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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Sometimes the simplest things are the most important. Most modern kitchens are outfitted with high-tech appliances and the drawers are filled with complicated gadgets. The stand mixer on the counter can do anything from mixing dough to making sausage. Looking at the espresso machine – with its dials and switches and dangerous looking nozzles – makes you wish you were an engineer. Or there was a Starbucks next door.
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Plan for garden wildlife

Want to get the jump on bugs and slugs this year? What about creating some free entertainment out in the garden any time you want it? Good environmental stewardship starts in our own backyards and includes the wildlife with which we share our gardens. As you clean up this spring, plan for the food, water, shelter and space needs of wildlife that will make your yard attractive enough for wildlife to set up housekeeping.
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Prepare for last goodbye

Euthanasia is a complicated subject. There are certain questions you may want to consider before you are faced with having to make that decision How will I know this is the right decision?
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Remote bathroom exhaust fans quiet, efficient

Dear Tim: I have several bathroom exhaust fans in my home, and all of them are inexpensive, builder-grade exhaust fans. They are noisy, and I don't feel they do a good job of getting rid of the moist air produced by the shower. Is it possible to get high-performance ventilation with little or no noise? I would like a bathroom exhaust fan with a light. Can you tell me how to install a bathroom fan so I do not cause any damage to my home? – Faith F., Mt. Crawford, Va. Dear Faith: Bathroom fans are a critical part of a home-ventilation system. If improperly installed, a bathroom exhaust fan can create all sorts of hidden damage to a home. All too often installers just let the moist air escape into an attic space. This moisture can condense on the cooler surfaces in the attic, creating mold on wood surfaces and leading to wood rot.
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Renovating an old friend

Mark Dobson has come home again – and he brought his family with him. The Dobson family of four, plus one dog, one cat and a fish, moved into their turn-of-the-century home in July 2005. "Mark grew up just down the street," said his wife, Kathryn. "He lived in this house for a time when he was 16 to help care for the elderly woman who owned it," she said. So, when Dobson and his wife heard it was on the market they snapped it up.
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Ruby Slipper

A strict dress code at a private junior high school was all it took to set young Sue Bradley on the path to shoe collecting. "You would be sent home for anything but sensible lace-up shoes," the longtime Spokane resident says of her days at the Cranbrook Academies in suburban Michigan. "I think the reason I love shoes is because somebody told me I couldn't wear them."
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Scrapbook home

We all make memories. But Stacy Julian preserves them. Julian is a professional scrapbooker. She's written books, served as the first editor of Simply Scrapbooks magazine, and founded the online scrapbooking resource site, Big Picture Scrapbooks.
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Small space accommodates big job

Perfect for a den or bedroom, this computer secretary project keeps your computer hidden and protected while adding office and study space to your home – all without major construction. The project allows do-it-yourselfers to use a small area for big jobs, then close everything up in a neat and attractive cabinet. The secretary occupies just eight square-feet and features dedicated space for a computer tower, monitor and printer, plus a big pull-down desktop for a keyboard and mouse. A convenient storage cabinet holds books, manuals, paper and other supplies behind closed doors.
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Welcome Home!

My most precious memories aren't treated very well. Over the years they've been tossed into boxes that are now stacked in the basement or tucked away in drawers. I feel bad about that, and I keep saying that one day I'll take a week – or a month – and get everything organized and placed safely into albums. But that day never seems to come.
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Will reader win with Winnie?

Dear Collector, We found this "Winnie the Pooh" in the attic. The tag on the foot says "© MCMLXVI Walt Disney Prod., Made in Japan." How old is it and what is it worth?
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Cabinet makes most of empty corners

No matter how much storage space a home has, it seems like there's always a need for more. When you consider that most rooms in a typical house contain four empty corners, however, the solution to the storage problem becomes obvious. A corner cabinet is an attractive and efficient way to put some of that space to good use. As versatile as it is handsome, this do-it-yourself version is equally at home in the family room, dining room or bedroom. It features three big shelves, perfect for collectibles, books or dishes, over a lower cabinet that's just right for table linens, CDs, DVDs or almost anything else.
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Connie and Bill Postmus

Connie Postmus found her dream home on the Internet. Postmus and her husband, Bill, had flirted with moving to the Northwest from Southern California for more than 15 years. They'd grown tired of the two-hour commutes and fast-paced lifestyle. They wanted something simpler, something easier, something friendlier.
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Costume jewelry has timeless appeal

When people start looking around at their treasures, preparing to take them to an appraiser, they look for the usual things: art, silver, pottery and some textiles. And fine jewelry, of course. But for Christi Chapman the best finds might be the last place you expected to look. Chapman thinks the real jewels are in the jumble of beads and brooches in that box full of Grandma's old costume jewelry.
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deer feast on tasty tulips

I went out to check the garden today, and to my surprise and subsequent alarm, some tulips are already poking up out of the ground. Not only that, some of them have already been eaten by deer. Oh no. Not this year, too.
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Downtown living suprises, suits Spokane native

When Jonathan Smith returned to Spokane after a 16-year hiatus in the Bay Area, he was surprised to learn that people were living downtown. "When I lived here before, lofts and condos were unheard of," the Spokane native says. "When I left, all of these old brick buildings were boarded up and the Davenport Hotel was a crack house. Who in their right mind would want to live downtown?"
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Furniture from recent decades is the next old thing

Leigh Keno has devoted his life to the study, acquisition and sale of the very finest 18th- and early 19th-century American antiques. Yet in the past few months he has fallen for pieces for his own home by 20th-century furniture masters George Nakashima and Wharton Esherick. Keno, a respected Manhattan dealer and dealer who frequently appears on PBS's "Antiques Roadshow," is as knowledgeable as anyone about the antiques market and canny about recognizing a good investment when he sees one. He is also a telling barometer of the increasingly muscular market for 20th-century furniture.
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Genuine jug in field of phonies

Dear Collector, Enclosed is a photo of the Shirley Temple pitcher given to me by my grandmother who is 86 years old. She had it for more than 60 years. Can you tell me something about it?