Eight-Sided Sultan Mansion Gets Its Close-Up on HGTV's 'Ugliest House in America'

A sprawling eight-sided house in Sultan, Washington, long familiar to locals, has now been seen by a national audience after appearing on HGTV's "Ugliest House in America." The network's contest offers a $150,000 makeover to the winning home, and the series is hosted by comedian and actress Retta.

The Sultan property was featured in the "Unpleasant Pacific Northwest" segment alongside two other Washington homes. It appears in the second of six episodes in the show's current season, with roughly six minutes of screen time. Retta and the crew spent about 12 hours at the house. The series is in its fifth season and drew more than 8.3 million viewers last season, according to HGTV.

Filming took place soon after Emma Corbilla Doody and Don Doody purchased the home in January 2023 for $920,000. It was listed at $960,000 in December 2022, and the couple bought it a week after it went on the market, about $40,000 under the asking price. The house exceeds 10,000 square feet, roughly five times the living space of an average home, and has an unusual floorplan. It was built in 1987.

"We never thought it was ugly. It's beautiful actually," said Emma, 55. "It's just weird, the configurations." Don, 57, pointed to five furnaces and four water heaters. Other features include oversized built-in cabinets, a large amount of wiring for outdated security cameras, a cat bathing station and an octagonal library at the center. The exterior is airbrushed concrete made to look like stone, and the dining room light fixture holds 64 bulbs.

The house sits on seven acres with streams, ponds, two large outbuildings, a greenhouse, hot tub, swimming pool and tennis court, with panoramic views of mountains and trees. The grave of the original owner, along with those of his cat and a dog, lies next to the property. The gated home is on 132nd Street Southeast, beside Ed's Apples.

The primary suite covers 1,500 square feet and includes a 40-bulb vanity and a large blue tub that the host of "Zillow Gone Wild," Samir, nicknamed the "Group Activity Tub." Retta's reactions on the show included, "This is your bedroom? This is madness." She likened the en suite tub area to a ballet studio. A basement tub puzzled her until it was explained as a cat-washing station; the previous owner had 20 cats. The house also drew a UK Mirror headline calling it the "weirdest house ever."

The Doodys, who run Renew Medical clinic in Edmonds, have a smaller home in Gold Bar and had been searching for property to host wellness retreats. Emma is a naturopath, and Don is retired from the business sector. In the year since the show visited, they have done extensive work: Don, the self-described handyman-in-chief, said many things were broken and the grounds were overgrown. Heavy pruning was done, and thousands of dollars went toward hauling away trash and debris.

They have hosted parties and weddings for friends, with plans to make the grounds an event venue, and part of the home is an apartment unit. Other spaces include a sectional sofa seating a dozen in what Retta called "the ballroom," and a basement lounge with a bar, billiards table and projector TV. "The bedroom no longer looks like 'Star Trek,'" Emma said.

On the show, the home competed against a Seattle house covered in mirrors, including mirrors on mirrors, and a West Richland home with red double sinks and a red claw-foot tub on red carpet. The Sultan house did not advance, while the Seattle house of mirrors was chosen for the finals.