Evolution

By Tammy Keith

Susan and Jim Hoggard don't do anything halfway. They didn't just have children, they had five. They didn't just go to a few UCA football games, they didn't miss a game for over 25 years. They didn't just buy a house, they bought it and bought it and bought it.

The house on Colonial Drive has been their home off and on since 1981, and they've put their personal stamp on it with several remodeling projects.

The Hoggards first took the home on trade with some other properties and rented it out. They traded it back and forth again, and lived in it the second time.

"We'd always like it," Mrs. Hoggard said. They sold it when they moved to Jonesboro for six years. "We lived in two different houses in Jonesboro, and every house we've had since this one we keep comparing to this."

When they moved back to Conway about four years ago, they didn't have to look far to find a house they wanted.

"We just came over here and rang the doorbell," Mrs. Hoggard said. They explained to the couple they used to own the house, and wondered if the couple would consider selling it to them. "They had just decided the weekend before that they wanted to move to the country," Mrs. Hoggard said.

A bar table from a riverboat is a stylish touch to the front room.

Matt Manning Photo

A few months later, their old home was their new home.

Not only that, but Hoggard called the telephone company and asked if their old telephone number was available. It was.

The home bears very little resemblance to the original home built by Ronnie Potts, going from about 1,600 square feet to more than 3,000. It evolved from a three-bedroom, two-bath home to a four-bedroom, four-bath home.

It was first owned by Jim and Shirley Montgomery and is about 30 years old.

Other owners made changes to the home, but it was the Hoggards who made the most dramatic alterations.

"This is all Jim's doing -- he's the one with vision," Mrs. Hoggard said.

The den has tiles and many mirrors, giving it an open feel.

Matt Manning Photo

The Hoggards have kept Kordsmeier Remodeling Co. busy with additions and changes to the home through the years.

"They love us," she said with a laugh.

The front of the home was given a new look -- the covered porch area was enclosed and is now the entryway of the home, and the carport is enclosed.

Following the changes in the house are as complicated as trying to keep up with Elizabeth Taylor's husbands. It gets confusing, unless you were there.

Mrs. Hoggard has a photo album full of all the work that's been done on the house. "I just love before and after stuff," she said. "I don't want to forget and I want to remember what an improvement we've made."

She has copies of photos from the original owners of the outside and inside of the home. Photographs show the Montgomery's children (Melissa Longing and Jamie Claassen, both of Conway) sharing Christmas together in the living room many years ago.

What the Montgomery family used as a living room is now the Hoggard family's den. It used to be their dining room, but it was too small for all the furniture.

Mrs. Hoggard had a covered back porch enclosed to use as a den. The area has laminate wood floors and a gas fireplace. "This den was so big and open that we ended up not using it," she said.

Mrs. Hoggard solved the problem by making the large addition the dining room and using the smaller room at the front of the house for a cozy den.

"Now we've got a den that we really enjoy. It's on the front of the house and we can take guests straight in here," she said.

The new dining room has plenty of space for Mrs. Hoggard's parlor grand piano, too. It allows a beautiful view of the flowers and fountain on the side of the house.

"We're getting less and less yard and more and more house," Mrs. Hoggard said, laughing.

One of the most popular rooms in the home is the "Bear Den," as they call it, which used to be the carport. The room, just to the right of the entrance of the home, is where the family's loyalty to their alma mater is evident.

The Hoggards got married while they were students at UCA. She grew up in Stuttgart, he in Lonoke.

UCA couldn't ask for better fans.

"Jim went 27 years without missing a single game anywhere," Mrs. Hoggard said. She missed only one game in 26 years -- an away game during an ice storm when she was pregnant. "We haven't missed any since we've been back in Conway," she added.

The "Bear Den" is full of UCA mementos, from a photograph of some 1947 Arkansas State Teachers College football players to a picture of Scottie Pippen on the ceiling above the bar.

The bar is a story in itself. "It came off an old riverboat. It's 8-foot, hand-carved oak," Mrs. Hoggard said.

It originally was in the Stuttgart Country Club before a couple bought it for a Mexican restaurant. It was moved to a new restaurant location, and then the woman's husband died. She put it up for sale in a newspaper ad. Mrs. Hoggard called to ask about it. "It turned out it was a lady I'd known all my life. My daddy was her accountant." Hoggard, a stockbroker, had done work for the woman's husband.

The room is a popular gathering place when the Hoggards entertain, which they love to do. The men can sit at the bar and watch television and the woman gather on the leather sofas or a chair covered with a Holstein design.

"I love the Bear Den. That's where all the world's problems are solved," Hoggard joked. "Everything in that room has a story behind it." He has football stubs from the past 30 years of games, including the national championship game in 1991.

A shelf just below the ceiling molding is lined with autographed items from UCA players, photographs and other memorabilia. "People keep bringing us stuff. We just love UCA, period, and we're big football fans," Mrs. Hoggard said.

Mrs. Hoggard's five children gave her a concrete bear which greets visitors at the front of the home. Their children are J. Hoggard, Misty Young, Cherish, Hillary and Haven Hoggard. The Hoggards are always on the lookout for unique pieces for their home.

When the front porch was enclosed, three more windows were added to the front of the home to match the others on the front. They found beautiful leaded glass windows in Botkinburg.

They found the antique cabinets in the den at a shop in Choctaw and several pieces of furniture were purchased at Haverty's in Little Rock, including Hoggard's favorite overstuffed bomber leather chair and the coffee table with the bear base used in the Bear Den.

The black and white vinyl floor adds to the fun atmosphere. That flooring was already in the kitchen, so they used it in the Bear Den when it was added.

In the majority of the home, the Hoggards put ceramic tile on the floor from Imboden's Carpet and Interiors.

Another unusual feature in the home is separate his and her bathrooms in the master bedroom. In 1996, they hired Kordsmeier Remodeling to build a closet at the far end of the bedroom. The original master closet was walled in, and space from it was borrowed to enlarge the hall bathroom.

Last summer, Mrs. Hoggard decided to get rid of the closet and add his and her bathrooms. (A remodeling company's dream, this couple.) Her bathroom is decorated in delicate colors of seafoam green and peach.

"I'm not a showerer, I'm a bather, so I have the Jacuzzi tub, and Jim has his shower. I drew all this bathroom and shower design."

Her husband actually picks the colors for most of the home. His bathroom has a definite masculine feel with a black and white theme, anchored by black and white ceramic tile on the floor. The wallpaper, found at The Carpet Center, is Wall Street Journal stock quotes, perfect for a stockbroker.

The cabinet in the bathroom, which holds a television, came about when the back of the dining room's gas fireplace needed to be camouflaged.

Since the bathroom was an interior room and didn't have a window, the ever-creative pair installed a piece of stained glass illuminated from behind.

A U-shaped closet can be accessed through either bathroom. Although the bathrooms are separated, a cabinet over the toilets is one deep cabinet that can be opened from either bathroom, which the plumber found amusing.

The Hoggards have always been comfortable in the home, but with each remodeling it becomes a little more tailored to their lifestyle.

"It has lots of entertaining areas. My son got married in the house ... we have a big Fourth of July party every year," and this weekend they're cooking 150 pounds of pork for the UCA football team.

The big question -- are they finished making changes?

Mrs. Hoggard said, "I want new kitchen cabinet doors, and eventually I want to replace all the carpet in the house with tile. But construction-wise, I don't want to do anything else."

Ahh, but her husband has other ideas.

"I'm going to build an upstairs over what's now the dining room. She doesn't believe me, but I'm going to do it. I'm going to call it a stuff room. I'm going to have all my stuff up there and a circular staircase going up. You're going to have to have permission to go up there," he said with a laugh.

Nobody would dare laugh at a man with such vision.