This house was originally built in 1970. It had electric baseboard heating, uninsulated windows and doors, Texture-111 siding, and minimal insulation throughout. During the winter, our energy bills exceeded $1,000 per month.

The interior layout was chopped into small rooms, and wall-to-wall carpeting was used—likely as a way to cope with the cold. We explored many design options, including tearing the house down entirely. In the end, we chose to reimagine it with an open floor plan, high-performance insulation, new energy-efficient windows and doors, and a heating and cooling system based on high-efficiency mini-splits.

The result? Our energy bills are now just a quarter of what they used to be—and the persistent rodent and ant issues are gone.

Now, it truly feels like home.