A West Richland home recently was featured on HGTV – but it wasn’t for its picturesque river views.

The North Riverside Drive home made an appearance on the “Ugliest House in America” show where actor and comedian Retta travels across the country to tour properties nominated by their owners as the ugliest home around. After crowning the worst of the worst, designer Alison Victoria surprises the homeowners with a $150,000 renovation.

Retta, who starred as Donna Meagle in NBC’s “Parks & Recreation,” visited West Richland in the recently aired episode featuring Pacific Northwest homes.

She noted plenty of eye-opening sights inside the home:

• A fire-engine red claw-footed bathtub with matching sinks floating in an island. They’re tucked into the corner of a master bedroom, without walls. There’s also matching red carpeting – under the tub.
• “Brady Bunch”-esque carpeting.
• A jarring mixture of textures, tiles and fixtures throughout the home, including what appears to be shaggy carpeting lining the walls in a spiral staircase, along with some 4-inch deep stairs.
• A stage and dance floor.
• A bomb shelter – without a door.

“It’s like somebody went to the waste bin, and they took everything that somebody had thrown away from old homes and they put it together in this house,” said homeowner Troy Swallow on the TV show.

He and his wife, Kori Swallow, bought the house for $710,000. They and their four children appear in the episode.

‘Castle vibes’

“Highly unique custom home” and “one-of-a-kind property” with “castle vibes” is how the home was listed on Realtor.com.

Built in 1958, the 2,285-square-foot home features four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a large deck overlooking the Yakima River, a two-car garage, detached shop and basement.

“It’s really hard to find real estate on the river,” Troy said on the show, which noted his parents live up the street.

“For at least 10 years, we’ve been driving up and down this road watching for one to come up, and it’s like it doesn’t matter what it looked like. When this one did, we jumped on it,” Kori said on the show. “I think the last time this place was updated was 40 years ago, maybe 50.”

While touring the large kitchen area, Retta pointed out the disparate features: octagonal tiles, ivy-like garland decor running along the ceiling, ornate leaf outlet covers, wood paneling, mosaic tile under the wood stove, a mid-century cooktop.

“It’s a hot mess,” Rett said. “You gotta fix, replace, overhaul – Every. Single. Thing.”

Dance floor

Retta struck a disco move on the home’s dance floor. The previous owner, who had it from 1976 to 2022, was an avid dancer.

The late Ron Hinz loved music and dance, and was a lifelong member and exhibition dancer with the International Folk Dancers of Richland, according to his obituary.

Barbara Puigh, vice president of International Folk Dancers, recalled the Christmas parties Hinz hosted there for the dancers. She also remembered the red shag carpet, beautiful yard and great river views from the upstairs floors.

After touring the home, Retta said: “Appearance wise, there is a lot going on. Some bold and bad choices were made, from the sconces to the rugs to the flooring, there’s so many things happening.”

She poked fun at the home’s purported bomb shelter: “I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a bomb shelter that had a curtain for a door,” she quipped.

“I feel like it’s counterproductive. Get you a door! Save some lives.”

The Swallows are investors who own multiple homes in the Tri-Cities that they renovate and rent. “This one, however, we intend to totally overhaul and make our own,” Kori told the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business.

Spoiler alert

The Season 5, Episode 2 show, called “The Unpleasant Pacific Northwest,” featured two other Washington state homes, one in Seattle, and an octagon-shaped home in Sultan.

“There was some proper ugly on display among the three contenders in the Pacific Northwest,” Retta said.

Spoiler alert: the West Richland home didn’t advance to the next round in the contest. It lost out to the mirror-encrusted home in Seattle.

Upcoming airings of the episode on HGTV are at 8 p.m. May 16; 3 a.m. May 17; 11 a.m. May 18; and 11 a.m. May 24.