Over the past five years, our team has devoted a significant portion of our design hours to mastering the art of beautiful, functional, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) certified home designs. We have worked with local retirement communities and nursing homes on duplex housing, as well as individuals looking to upgrade their own homes for a safe yet stylish aging in place design.
Working with the same local community for the past 30 years, many of our beloved regular clientele are reaching the next phase in their lives where planning for in-home safety features or downsizing to a retirement complex is a reality. More and more, we are designing home remodels with features and products that will allow clients to stay living independently longer, or helping clients customize and style an assisted living duplex to feel more like home. Downsizing does not have to mean sacrificing luxuries or style.
The following is a visual walk-through of one of our more recent senior living duplex designs. This was a model home in the independent living village at Bethesda Home in Goessel, Kansas. We hope this will give a taste of a few of our ADA design features. (Scroll through each set of images to explore the home.)
Starting in the bathroom, we installed a zero-entry shower outfitted with a fold-up seat, grab bars, and a contemporary mosaic tile accent. Everything from the tile to the hardware gives the ambiance of a sleek spa with the necessities of a handicap accessible bathroom. The zero-entry shower access eliminates the risk of one tripping over a shower threshold, as well as enables those who are wheelchair bound easy entry and exit. The shower includes both mounted and handheld shower heads.
The spacious kitchen floor plan features simple to maintain and extremely durable quartz counter tops. In this particular unit, the microwave is above the stove. However, we typically go with a drawer microwave installed in the lower cabinets. The refrigerator includes a bottom drawer freezer and wide opening doors. The flooring transition from the living room luxury vinyl plank floors to the kitchen tile is completely seamless.
We are exceptionally detail oriented when it comes to eliminating tripping hazards in the home. It only takes one wrong fall to make living independently nearly impossible. This duplex includes carpet, luxury vinyl, and tile. Each of these flooring types transitions smoothly from one living space to another. No raised thresholds, the carpet is perfectly flush with the vinyl plank. In order to define the living room space and give a cozy area rug look, we inlayed a rectangle of carpet into the vinyl wood style plank during installation. This saved on flooring costs and removed the fall risk that comes with a loose area rug.
Durability and easy maintenance are also staples in our surface choices. The carpet installed throughout the home is a low pile carpet tile. This carpet is very stain resistant; however, individual tiles can be removed and washed in the sink if needed. A low pile makes it easy to navigate over with a walker or wheelchair.
In the living and dining room, we chose luxury vinyl floor planks for the look of a hardwood surface, but with a much softer impact. Luxury vinyl is easy to clean, very tough, and resistant to scratches or cuts, but has a softer impact than wood or ceramic should a person accidentally fall.
The window coverings throughout the home are cordless Graber cellular shades. Graber's exceptional cordless lift system makes it easy to smoothly adjust blinds and shades with just a soft push or pull of the bottom rail. We also offer the option to motorize our custom window treatments which enables them to be adjusted with a remote or programmed to a schedule.
Custom walk-in closets line the hallways and are also included in each bedroom. These walk-in closets are accessible in a wheelchair.
The compact laundry room nook contains front loading washer and dryers (not pictured) and easy to reach bars for hang drying.
This is just a glimpse into this duplex. View additional photos of this entire home design on our Houzz profile.
Interested in an aging in place design? Contact us for an in-home consultation!