Graceful House Rose From An Awkward Lot

Flint and Jamie Hartwig knew they wanted to build a house for themselves in 2007, and their drives around the Wenatchee area finally yielded the perfect, imperfect property.

- Susan Lagsdin

The more-or-less half-acre triangle of steep dirt they bought up a dead-end street on the way to Burch Mountain basically offered friendly long-time neighbours, a few mature birch and fir trees and a very reasonable price.

Well, there were a few more perks: the existing water, sewer and electric service would give them a travel-trailer site while they built the house. And the view across farmland all the way to the distant foothills south of Wenatchee was a pleasure.

Flint was already established as a builder. He had friends and his dad available to work, as well as access to house plans he’d admired that would fit the odd lot.

Months of trailer living on the site, albeit with a cute newly built “his and her” building nearby for shop and laundry, was losing its charm. All he had to do was take time off from paying clients’ demands and construct their 1,850 square foot house as soon as possible.

The house took shape over nine months. Space constraints meant three vertical stories: the street level floor is a spacious garage with a long, closed staircase up to the main living area with its two bedrooms and a bathroom. An open staircase curves up to the loft level with office space, laundry and the master suite with its roomy closet and bath.

Flint built houses, but he also owned earth-moving machines for excavating and bulldozing, moving tons of earth to prepare other properties. This site was a little trickier than most.

Jamie remembers that early steep yard of theirs. “Every day we had to sweep dirt off the porch that blew down the hill — we couldn’t keep the east windows open because of the dust. Flint said, “I’d come home every once in while with a load of rocks we got from an orchard in Orondo and just dump them at the top of the hill.”