Design firm focuses on aging in place

Aging In Place Designs LLC has formed to help homeowners evaluate their homes and plan any changes they might make to continue living independently in their senior years.

Jane Barry, a registered nurse who returned to school to earn a master's degree in interior design, has started the business with Bob Scarfo, a professor of landscape architecture at Washington State University Spokane who specializes in designs for healthy aging, and consulting partner Jack Carman, who also owns Design for Generations LLC, of Medford, N.J.

Barry says the company works with homeowners planning to remodel, to ensure that the home incorporates senior-friendly design elements. Those include a main bedroom and bathroom on the ground level, wide doorways and halls, plenty of natural light, artificial lighting under cabinets, convenient storage spaces, and railings on both sides of stairwells.

Barry says she will work with the homeowner to reduce clutter that could result in falls. She says she's also ready to take on clients who want advice when buying a new home, and will consult with architects and builders on senior home design. At the same time, Scarfo is ready to consult with city planners and developers to design senior-friendly neighborhoods.

Aging In Place Designs is operating out of Barry's Garland-area home and Scarfo's South Hill home. The firm has made a presentation to the Spokane Home Builders Association and plans another at the Corbin Senior Center next month.

Auto, boat mechanic opens shop in Valley

Romane Specialty Service, an auto and marine engine repair shop, has opened in a 1,800-square-foot space at 6002 W. Alki, in Spokane Valley.

Owner Jeffrey Romane says he was employed full time as a mechanic for 10 years, but was always doing side jobs for people at home at night.

"I had a lot of customers who liked my work. A lot of people wanted me to open a business," he says.
Romane Specialty Service does complete auto repair, emissions repair, and repair and service of MerCruiser marine engines and outboard motors.

The business has one part-time employee. Romane says he doesn't want to grow the business into a large shop.

"I want to keep it small to stay on a personal level with customers," he says.

Office furniture seller opens outlet in Valley

H2 Office Designs LLC, an office furniture company based in Kirkland, Wash., has opened a Spokane Valley store.

The store occupies 3,000 square feet of space at 10905 E. Sprague, and H2 Office Designs owners Adam Halcott and Tom Hollatz have hired Laura Dooley-White, formerly with Bank & Office Interiors here, to manage the outlet.

Halcott says H2 Office Designs focuses on selling new and used office furniture to medium-sized companies. He says those companies have been experiencing a mix of expansion and contraction-and, in many cases, moving-during the recession, which has helped fuel H2 Office Designs' growth. Besides selling workstations, conference room furniture, and lounge seating, the company provides design services and manages clients' office furniture inventories.

The company has 20 employees in the Seattle area and hopes to hire two more employees here in addition to Dooley-White by the end of this year.

Commercial printer moves to larger space

Pressworks, a commercial printer on Spokane's North Side, is moving from a 3,500-square-foot space at 3012 N. Nevada to a 17,000-square-foot building at 2717 N. Perry.

Co-owner Larry Dilley says he and his wife bought the building on Perry and have invested $70,000 to remodel it. He says Pressworks will occupy about 10,000 square feet and will make the remaining 7,000 square feet available for lease. Advantage Printing formerly occupied the building.

Dilley's business partner, Jim Hansen, who serves as production manager for the company, says Pressworks offers full-color printing, letterpress work, foiling, embossing, and die cutting.
Pressworks has been open since 1998. It currently employs 10 people and doesn't have immediate plans to increase the size of its staff.

Office support firm moves out of home

After working from home for eight years, Laura Willson has moved Peacock Virtual Solutions to an 800-square-foot leased space at 624 W. Hastings Spokane's North Side.

Peacock Virtual Solutions offers bookkeeping, payroll, marketing, social networking, phone support, appointment setting, event planning, and website design. It has one full-time employee besides Willson and plans to add a second. It also contracts with an accountant, an event planner, and a website designer, she says.

Willson says since she moved the business out of her home in January, it has grown by about fivefold.
"It's difficult to have people come to your house. It's not the same level of professionalism. It was important to me to make this move," Willson says.

Reiki practitioner opens home office


After 12 years of informally practicing an alternative therapy called reiki on her friends, January Rolie has opened a business named Pure Reiki in her northeast Spokane home.

Reiki is an Asian healing practice in which a therapist gently places hands on a client and, in theory, transfers healing energy through the palms of the hands. Rolie says when she performs reiki on a client, "universal life-force energy channels through me."

She says she charges $40 to $80 dollars for up to 90 minutes, in which she puts her hands on the client's head, eyes, throat, chest, stomach, legs, and feet. She claims the treatment helps clients dealing with major issues ranging from divorce to cancer.