When Ana and her husband, Mitch, sat down with their financial advisor eleven years ago to talk about retirement, they weren’t expecting the first question out of his mouth: Where do you plan to live?
At the time, they were settled in Sonoma, California, with grown children nearby and a mortgage that made retiring in place feel increasingly unrealistic. Mitch, born in Canada, and Ana, originally from Sintra, Portugal, had no extended family in the U.S. Their options were wide open — and suddenly very practical.
“It became clear that retiring in California with a mortgage wasn’t going to work,” Ana recalls. “That weekend, we told ourselves: We need to find a home somewhere else, and start preparing now.”
Why Superior? It started with friends and a road trip
Their first encounter with Superior had come years earlier, when they stopped in to visit friends who had relocated from California and found themselves unexpectedly charmed by the rugged landscape, the history, and the warmth of the community.
Over the next few years, more of their friends — made the move. By the time Ana and Mitch were seriously considering a retirement home, Superior already felt familiar.
“It made sense to start looking here,” Ana says. “We had friends, we knew the town, and we’d seen what kinds of homes they were able to buy and restore.”
Finding the House No One Saw Coming
Mitch flew out first to meet with local realtor Pam Peck. They toured several homes, none quite right. Then Pam mentioned a property she hadn’t listed publicly — a bank-owned foreclosure once intended for another buyer whose financing fell through.
It sat on a quiet row of small brick houses that had originally been built for mine employees in the late 1920s. Pam lived just a few doors down and told them: “If you want to see what this house could become, come look at mine.”
The house had been empty for two years. It needed work — a new water heater, HVAC system, roof repair on one of the bedrooms, and a kitchen overhaul — but the bones were strong and the price was right. They bought it in cash, knowing this would be a ten-year project.
The original house: One bedroom, simple bones, and a 1940s expansion
Like its neighbors, the house began as a modest one-bedroom structure. The original 1920s footprint ended near what is now the dining area. In the 1940s, the mining company added a back addition onto all the homes, expanding the footprint and living space.
By the time Ana and Mitch bought it, the additions had aged unevenly. The brick portion was solid. The wood-framed 1940s expansion had structural issues, including a ceiling that had begun to cave in.
A house revealed by demo day
The early plan was simple: remodel within the existing footprint. But once contractors pulled down the old plaster and opened up the walls, the truth emerged — even the foundation needed replacing.
“So we ended up rebuilding the entire house from the foundation up,” Ana says. “Once you’re starting from scratch, you rethink everything.”
The couple stayed true to the original footprint, but almost nothing else remained untouched.
Restoring the past while building the future
Ana had always loved design. Growing up in Portugal, she tinkered endlessly with furniture and paint, encouraged by a mother who let her transform rooms as she pleased. That instinct guided the remodel.
“I wanted to honor the original brick, the age, and the history,” she says. “But also create something open, bright, and modern.”
Over the years, they exposed the original brick, removed interior walls, added massive structural steel beams engineered and fabricated specifically to hold the remaining historic structure in place, and realigned the living space from front to back.
Tall ceilings, skylights, and a loft-like upper section were designed to create volume and light without expanding the footprint. The wall of windows framing Superior’s stunning mountain views became the project’s guiding star.
A European aesthetic, rooted in home
From the start, Ana knew she wanted to bring a touch of Portugal into the design.
“Blue is everywhere in Portugal — in the sky, the ocean, the tiles,” she says. That blue now runs through every room, paired with white walls reminiscent of Portuguese façades.
The kitchen, the heart of the house, reflects that influence most clearly. Spanish tile (Portuguese tile proved difficult to source) extends to the ceiling beams. The counters are kept quietly neutral to let the tile shine. The professional stove required a custom oversized hood — placed higher so it wouldn’t interrupt the view.
There were practical challenges, too. Because California and Arizona regulate stains differently, Ana found herself choosing finishes over the phone, hoping they resembled the colors she had tested back home. And with multiple trips each year — sometimes together, sometimes one at a time — communication, photos, and last-minute decisions became a constant rhythm.
A retirement home made by hand — together
For years, the couple made regular treks to Superior to work on the house. Before they had a bed or functioning systems inside, they purchased a pop-up trailer and later upgraded to a small RV after a surprise winter snowstorm.
They planned to move in spring 2025, but a change in Mitch’s job accelerated everything. In November 2024, they made the leap — six months ahead of schedule.
Today, they’ve been full-time residents for over a year. Their three cats — including Ziggy, the dramatic, reclining gentleman of the house — enjoy a custom-built “catio” with sweeping views of Picketpost Mountain.
Their favorite room? The one they built together
For both Ana and Mitch, the kitchen is their favorite space.
“It’s where we spend time, where we cook, where we look out at the mountains,” Ana says. “Everything about this room represents the decisions we made together.”
The house is filled with personal touches: custom furniture colors, Portuguese-inspired blue trim, warm skylit spaces, and a walk-in closet designed around the way Ana truly lives.
A home chosen with heart
Superior wasn’t just an affordable option. It was a place connected to friendships, history, landscape, and possibility.
“We didn’t have family roots anywhere in the U.S. Superior became the place where we could build something new,” Ana says. “Now, it feels like home.”
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