There are many elements to consider when deciding to furnish and outfit your home. From furniture, to materials to even what each room’s use will be, there’s one thing you can’t afford to not think of: making sure your home is universally designed. More after the jump!
Universal Design Tips for the Home!
Austin
Universal design, or the act of making your home usable and accessible by all, is something important to consider, even if you don’t currently know anyone with physical limitations. Wheelchair access as well as those at an older and younger age being able to easily maneuver your home is important no matter the size of your house or family. If you're planning on staying in this house for a while, then you'll want to make sure it's safe for you as you age. Universal design is also a great way to prepare your home for any bundle of joys on the way. We’ve gathered a list of some of the most important things to consider:
- Enough clearance: Making sure furniture isn’t placed too close together and items don’t clutter walkways and halls are important for wheelchairs getting by and elderly not tripping over items. You should strive to have aisles 42 inches to 48 inches wide for optimum travel space.
- Slip-resistant flooring: Certain flooring materials, while beautiful, can be a hazard to those with limited mobility or children running across them. Consider flooring that will cut down on slips as well as be soft and comfortable underfoot, like cork.
- Reachable and usable handles and rails: Many rails, both residential and commercial, are too high for children to use and sometimes too low for older folks to use. Consider installing bi-level rails for maximum usability. Door and cabinet handles and faucets should be tested for the closed fist rule: if you can't operate with a closed fist, then someone with arthritis or limited hand movement won't be able to operate them.
- Limit stairs and floor level changes: Obviously if you already live in a house with stairs, it's a little too late to limit it. But if you're on the hunt for a new home or renovating your current one, consider keeping things as flat and easy to traverse as possible.
- Ample and automatic lighting: Not only does your eyesight diminish as you get older, but keep in mind the need to have lighting in dark hallways and outdoor spaces where ground could be uneven or tricky. Automatic lighting ensures no one has to fumble for light switches in unfamiliar spaces.
- Curbless showers and baths: Bathrooms are one of the most expensive places to revamp when considering universal design, but small changes like curbless showers can make life incredibly easier to live if you have physical limitations.
- Accessible lower storage: Since not all of the higher storage may be reachable by all, it's important to keep lower storage organized with pull out drawers and trays that eliminate bending over too far to dig for things in bottom cabinets.
Have we left an important universal design issue out? Tell us about your experience with universal design and how you've had to adapt some things in your home.
[Photo credit: This Old House online, udll.com ]
Comments (6)
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Why would I want to limit myself to living on one level, if I don't have to? I like stairs and living on different levels. I'm not interested in living in a federally mandated office building.
view Palmetto's profile
Palmetto - some people want to live in their homes for the rest of their lives so these are accomidations that can be made. As an interior design graduate we have learned these things and have been taught to educate our future clients of the challenges that can and most likely will arise. Things to consider when buying a home and so forth. Like it's fine to buy a 2 story house but to have the ability to later add on a live in suite for live in nurse, or care taker, or even yourself. At 80 those stairs can really be a challenge. Also a wheelchair lift is another option.
There's no reason to be such a hater about these suggestions. It's all about buying well once.
view nickel525's profile
Palmetto: stuff happens in life and the point of this is that if more thought is given to accessibility, people have more choices: to stay in homes they love or to move into places they like. And all of my rich neighbors are happy to live in lofts - it isn't about one level, it is about decisions you make within your space.
You get a lung infection and suddenly that flight of stairs up to the bedroom is something you realize you won't be able to do when you're old. You're on chemo and can't make it up or down stairs. You're in a horrible accident and lose both legs. All of these things have happened to friends. Or, like the famous artist Chuck Close, one day your spine just goes and you're a quadriplegic. Do you want to have to deal with these things AND suddenly need to find a place where it is remotely possible for you to live?
view Taureg's profile
Bravo for tackling this crucial topic! This is one of my design emphases as a Certified Aging in Place Specialist. To find a CAPS designer, contractor, architect, etc. or in your area, click on this National Association of Homebuilders link:
http://www.nahb.org/directory.aspx?sectionID=686&directoryID=188
To find additional ways to make your home accessible, here are two other articles on the topic.
I wrote this one for BobVila.com:
http://www.bobvila.com/HowTo_Library/Affordable_Ideas_to_Retrofit_Your_Home_for_Accessibility--A3601.html
I just posted this on my design blog today:
http://jgkitchens.blogspot.com/2008/10/aging-in-place-bathroom-accessibility.html
Check out the stylish grab bar pic -- yes, I said stylish! (They now come in finishes that match your faucets, lights and bath accessories. No more white plastic if you don't want it.)
view JG_Kitchens's profile
This is important it can really make your home welcoming to everyone, any guests with limitations and if anything should limit you, you would be covered and should you sell your home it makes your home appealing to a whole other market. If you remodel and don't incorporate some universal design, you are not designing sustainably. So if you are upgrading you should use green materials and some universal design implementation.
view atomicranch79's profile
In my family we're really struggling with this issue. Our grandmother is 92 and can't manage stairs anymore. No one has a full bath or bedroom on the main floor for her and we can't believe we didn't think of it before it became necessary.
view techgirl's profile