Home of the Week: Larry and Dellene Nelson News Sports Outdoors Opinion Obituaries eNewspaper Ozarks Life Legals Home of the Week: Larry and Dellene Nelson BY JAN PETERSON | PHOTOS BY BRUCE E. STIDHAM | FOR THE NEWS-LEADER View Comments View Comments Larry and Dellene Nelson had already lived in the Bradford Park neighborhood for many years when they spotted an opportunity to create the perfect home for them just across the street. Fifteen years ago, the couple bought the house and its double lot. The 1970s home was a vision in pink and roses, inside and out. "We got rid of all the roses and just built on," Dellene says. It sounds simple, but it wasn't. The kitchen was updated and carpet was removed. Larry, an architect, designed an extension that included spaces for his office, her beauty shop and a motor home garage. The landscape also has been transformed. The tea roses are long gone. In their place is a profusion of plants in all sizes and shapes, planted and tended by Dellene, who became a master gardener in 2002. "I thought that seemed like it would be over my head, but it is a wonderful way to learn," she says of the program. Ultimately, the Nelsons created an oasis in the heart of a neighborhood in the heart of the city. The house — or, more specifically, the beauty shop — is also a neighborhood hub. As president of the Bradford Park Neighborhood Association, Dellene has worked hard to make sure her neighbors know they can drop in anytime to chat. She says having a neighborhood association is particularly important in older neighborhoods like hers. Such neighborhoods can go downhill as homeowners age and houses sometimes become rentals. "We're 40-year-old homes. We're not in the poshy area … if you don't take control before it becomes elderly, before it goes downhill …" she says trailing off. "We've been able to do a lot," Dellene says, noting that the group has helped to not only spruce up the neighborhood but make it a bit friendlier. "We want to know who's our neighbor," she says, adding, "I've had the support of the greatest of neighbors." And today she has her house and gardens pretty much the way she wants them. "I'm at a point in my life where I'm just trying to maintain," she says. 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