We had a great Thanksgiving here, hope you all did. The holiday feast has moved to our house over the past decade because I love to cook, and we seem to have no shortage of family and friends who are happy to contribute and eat. But there is a certain level of stress, and a tad bit of work, to pulling it off.
I was on the bus the other day and overheard a woman say “I think I’m getting to that “Bah Humbug” stage of life where I don’t want to go through all the holiday hassle. I tried to get my family to go out to a restaurant.” This got me thinking about a story some friends of mine used to tell. One year, they headed up to visit her folks for the holiday. It’s was about a 3-4 hour drive to Seattle from Portland in those days, and all the way up they were thinking about drumsticks, mounds of mashers and puddles of gravy. They were anticipating the joy of walking into the house from a cold day and smelling all those aromas melding into a sensory explosion. Imagine their concern when they walked in and smelled…nothing.
Seems Mom had decided that it was just too hard and too much stress to cook the meal the day it was to be eaten. She had a new microwave and she intended to use it. She had peacefully cooked up the components of the meal over the weeks leading up and carefully interred them in the freezer. Dessert was even apportioned and ready to go with dessert spoons on the plate. I’ve tried to banish the thought of Swanson TV dinners with this tale, to no avail.
But while it’s easy perhaps to make fun, thinking back I’ve come to realize my friend’s Mom had done a wise thing for her. She had gotten to a point where what was once easy was stressful; where what was expected of her was not what she wanted to do. So she took control and changed the rules. She decided that doing things the same old way got in the way of her enjoyment of the holiday and her family. It’s really an admirable thing, even if I shudder at the thought of serving turkey dinner from the microwave.
This is what we need to do as we age. We need to recognize that the old ways of bathing, cooking, storing things may have been fine when we were young but as we age, we have to modify our routines. And we should do it in a way that makes us feel proud, not beleaguered. We can use new designs and new technology to our benefit. A walk-in bathtub might carry a connotation, but it’s a safer way to get a relaxing soak. Web cameras and social networking sites can help us maintain contact with friends and family and even make new friends, even if we are less mobile. Removing steps to a sunken living room may be just the way to banish the old Rat Pack era design ethics and create a more modern, safer living area. And deciding that downstairs bedroom is really just as good as the one on at the top of the stairs is a great way to intelligently change the way we do things to adapt to the way we are today.
Tradition is great and we all love to remember “the old days.” But when it comes to traditional, inflexible and intolerant aspects of home design, the sooner we relegate them to memories, the better.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Mama said they were magic shoes. They could take me anywhere.
Forrest Gump might not be quite the right image to toss out here, but the promise of Forrest’s Mama seems to be getting closer to reality. I’ve often said that technology will someday reduce the need to modify homes by helping people extend their abilities. Currently, for example, there are power chairs that stand and go upstairs. However they are cumbersome and according to one user I’ve met can be a bit frightening. The engineers at Honda keeps pushing this sort of technology forward and recently announced their prototype of robot legs. The legs are designed to be a “power assist” for people who are losing leg strength. For those of us old enough to remember, remember manual steering in a car? Think of this as power steering for your feet. It doesn’t change what we do, it just makes doing it easier and safer.
At first I wondered how you sit down, then I realized that you ARE sitting down. Technology like this might cause us to rethink a lot of things. While the prototype probably has a ways to go before it becomes practical for people who are infirm (how do you take the legs on and off?) this sort of technology has the promise of keeping people active and fitter longer. We tend to think of assistive devices as things for people who are already disabled. But as we boomers age, a large market will emerge in helping people prolong relatively normal activity. I met a man using a Segway for this purpose. Games to improve cognitive function are another example of this application of technology. Could robot arms to reach those things on the top shelf be next?
As Forrest said, “From that day on, if I was ever going somewhere, I was running!”
At first I wondered how you sit down, then I realized that you ARE sitting down. Technology like this might cause us to rethink a lot of things. While the prototype probably has a ways to go before it becomes practical for people who are infirm (how do you take the legs on and off?) this sort of technology has the promise of keeping people active and fitter longer. We tend to think of assistive devices as things for people who are already disabled. But as we boomers age, a large market will emerge in helping people prolong relatively normal activity. I met a man using a Segway for this purpose. Games to improve cognitive function are another example of this application of technology. Could robot arms to reach those things on the top shelf be next?
As Forrest said, “From that day on, if I was ever going somewhere, I was running!”
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Design your kitchen for the future.
Yes, of course, I've been delinquent in posting again as the summer busy season has gotten underway, but here is a link to a just published article I authored for The Boomer Advisor publication.
http://www.advisor.com/boomer/story/design-your-kitchen-for-future
A well-designed kitchen can make cooking and entertaining more enjoyable. So if you're considering remodeling the kitchen, your focus is probably cosmetic. However, as you or your parents get older, there are safety issues to consider, too. This article gives some practical examples.
http://www.advisor.com/boomer/story/design-your-kitchen-for-future
A well-designed kitchen can make cooking and entertaining more enjoyable. So if you're considering remodeling the kitchen, your focus is probably cosmetic. However, as you or your parents get older, there are safety issues to consider, too. This article gives some practical examples.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Aging in place is green.
I came across an article yesterday that does a good job of covering a topic we've touched on here before--that aging in place is by definition a green approach to housing. There is so much stored energy in a home that you can never be greener by building something smaller, even if you downsize and use new technologies, so we shold be planning, designing and retrofitting our current homes to accomodate long life spans and a range of life situations. This article profiles Palo Alto architect Jon Stoumen. What I like most is many of the simple, lo tech, low cost design elements--like grape vines as heat reducing sun shades. And his philosophy about going green perfectly reflects our philosophy about aging in place--do what makes sense now, but plan for the future.
"We're going for universal access, so we've laid the groundwork for the elevator, but the clients won't need it for a long time. When they do need help getting up to the second floor, they'll be able to put the elevator in because we've planned for it with the infrastructure. It's one of the things about this house that will allow the owners to age in place. And I can't think of anything greener than aging in place. When you move, you throw a bunch of stuff away, new people move in and they remodel everything and throw a bunch more stuff away," Stoumen said. For that reason, the ground floor of the home is at grade. In the future, wheelchair access will not be a problem.
The model of planning for the elevator also follows Stoumen's idea that taking small steps toward greener living is a healthy way to think about environmental improvements. "People see all that you can do to make a home greener, and they think, 'I want it all now.' But not everyone can afford to do it all now. I think it's better to do what you can now and plan for the future," Stoumen said."
Read the complete article at :
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=8459
"We're going for universal access, so we've laid the groundwork for the elevator, but the clients won't need it for a long time. When they do need help getting up to the second floor, they'll be able to put the elevator in because we've planned for it with the infrastructure. It's one of the things about this house that will allow the owners to age in place. And I can't think of anything greener than aging in place. When you move, you throw a bunch of stuff away, new people move in and they remodel everything and throw a bunch more stuff away," Stoumen said. For that reason, the ground floor of the home is at grade. In the future, wheelchair access will not be a problem.
The model of planning for the elevator also follows Stoumen's idea that taking small steps toward greener living is a healthy way to think about environmental improvements. "People see all that you can do to make a home greener, and they think, 'I want it all now.' But not everyone can afford to do it all now. I think it's better to do what you can now and plan for the future," Stoumen said."
Read the complete article at :
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=8459
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Lifespan of modifications--its not kid stuff
Because of In Your Home's consistently high ratings on Angie's List, we are getting a lot of calls from folks from outside our specialty--growing families who are looking to modify their home to accommodate the kids. Adding extra space, adding or updating a bathroom, removing hazardous conditions. Lots of similarity to what we do for our target population and we do often take these projects on. After all, business is business. But while we have long questioned why families are willing to modify for children and not for adults, a new thought struck. Comparatively, how long can we expect these modifications to be useful?
If we modify a room for a nursery, it's appropriate for five to 10 years, depending on how many children we have and at what intervals. By the time we get around to adding a separate bedroom or bathroom, maybe we get 15 years of active use. Same for a playroom.
But what if we are in our late 50's, our 60's or 70's and looking to modify the home for the long term? That playroom converted to an adult entertainment area, hobby or exercise space could easily serve us for over 20 years. A bathroom modified to be safer and supportive for adults will easily get 10 to 20 years of useful life. And, not only will these mods add value to the home (if done attractively and well,) but they have a higher payback since they can help us stay more independent and healthy so we can avoid the expense of assisted living and long or short term nursing care. And we can enjoy them so much--most people do tend to spend more time in their homes as they age, so its all the more important that the home environment be attractive and supportive for maintaining the activities we love--hobbies, cooking, gardening, etc. The earlier we do it, but more we will benefit from it.
You could easily say that you will get as many or more useful years from aging-in-place modifications, which indicates a better financial justification. Of course, we don't remodel for our young families just because of financial payback--we do it because we want things to be the best they can be during that phase of our lives. But many of us have this dismal thought that we are getting old and aren't worth investing in. Or it's that old refusal to acknowledge that while we feel 40 we are past 60 and need to think ahead. If we get past those thoughts, then the value of adding a shop, changing a floor plan or modifying a bathroom can make things the best the can be at these new phases of life. That makes a lot of sense--financially and otherwise.
If we modify a room for a nursery, it's appropriate for five to 10 years, depending on how many children we have and at what intervals. By the time we get around to adding a separate bedroom or bathroom, maybe we get 15 years of active use. Same for a playroom.
But what if we are in our late 50's, our 60's or 70's and looking to modify the home for the long term? That playroom converted to an adult entertainment area, hobby or exercise space could easily serve us for over 20 years. A bathroom modified to be safer and supportive for adults will easily get 10 to 20 years of useful life. And, not only will these mods add value to the home (if done attractively and well,) but they have a higher payback since they can help us stay more independent and healthy so we can avoid the expense of assisted living and long or short term nursing care. And we can enjoy them so much--most people do tend to spend more time in their homes as they age, so its all the more important that the home environment be attractive and supportive for maintaining the activities we love--hobbies, cooking, gardening, etc. The earlier we do it, but more we will benefit from it.
You could easily say that you will get as many or more useful years from aging-in-place modifications, which indicates a better financial justification. Of course, we don't remodel for our young families just because of financial payback--we do it because we want things to be the best they can be during that phase of our lives. But many of us have this dismal thought that we are getting old and aren't worth investing in. Or it's that old refusal to acknowledge that while we feel 40 we are past 60 and need to think ahead. If we get past those thoughts, then the value of adding a shop, changing a floor plan or modifying a bathroom can make things the best the can be at these new phases of life. That makes a lot of sense--financially and otherwise.
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