I ended up getting hydronic heating out of the deal
When I first moved into my house we had a giant boiler system in the basement.
The living room had a ton of metal grates in the floor that the heated air would rise and then warm the living room.
It looked hideous but was very effective. I told my husband the first thing I wanted to do was remove the boiler. He encouraged me to leave the boiler in the basement because it was out of sight. He said to focus on making my living room pretty. I covered up all the metal grates but one and the living became freezing cold. I then began looking into alternate methods of heating. I realized that I could use my boiler system for heated flooring. I was able to hook up piping to the existing boiler and have it stretched through my living room floors. I then put tile on top of the piping to hide the ugliest. Now I have beautiful tile floors that are heated by hot water. Since it is water and not air, the heat doesn’t rise. It makes no noise when operating and anything that touches the heated floors feels warm as a result. The couch, loveseat and ottoman all feel like heated seats. Isn’t that amazing? My boiler system has lived in the basement for years and shows no signs of stopping too. It is a beast, a tank of a heating system and I am so thankful I didn’t rip it out all those years ago. I never would have gotten hydronic heating in my home.