Paint touch up in the in-law bathroom

 Today I completed a project that I've been wanting to get at for awhile. It has to do with our vanity, which has been a little bit of a problem child for us. Fortunately, our builder worked with us to make it right, and we got what we wanted, except for the way the pipes were finished...or not.

When we envisioned the vanity, we forgot that the back wall of the bathroom is an ICF wall, which means it's filled with rebar and concrete. No pipes are going to make it in there! So the pipes have to go down through the floor. It's not ideal, especially with the the under-sink area open, but I figured I could make them blend in a bit. As soon as I had a little time and energy. Today was the day.

First I used painter's tape to get a general idea of where I need to paint the gray (Sherwin Williams Mindful Gray) and what needed to be the white trim (Sherwin Williams Pure White). After I took this picture, I realized my line wasn't quite right. Painting is not my strong suit!

I took the opportunity to pour a little of each color into small glass jars that are much easier to grab for touch ups. 

While I waited for the first coat to dry, I thought about how I could hide the battery pack for the touch-activated faucet.

Now that the pipes weren't black anymore, I couldn't hide it there. 

My first thought was to use a magnet, until I realized that the magnet would probably mess with the battery. My next thought was velcro.

I took out one sheet of velcro.

I learned the hard way that you want to connect the two pieces before attaching them to a fixture.

Then I attached one side to the battery pack. 

Then I attached the whole thing to the back of the panel. It's hard to see, but there's about a 3" gap between the panel and the wall. I held it for a few seconds, and voila! Bye bye battery pack.

You can still see the pipes, but it's not quite the eye sore it was before. 

Here's the before and after:

I am so happy to be done with that vanity! Now to figure out what to do with the big empty wall across from it...

Linked to:

Tuesday's Treasures

House of Hepworths
Mums Make Lists

Last full day of work on the house

It is so hard to leave the house at night. It looks done and to be so close to the fulfillment of a dream making waiting even another couple days almost painful. We are so thrilled with how well everything turned out. We can't wait to get in there!

I already posted about our rain barrel going in yesterday morning. This is what else went on yesterday.

Mudroom:

The shelves went up in the locker.

Basement:
Jim Duffie dug into to the ICF blocks to put in outlets in the basement. Even though we aren't finishing our basement now, we decided to go ahead and put in outlets and overhead lights so we can still use the space.

Powder Room:

The mirror, towel hook and TP holder went up in the powder room. It looks almost finished!

The white curtain is really growing on me. I still need to hem it up at some point, but at least the powder room is private now!

No more peeking!

 

In Law Suite:

The faucet is in! We chose a Delta Touch 2.0 sensor faucet for the in-law bathroom as part of our ADA design. You can use the single lever like a regular faucet, or you can simply touch any part of the spout, or you can wave your hand in front of the blue sensor. Because my mom has arthritis, we wanted to make the faucet as easy for her to use as possible.

The mirror was hung up. I bought this mirror for $25 at TJ Maxx about seven years ago to stage my old townhome. It was in our bedroom at our old house, and it works well in here. Funny thing is that the frame always looked silver before, but with the gray walls, it looks more goldish now. Hmmm.

You can also see that the towel hook and TP holder are up. The TP holder is from the Moen home care collection and is also a grab bar.

 

View of the in-law suite from the shower. We put all the fixtures on one side to leave room for a wheelchair to maneuver, if needed.

 

We didn't opt for the wheel-in shower at this point, but we did install a shower with a bench, which would have been very handy after my last surgery. All of the showers will have handheld showers, as well, for easy of cleaning and and seated shower capability. The towel bar here, is also a grab bar.

The painters arrived for touch ups. They had to repaint most of the in-law suite closet after most of the back wall was removed to install the duct work for the hood.

Master Bathroom:

The painters repainted the vanity wall after the lights were moved.

Close up of the vanity light:

We also got our first peek at the tub surround in place:

Front Door Lock:

The number pad front door lock was installed this afternoon.

 Close up of the number pad.

Fireplace.
For all the grief our fireplace has given us over the last seven months, I have to say, we are SO THRILLED with how it turned out. The guy from the Fireplace Shop was here today and fired up the fireplace. It is SO cool! We chose an electric fireplace for energy efficiency and cleaner indoor air quality. What's great about this one is that you can turn the heat on or off, and play with the colors of the flame. It's really, REALLY awesome.

 

Kitchen:
With all the pieces fitting into place, the kitchen is looking a lot less cluttered so I was able to take a LOT of pictures of the kitchen today to show phenomenal job Joe Yoder did and all the storage space he created for us.

Big picture view. 

The working part of the kitchen.

LOTS of storage space. I'll put my spices in the top drawer, and pots and pans in the bottom big drawers. On the right, I'll have my wood and bamboo spoons in the top drawer. The middle drawer is a bread drawer. Not sure what I'll do with the bottom drawer yet. It may be D's snacks.

Rounding the corner. I'll have seasonal things in the  super susan, tea and beverages above the microwave drawer, and baking trays and dishes in the drawers and slots around the ovens. There's an insta-hot dispenser in the prep sink.

Baking center. My new kitchen aid will live on the counter to the right.  All my baking goodies will go in the drawers. The lowered baking counter will be great for kneading dough without standing on my tippy toes. It's open for D to easily help me. The marble was a happy splurge.

TONS of storage here.

I love the way the dining fixture reflects on the marble.

I'm really happy with the replacement marble. I'm so pleased that Canton Cut Stone made it right.

View of the islands from the super susan. The touch-activated recycling center is at the end of the inner island. There are open shelves for towels and cleaning supplies in the middle, and touch activated prep sink and insta-hot on the end. The clean-up/entertainment island has a bank of three drawers, big single bowl sink and raised dishwasher.

The other side of the prep island will house our dishes. The two top drawers have slots for flatware. All the drawers in the kitchen are full extension and soft-close.

Plenty of room for the dishwasher to open.

The dishwasher has three racks.

 And a few big picture shots:

Today's the big open house. The morning agenda includes a few more inspections, the painters finishing the touch-ups, the cleaning crew making everything sparkle, and MAS coming to check on a few things with our appliances. 

We've had a great response to our house from the vendors and visitors who have toured it so far. We think we've accomplished our goal of  building a modern home that's ultra energy-efficient, green, and universally designed, and still warm and cozy (Dutch "gezellig"). It's a huge financial investment, but knowing that I have a safe home that will make living with a brain injury easier, and offers the peace of mind of knowing that if/when my health declines, I can live at home til the end is well worth the investment. 

Aging in Place

I came across a very helpful article on Houzz this morning about designing a home to age-in-place. Aging in place is a design term that means planning your home for your long-term live-in needs. This means thinking through potential challenges with mobility, vision, flexibility, etc. as you get older.

Using the article and comments as a guide, I'll show how we have planned for aging in place.

1. Make your home "visitable."
The purpose of universal design principles is to make your home both visitable and livable for a many people as possible, regardless of any limitations they may have. For example, stairs can make entry impossible for those in a wheelchair, and difficult for those with knees issues. A good goal is to have zero-barrier entry (no steps). This wasn't possible with our home, so we compromised with a gently sloped walkway that's easier on the joints.

 

And we had our carpenter built us these ramps for the two short steps we have, which make a zero barrier entry into our home.

The other big consideration we made was adding a first floor master with an en suite. Our room is a second master upstairs, near our toddler, but the in-law suite is available for guests of all abilities. As we age, if needed, we can easily move downstairs. Also, in case of injury, any member of our family can temporarily stay downstairs and have access to everything they need. In addition to the in-law bathroom, there is also a small powder room on the first floor.

2. Make Your Stairs Safe
Whether your joints are stiff, your vision is dim, or you live with vertigo, like I do, interior stairs can be a hazard. Wood stained stairs are beautiful, but they are too slippery for me to risk. (And I need the sound-proofing of carpet to keep my headaches in check). In fact, in our last house, our Shih Tzu refused to descend our wood stairs until we put treads on them!

In our new house, we chose to carpet the steps (which should be done in the next week or so!). As a cost savings, we are carpeting the whole stair, but we hope to use a well-secured runner when the carpet eventually needs to be replaced.

We are also putting lights into the stairway to help with visibility.

Here are a couple of other lighted stairways...that are finished for better visualization. Ours will look more like the first photo. The second photo shows LED lights, which are pretty cool.

Of course, it goes without saying  that a handrail (or two!) is a must. We will have handrails on both sides. Ours won't be as pretty as these, which are a great example of how aging in place can be beautiful.

3. Plan for Future Years.
It used to be that a ranch home was the only option if you wanted to age in place. But now, in addition to building homes with dual masters, like we are doing, home builders are putting in residential elevators. It's much easier on the pocketbook to put in an elevator during construction that retrofitting later.

Even if you don't have the funds put in the elevator, it's a good idea to plan the space for the future if your choices come down to retrofitting or moving into an assisted living center. In our case, we designed a large pantry (9' x 9'10") right under a good size laundry room. If we need an elevator in the future, we can use these spaces for an elevator shaft. Of course, putting the first floor suite should save us from needing an elevator, but it's nice to know we have the space if we happened to need it.

4. Reduce trip hazards.
Part of living with a brain injury, for me, means living with a great risk of falling due to vertigo issues, vision issues, and just plain brain fatigue. This means that we planned our floors and floor plan to reduce any uneven surfaces that would pose a trip hazard.

Thresholds between rooms are a common place for trip hazards.

This really came into play when we planned our flooring. In a budget-free world, we would have used cork throughout the house. It's quiet, soft, sound-proofing, earth-friendly and beautiful. However, it's also a pricey flooring option, so for now, it's going in our kitchen, dinette and pantry. We tried to save money with luxury vinyl tile in the mudroom and in-law suite, but we would have had too much of a height difference in our thresholds between rooms, thus causing a trip hazard. Instead, we put tile in the mudroom (and foyer and powder room), and carpet in the in-law suite (and great room and office), so the floor is level throughout the main level.

In addition to being a trip hazard, uneven transitions pose a challenge for those in wheelchairs.

Cords can also pose trip hazards, as can rugs. The solution for us is to have great overhead lighting, natural lighting, and only use lamps where they can be plugged in close to a wall outlet.

This cord should be under the floor mat.

In the 80s, when I was growing up, sunken living rooms were all the rage. Since trends seem to return every few decades, it's worth noting that this trend is not a very good one for universal design. These are a major trip hazard and mobility challenge!

5. Say No to Knobs (and Switches).  My mom has arthritis, so when we first started designing our house, she made the request that we avoid knobs on the doors and hardware because levers and pulls are much easier to use. We also opted for rockers on our lights instead of switches for the same reason. As you make your selections, make a fist with your hands to test the ease of use of your choice.

Levers instead of knobs for doors.

Pulls instead of knobs on hardware. 

Rockers instead of switches.

Levers instead of knobs on faucets.

6. Consider accessible seating and access in the kitchen. As kitchens are returning to prominence as the center of the home, make sure that the seating you provide is easy for anyone to use. Consider a variety of heights for tall and short users, as well as wide aisles for wheelchair accessibility.

In our new home, we have (at least) 40" aisles in the kitchen and 36" doorways.

Wide aisles

36" wide pantry door

We have stools at bar height in our entertainment counter, but our kitchen is partly open to our dinette, which has table height chairs. Also, the baking center and the kitchen command center are both open underneath to accommodate wheelchairs.

Inspiration for my baking center.

Kitchen command center in progress.

Consider use and access in kitchen design, as well. Think about reaching what you need from a seated position.

Raised dishwashers are easier to access from a wheelchair, and also easier on aging backs.

A modern alternative to the raised dishwasher is the dishwasher drawer, which is especially nice for smaller families or empty nesters.

Drawers provide easy access to dishes, glasses and other kitchenware for older and younger users, as well as those in wheel chairs.

7. Offer Independence in the Bathroom.
In addition to the kitchen, the bathroom can cause the most inconvenience for accessibility. In addition to the things mentioned above, a bathroom needs to be designed with room for a wheelchair to maneuver and easy access to the shower.

This diagram shows an example of the radius needed for a wheelchair to maneuver comfortably (and independently) in a bathroom.

 If you know that a family or frequent guest is in a wheelchair, a wheel-in entry to the shower is best.

Our in-law suite was laid out with room for a chair, but we opted for this tub instead of the wheel-in.

For the needs of our family in particular, it's less likely that I'll need a chair, but I have some balance issues. This shower has a moveable seat that allows me to sit down as I shower.

We are also designing our vanity that's open under the sink, like this, to allow a wheelchair under it.

An easy aid to incorporating grab bars into fixtures like the toilet paper holder and towel holder. We are using these fixtures from the Moen Home Care collection.

Building a home to age in place is a lot like going green or being energy-efficient: it's a process. There's always more you can do, but whatever little thing you do do is better than nothing. One commenter in the inspiration article from Houzz used the term "invisible accessibility." That our goal, to create a beautiful modern home that subtly and fully meets the needs of all our family and friends.