Romancing the home

The seven-year renovation of David Wolf and Mindi Swanson Wolf’s North Spokane ranch-style house has been a labor of love.

In more ways than one.

From the day David took over ownership of the house, after renting it from the previous owner for four years, he has transformed it from a modest home tucked behind a Costco store to a bright, contemporary haven. Except for moving the 40 tons of boulders that now encircle his yard, the insurance consultant completed every project himself — from tiling to wiring — learning as he went.

“I’d go to work, come home at 5 p.m., and work (on the house) until midnight,” says David, 36. “I was sort of obsessed.”

Meanwhile, the house has served as a cupid of sorts for David and Mindi, who married in 2006.

The house feels larger than its 2,000 square feet, perhaps because of the clean-lined look the couple have given the interior. The color palette consists of shades of brown and white and sparkling recessed lighting illuminates the rooms.

On the main floor, David knocked down walls to almost triple the size of the kitchen. In the basement, he converted a large dingy den into two rooms — a well-organized storage space and an industrial-chic laundry area. Across the hall, what David used to call the “sunshine room” because of its yellow walls and bright green carpet, is now a sleek home gym.

The boulders in the backyard delineate separate outdoor entertaining spaces. There’s a quiet place for dining under some trees, a hot tub that’s tastefully sunken into a deck so it’s not visually obtrusive, and a rock waterfall that splashes into a deep pond, where koi fish named Huey, Dewey, Louie and Claire reside.

David acquired the boulders by chance one day while on a lunch-hour walk near the Riverpoint Higher Education Park, where a contractor was blasting out basalt to make way for duplexes.

“What are you going to do with those rocks?” David called to the contractor.

“I’m giving them to the first person who asks for them,” the man replied.

“Am I the first?” David asked, and the answer was yes. He just had to pay for a landscaping company to transport and place them.

Mindi, 31, beams as she shows off the results of her husband’s labor inside and outside the house.

“You did so good,” she says, patting his chest.

The couple met in 2003, when he invited her over for a barbecue, telling her he hosted them every Monday night for a group of about 20 friends.

It was a total lie. David simply wanted to suggest a nonthreatening way to get to know her better.

He scrambled to buy a grill and throw together a party in the backyard he had excavated and landscaped himself. Every Monday throughout that summer, the same group of friends would gather at his house, and then discretely leave before Mindi did, so the two would have time alone to talk.

His scheme worked, and soon enough they were dating.

Early in their relationship, David invited Mindi’s parents over for dinner. As she gave them directions, her parents stopped her and said they knew exactly where the house was — they used to attend Bible studies in the basement when they were in college.

The house — and David’s handiwork — played a final role in David and Mindi’s relationship on the day he proposed to her. He’d taken her on a sentimental scavenger throughout Spokane, picnicking at the place they first met and dining at the scene of their first real date, among other stops. Knowing she’d grow tired, David even gave Mindi a mid-day break at her apartment, where a massage therapist was waiting.

Eventually, they made it to the house and David led a blindfolded Mindi to a spare bedroom she hadn’t entered in months. The room was filled with candles, “several hundred” calla lilies, and a grand piano, Mindi says. She plays and had always wanted to own one.

David, who to Mindi’s knowledge didn’t know a B flat from a flat tire, sat down at the piano and played her their song, which a friend had taught him.

“I learned that one song” and he hasn’t touched the thing since, he says.

The marriage proposal followed and a dazzled Mindi soon learned that the piano was an engagement gift to her.

She also realized that the bedroom had a new entrance, a bit wider than the original one. That’s because when David had the piano delivered, it wouldn’t fit into the room, so he had to bust out yet another wall and create a new way to get in.

The music room wasn’t the home’s last renovation project, and there still are more to come. David and Mindi plan to convert the back half of the home’s garage into a living room that overlooks the koi pond, and the master bathroom will be remodeled this fall.

But David says he’s ready to rest his hammer for a while.

“We’re going to hire Mindi’s brother as the contractor,” he says.