Willow Glen Resident

Community

Photograph courtesy of San Jose Day Nursery

Take A Look: The property on Patio Drive in Willow Glen in one of six homes featured on this year's San Jose Day Nursery home tour. This is the 24th year for the event.

Six Willow Glen houses showcased on San Jose Day Nursery home tour

By Mayra Flores De Marcotte

The remodeling bug is out in full force in neighborhoods throughout Willow Glen, and the results of these endeavors are being showcased in this year's Willow Glen Lifestyles home tour.

The annual event, in its 24th year, is designed to benefit San Jose Day Nursery. The home tour is a major source of funds for the nursery, typically raising between $20,000 and $30,000 annually.

This year's tour features six homes in Willow Glen that have gone through various remodels, from enlarging the home to teardowns that were either rebuilt or remodeled.

The tour is May 6-7 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The fundraiser allows individuals to take a look at Willow Glen homes featuring the latest in remodeling ideas.

One Willow Glen resident, Rhonda Scattini, has been remodeling her Norman Avenue home since she and her husband purchased it in 1989.

This is Scattini's first year with the tour. She decided to become involved when Monica Farnsworth of Coldwell Banker was scouting out houses for the tour.

The last major remodel to the home included a new front yard, the addition of a hallway bathroom, an extensive remodel to the family room and the addition of a small laundry room.

The enclosed family room had a built-in hot tub when the Scattinis first moved in.

"We got rid of it and filled that in for more living space," Scattini said.

The focal point of the home is Scattini's kitchen.

After a battle with cancer five years ago, Scattini's decided "life is too short," and the family wanted to enjoy their home.

"We deserve this while we're here," Scattini said. "I love to cook, so the kitchen was completely redone."

Scattini is part of the North San Jose Rotary and has many meetings at her home.

"Sometimes I cook for 250 people," she said, "and when you cook, you need to have a triangle in your kitchen in order to cook and entertain."

The kitchen was completely remodeled with new cabinetry, travertine countertops and designated areas for baking and serving.

"There were some painful moments," Scattini said. "We went from February to July without a kitchen last year, but it's amazing what you can do with a microwave and a barbecue."

The wait was worth it she says. She now has her "dream kitchen."

"My kitchen now allows me to multitask," Scattini said. "It takes me half the time to prep and cook compared to what it used to take in the old kitchen."

Willow Glen resident Lorene Milligan's home on Clarence Court is also on the tour. She spent 18 months remodeling it.

"We've lived in this house since 1979, and we took it down to the studs," said her husband, Lew Milligan. "We didn't want to move, so we remodeled."

The home had numerous levels that had become difficult for the Milligans to maneuver through.

"We're not young anymore," Lew Milligan said, "so we made it all single levels."

The Milligans also used this opportunity to trim things down.

"Moving out of your house after 40 years of marriage, it really shows you what you really need and don't need," Lorene Milligan said.

Along with making the first floor one level, the Milligans replaced their brick fireplace with a gas one, added five feet to the front of the house and installed a shower downstairs.

Willow Glen resident and developer Dave Magetti built his Patio Drive house.

"I built a better home than I can buy," Magetti said.

His home was built from the ground up in 15 months, inc luding the gothic crosses on the wooden beams above the great room to the immense wrought-iron chandeliers that were custom made.

"It's a little eclectic, a little gothic and a little Italian," Magetti said.

His is the only new home on this year's tour.

The home tour originated as a fundraising idea with the board members of the San Jose Day Nursery, which has provided day care for children of students and working-class parents since 1916.

Tickets are $30 each prior to the tour. Tickets can be purchased at Able Printing, 1595 Meridian Ave., Casa Casa, 1355 Lincoln Ave., Eclectic Touch, 1171 Lincoln Ave., Fleurish, 1335 Lincoln Ave., B Civilized, 1140-7 Lincoln Ave., and Bunny Hutch, 14926 Camden Ave.

Tickets are $35 each on the day of the tour and can be purchased at the Washington Mutual parking lot, corner of Minnesota and Lincoln avenues May 6 and 7 from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

For more information, call 408.288.9667 or visit www.SJDN.org.

Children under 12 years of age are not permitted on the tour.