Michael Guilfoil

1. Hotel Lusso guests can choose between an elevator or the historic Whitten Building's stairway. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 2. Patrick Katz and Jason Choate wheel sculptures into a room off the Hotel Lusso's lobby as workers scramble to ready the hotel for Monday's official opening. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

A staircase wraps around the living-room fireplace of this South Hill bungalow, which was built around 1910. Photos by Douglas Keister 2. This alcove in David and Carol Blomgren's bungalow is completely open to the rest of the living room, yet it retains some of the intimacy of a separate room. 3. This contemporary fireplace in a new Spokane home captures the spirit of the American Arts and Crafts tradition of using random-shaped river rock to express natures's beauty indoors.

1. Pounding out affordable housing. Dia Hadley, local executive director of Habitat for Humanity, and homeowner Denise Otradovec, right, discuss details in Spokane's 50th Habitat house. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 2. They look out a second-floor window. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Contractor John Roehm received the Spokane AIA chapter's Master Craftsmanship Award, an honor that hadn't been given since 1954. Photo by Michael Guilfoil/The Spokesman-Review

1. Construction supervisor Holly Millar does some last-minute tidying up at the straw-bale house before rushing off to a charity luncheon earlier this week. Photos by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review 2. Visitors can peek at the home's straw through a window in a living-room wall.

Contest judges, from left: Marsha Rooney, Walt Carlson, Dave Nelson, David Wang and Sue Ellen Heflin. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

1. Above, multiple forms and colors help soften the mass of this 6,300-square-foot home. Photos by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review 2. Left, architects Nancy McKennon and Gerry Copeland in the kitchen-dining area.

Exposed timbers replaced low ceiling and fake brick. Photo courtesy of Jon Sayler

A complete remodel didn't obliterate the home's charm. Photo courtesy of Archie Oestreicher

1. Above, a 21-foot-high ceiling gives the Whitesitts' living-dining area a roomy feel. Photos by Michael Guilfoil/The Spokesman-Review 2. Left, the 16-by-48-foot house is built on concrete piers, minimizing excavation costs.

Owner-builder John Larkin designed the stairway as he welded it in place. Photo by Michael Guilfoil/The Spokesman-Review

1. From bare studs to beautiful finishes, the restoration is nearly complete. Still to come: reproduction wallpaper to hang above the dining-room wainscot. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Above, Juliana Scham and Mark Mansfield relax - finally - outside their restored bungalow. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 3. Left, 10 years without occupants left the home in near ruin.

Retired educator Floyd Lee finally found time to build a classic garage next to his South Hill home. Photo courtesy of Floyd Lee.

Architect Sam Rodell's design invites morning sunlight in through the home's east facade. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

New turret won't require the constant maintenance that doomed the original one at 2128 W. Second. Photo courtesy of Gordon Gagliano

There's a scene in the new Warren Miller film - "Snowriders2" - where the owner of a dilapidated, single-seat chairlift in Kazakhstani checks the avalanche conditions, considers the team of rogue movie-makers about to ascend his hill and, through an interpreter, gleefully informs them, "You're very welcome to go skiing ... but you will die." Of course, they don't die. But the daredevils who populate this, the 48th installment of Warren Miller's ode to the outlaw snowrider, seem to flirt with death everywhere they go, from Kazakhstan to Denali, and from Switzerland to New Zealand. (Although not, as promotional posters suggest, in outer space.)

FROM FOR THE RECORD (Monday, November 3, 1997): Correction Photo misidentified: A photograph on the cover of Sunday's IN Life section featured early morning mist on Lake Coeur d'Alene. The picture, taken by Spokesman-Review photographer Craig Buck, was misidentified. 1. Sunrise at Banks Lake brings the renewed promise of adventure waiting atop nearby Steamboat Rock. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review 2. Right: A bicyclist rides to work along The Centennial Trail bridge over Hamilton Street under the colorful glow of a rainbow. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 3. Below: Dozens of spectators at Riverfront Park enjoy late winter floodwaters thundering through the Spokane River. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 4. Ballet student Elisha Gunn warms up for class in the Take Notice Entertainment Center, a renovated historic building in Coeur d'Alene. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review 5. The lead horse from David Govedare's "Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies" forms a silhouette against the evening sky over the Columbia River gorge near Vantage. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

1. Riven, the five-CD-ROM sequel to Myst, will arrive in stores Friday and cost around $55. Photos courtesy of Broderbund 2. Left, a village scene from the game. 3. Leading the team of artists and technicians who created Riven: The Sequel to Myst were, from left, Rand Miller, Richard Vander Wende and Robyn Miller. Photo courtesy of Broderbund

1. John Talbott and his wife, Claudia, have been married for 39 years and say they're going for another 39. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review 2. John and Claudia Talbott have turned their basement into his mayoral campaign headquarters. Garret Daggett is Talbott's full-time campaign assistant. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

1. Above: Victoria Holland's home features a sleeping loft with a glass brick floor, which allows natural light to reach the sunken living room directly below. Photos reprinted courtesy of Fine Homebuilding magazine 2. At left: Holland's Japanese-style bathhouse, which includes a sauna, tub, shower, toilet and sink, is a short walk from the house. 3. A 5-foot-wide skylight opens Victoria Holland's home to the outside. "You can't separate yourself from nature," says the Bellevue designer-builder. Photo by Michael Guilfoil/The Spokesman-Review

Next weekend, a good friend will begin treatment for a serious ailment that afflicts millions of Americans. The disorder goes by a number of names, but a program airing Monday at 9 p.m. on PBS coins a new one that captures the essence of our materialistic society: affluenza.

Karen and Monty Turner's Run of the River Bed & Breakfast was voted one of country's top inns. Photo by Michael Guilfoil/The Spokesman-Review

Downtown Leavenworth thrives on crowds of tourists eager for a taste of Bavaria. But the constant parade of camera-toting window-shoppers can be overwhelming. Luckily, relief is only two blocks away, just past a grand stone gateway topped with concrete lions.

1. Rural community advocate Margy Hall, designer Don Stephens, construction manager Holly Millar, project coordinator Julie Dhatt and architect Bruce Millard. Millard have spent months preparing for this weekend's wall-raising workshop. Photos by Michael Guilfoil/The Spokesman-Review 2. A practice wall three bales high shows hows the straw is stacked. Stucco will cover the outside walls.