I turned a 150-year-old funeral home into a mansion for my family. We have 38 rooms, a casket bar, and sometimes we hear footsteps or doors opening.

• Heather Blumberg and her family turned a funeral home into their mansion.
• There are 38 rooms and the family uses every single one.
• They converted a casket lift into a bar and often hear footsteps or a woman shouting, "Hello!"

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Heather Blumberg, who turned a funeral home into her house. It has been edited for length and clarity.

In 2021, my family and I moved into a funeral home, which we have since converted into our house. We paid $570,000 to buy it and have since put $400,000 into it.

The home had a sympathetic extension added in the 1990's, increasing the house footprint by 6,000 square feet and giving it a total footprint of 14,000 square feet.