One September 2013 Award Home Winner has Redone Everything… Twice

 By her estimations, Nancy Wright has lived in her home at 4611 Tacoma longer than anyone else living a block North or South of her. “I’m on my fourth set of 5-year-olds… at least,” she joked.It was 1983 when she decided to make Southwood Park her home. “I’d been looking at houses in West Central that were more than I could handle,” said Nancy. “My Realtor said ‘no’, brought me here and said, ‘sign the papers now… you’re buying this house’.” In hindsight, it was a great move. “It’s just the right size for us,” she said. “There are only about 2 days a year I wish I had a bigger house.”The woman Nancy bought the home from was the original owner and had lived there for 50 years. Nancy recently marked 30 years living there, and the house has seen a lot of changes during that time. “There’s not much of this house that hasn’t been gutted and redone… most of it twice,” Nancy said. This includes converting the attic to a master suite, tearing down a leaning 1-car garage and replacing it with a spacious 2-car, renovating both bathrooms twice, and finishing the original hardwood floors (which they found unfinished beneath the carpet).Nancy believes the biggest change to the house is the kitchen. They moved the doorway, removed the archway and soffits, added windows above the sink, and put in all new cabinets and countertops. Nancy jokes that with all the work they’ve done, they’ll never get their money back. “But we don’t care,” chimed in Neil Maller, who has lived there since 1989. “We’re doing it for ourselves.”- Kelly Benton