Patricia Howard’s new kitchen includes spacious cabinets, new countertops, a hardwood floor and appliances that work.
Marcus Larson/News-Register

After sponsors of the Ugly Kitchen Contest quit laughing at Howard’s old cabinets, they awarded her first prize.
Submitted photo

As workers begin installing her new cabinets, Patricia Howard marvels over their spaciousness. She will finally have room for everything, she said.
Starla Pointer/News-Register

Patricia Howard

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YAMHILL — Patricia Howard had a pretty ugly kitchen. Soon she’ll have a pretty pretty one instead.

Thanks to the sponsors of Oregon’s first “Ugly Kitchen Contest,” and a cadre of supportive friends, she is getting a home makeover.

It thrills her, but it doesn’t surprise her all that much, as she always had faith that God would make sure she’s taken care of. “I’ve been blessed so much,” said Howard, a longtime school custodian from Yamhill.

She never misses an opportunity to spread the word.

“I say, look at what God is doing!” she said. “You can’t shut me up about that, not even at school.”

She and her late husband, James, moved into their home on the northern edge of town in 1986. The house was older, and needed some work, but somehow they never got around to it.

She painted bright, happy colors on the walls five years ago, in an attempt to drive away the sadness after her husband died. But otherwise, she just got by — even when the sink stopped draining, the range broke down and the bathroom floor began to crumble.

The seed for Howard’s home improvements was planted when friend Veronica Nufer introduced her to husband Bob Nufer five years ago.

Nufer fixed her kitchen sink. He noticed her bathroom was in bad shape, but didn’t have the time to do anything about it.
This January, Nufer realized Howard’s bathroom situation had become desperate. The floor was rotting out, the fixtures were old and balky, and there was no shower.

He had been planning to spend his spare time working out a new marketing plan for his business, Misty Mountain Mushrooms, but decided to focus on Howard’s needs instead. “God wanted me to put that on hold and help her,” he said.

With the financial support of his business partners, who include his wife and Gary and Miriam LaRue, he recruited contractor Bill LaRue of Allstart Homes to help. They immediately set to work on the bathroom.

Naturally, it needed more help than they had realized at first. That drew more of Nufer’s attention from his business, but business improved anyway.

He and Bill LaRue said they knew the reason for that. “When you do the Lord’s work, the Lord will take care of you,” LaRue said.

They noted the biblical mandate: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world,” James 1:27.

“For me, this has been about faith that God would take care of us and obedience to do what he wanted,” Nufer said.

As they finished up on Howard’s bathroom, Nufer began thinking about the bigger picture. Friends from her church, Jesus Our Jubilee, were thinking along the same lines, and came by to do some yard work.

Howard still needed more work done, though — bigger work. And to make that possible, she needed to refinance her mortgage.

Nufer laid plans to make that happen.

In February, Howard attended February’s Portland Home & Garden Show with a friend. The aim, she said, was just “to look, get ideas, dream like you do.”

When she saw the sign at Kitchen Concepts announcing an ugliest kitchen contest, she knew she was in the right place.

She picked up an entry form. Then she went home and photographed hers, lime-green cabinets and all. Other than the paint — lime green and faded lemon yellow — it had never been remodeled.

“After they got done laughing at my photos, I told them they could stop looking for an uglier kitchen,” she said.

Howard’s home easily made the finals. Then Dave Warren, owner of Kitchen Concepts, came to Yamhill for a personal look.
Warren, who has kitchen installation outlets in Portland and Gresham, said he wanted to make sure the available cabinets would work.

“And I wanted the neediest kitchen,” he said. “Patricia’s fit perfectly.

“And besides, she’s such a sweetie pie. I couldn’t have asked for a more worthy person.”

A few days later, he called to tell her she had won.

“I was so excited, I was jabbering,” she said. “I couldn’t thank him enough.”

But she wasn’t all that surprised. She knew she would win, she just knew it.

“It’s funny to say, maybe, but I never doubted it,” she said. “It’s a faith thing. I just knew.

“And now I can go around saying, look what God has done! God gets the glory for all of it.”

Originally, the Ugly Kitchen Contest offered a prize package that included cabinets, but not installation services. But when Warren met Howard, he decided to throw in installation as well.

She offered him payment in cookies and milk. As it turned out, though, with her kitchen in such chaos, she was unable to bake.
Her friend Nufer saved the day, showing up on installation day laden with freshly made chocolate chip cookies.

In preparation for the big day, contractor LaRue removed the old, broken, pressboard cabinets and the ratty flooring, a mixture of carpet, linoleum and backing for one or the other. Everything was ready for the new cabinets, countertops, appliances and hardwood flooring, supplied by Kitchen Concepts, Flooring Depot and DeWhitt Appliance.

Howard was still floating on air as workers began the installation.

Whenever she could, she rolled open a drawer, admiring how smoothly it glided, or stroked the alder surfaces tenderly.

“Oh, I get a cutting board, too?” she marveled as one rolled out at the touch of her finger. “My imagination wasn’t this ritzy!”

She pointed out one cabinet with slots for mail on the bottom and room for her cookbooks up top. Another cabinet features a glass front to show off special dishes.

Lower cabinets have slide-out racks, making it easy to retrieve large, bulky pots. The walls are painted “desert sand,” a color that reminds her of a coffee drink.

“There will be room for everything!” Howard said.

Not only that, but for the first time in years, everything will work.

The new kitchen and bathroom will make a huge difference in Howard’s life.

She loves to cook and entertain, and is looking forward to being able to do that again. She’s already planning a party to celebrate the completion of her new kitchen.

“I was just muddling through,” she said. “Now I get to pick out light fixtures!

“I feel like a queen in my own little castle.”

Starla Pointer, who is convinced everyone has an interesting story to tell, has been writing the weekly “Stopping By” column since 1996. She’s always looking for suggestions. Contact her at 503-687-1263 or spointer@newsregister.com.