Tom. Various rooms throughout the home are shown with before and after depictions.

The two grew up not too far from each other, Leann in Upper Saint Clair and Brad in Butler. They moved around the country and traveled the world for 10 years before they eventually met, moved back to Western Pennsylvania and married three years ago. As designers with styles that mesh, they work well jointly.

"We both have a similar style and aesthetic and we both really enjoy doing it together," Leanne Ford Shaffer said. "We have a lot of projects together and also individually, we do both."

They have designed homes and offices, including Sabika, which sells hand-crafted jewelry by European artists. The Shaffers are taking on new projects. To contact them, or to learn more about their work, visit www.weareacre.com. 

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