Dam original on home tour

By Cassie Tomlin

Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008 | midnight

When Blanche LaSalle first laid eyes on 615 Avenue F, she saw through the '70s shag carpet and the mustard-colored kitchen.

She saw a fun little house with a lot of history, one she could fix up and make her own.

Two and a half years later, the home originally built for dam workers is full of light and art, immaculately arranged — and one of five stops on Saturday's Home Tour.

The 33rd annual American Association of University Women tour funds scholarships for college-bound Boulder City High School girls and local women returning to work. Last year, the self-guided peeks inside Boulder City's impressive abodes raised $4,000, President Valerie McNay said.

A map of the rest of the homes on display comes with the ticket purchase.

LaSalle, who moved to Nevada from Long Island, N.Y., in 2005, found charm in her 1930s Boulder City home that other new and contemporary houses didn't have.

With the charm came some work: Too many walls made the 1,200-square-foot house mazelike, so she took a crowbar to three of them to open the space up.

Bamboo floors replaced the shag; the kitchen got a fresh paint job; and the outer walls got an ecofriendly re-insulating to make it "warmer, tighter and much more energy efficient," LaSalle said.

Her latest endeavor is recycling an old garage in the backyard.

"It's a work in progress," she said.

Cassie Tomlin can be reached at 948-2073 or [email protected].