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Curmudgeon
PLANNING A PLACE TO LIVE

Curmudgeon Planning a Place to Live

The Pondlady, is planning a place to live as time goes by. Here's what she envisions and how she makes accessibility a reality- including her POND!

 

For those of you who do not live near the US Gulf Coast, Camille and Katrina may not be familiar to you.  They were devastating hurricanes that erased the Gulf Coast and between the two of them destroyed lives from Baton Rouge to Biloxi.  And we lived there for both of them. 

Curmudgeon Planning a Place to Live

Those two storms and all their brothers and sisters helped us make the decision to move north for our "At Last Home".

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Planning a Place to Live

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When planning a place to live, we searched the country and settled on North Central Arkansas.  We love where we bought a house.  It is the perfect size for two people, located in a rural area, in the woods and perfect for two nature lovers.

The house we bought was touted as accessible and barrier free, but it wasn’t. 

It was some builder’s idea of accessible, but needed work to overcome someone’s misguided thoughts.  And so we began to change things to make this house perfect for us until they carry us out.

Planning a Place to Live

Ramps Come First

Indeed, the ramps were steep.  Anyone would have trouble walking up or down them without falling.  They went to the burn pile  right away. New ramps are now installed.

Curmudgeon Planning a Place to Live

Grab Bars for the Bathrooms

After making the outside accessible, we started on the inside. 

Grab bars for both bathrooms were installed.  I know some people think they are ugly, but trust me, if you have ever fallen, grab bars are not ugly.  [ Silver Sage suggests you discover an example of a beautiful grab bar - it's just below.]

You would hang ropes from the ceilings if they would keep you from a fall.  We now have grab bars in the shower, tub and on the walls of both bathrooms.  And both the shower and the tub are now only a couple of inches above the floor making it easy to get in.  A bench in the shower makes it even safer.

Planning a Place to Live

Install Hardwood Floors

 I suppose you could install laminate or engineered wood floors, but since we are in the heart of the lumber industry, we chose oak floors.  And yes,  we have removed the rugs because rugs can be a tripping hazard.  The floors are safe to walk on without looking down constantly to check for hazards.

Tile floors or any floor except carpet would work equally as well.  Carpet makes moving in a wheelchair very difficult, so consider your needs, both current and future before you install carpet.

Planning a Place to Live

Add Windows

As most of you already know, natural light and plenty of it can be the key to a warm, healthy, and age-friendly dwelling place.  Natural light, or daylighting also  saves energy and provides valuable (free) solar heating.

Life with limited mobility is usually more sedentary than life with full mobility.  Add windows so your life is interesting if you must do more sitting than when walking was easier. 

Planning a Place to Live

Planning a Place to Live Today and Tomorrow

Most of you think that you will never face making a house accessible for you or anyone in the family.  Trust me, you are  temporarily-abled.  There will come a time in your life that you are dis-abled. 

Plan for it now.

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