Innovative Building and Remodeling Solutions
for Independent Living

Today’s building remodelers are modifying homes to make them both universal and sustainable. More than ever, homeowners are looking for ways to make their homes more energy-efficient. In addition to wanting to age in place, seniors and people with disabilities want to reduce their energy costs and maintenance bills as well as their impact on the environment. From low-maintenance pre-finished materials, to water-saving fixtures and Energy Star™ appliances, these are some of the ways your home can help reduce environmental impacts. These green features will save you money over the years and also leave a minimal carbon footprint.

One California designer turned this house into a showcase of modern green technology as well as comfortable living. The house has won several awards for universal and green design, including most recently the National Contractor of the Year Award from the National Remodelers Association (NARI) for Residential Universal Design. While this house was built for the designer’s partner’s mother, it is also their “forever house.”

Some of the features added to the home included:

• A roof with 54 solar panels.
• An elevator.
• A bathroom vanity that lowers to wheelchair height.
• A zero-step entry wooden ramp from the hilly street level down to the front door.
• Removing a wall in the entry hall and a closet in the living room to open the vista from the front door through the living room and out to the hillside views.
• Curbless showers in the master bath.
• An energy-saving gas fireplace, which provides the main source of heat, in five of the rooms in the house
• A laundry room that doubles as a kitchenette for the downstairs master bedroom. This allows the homeowners to hang their laundry, except for towels, to line-dry across the long back wall. A heated countertop for folding dries the moisture from the air.

They also made “green” plans to cool the house, especially when the sun pours into the living room on hot summer mornings. They installed exterior European rolling shutters that not only descend at the push of a button, but also flap shut.

What sustainable features have you added to your home or would you like to incorporate into your universal design? Let us know.

Don’t forget. Through May 31, 2009, as part of our outstanding service to our customers, Home Evolutions is offering a free in-home assessment. We’ll conduct a thorough evaluation of your current lifestyle and home to identify what can make your home safer and more accessible. Please note:  This limited time offer is currently available only to residences within Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

If you, or someone you know, are interested in this free, limited time offer, please fill out our contact form today and one of our representatives will be in touch to schedule a convenient time to visit you in your home.

Kitchen & Bath Design News recently published this article about storage solutions that make your kitchen more efficient thanks to the ideas of aging in place and Universal Design. Today, designers and customers are embracing the concepts of Universal Design more frequently.

Many of the products used today as part of Universal Design were either custom made or designed for other purposes. One designer says that “many designers are looking for ways to address specific needs now and for the future as their customers age in their homes. There may be opportunities for storage product manufacturers as some specific Universal Design applications reach a critical mass where products can be designed and manufactured to be sold for these purposes.”

According to Donna Matsumoto, VP/product development for Doug Mockett & Co. in Los Angeles, CA, “Convenience is always one of the most important factors when it comes to new kitchen designs. However, it can be tricky trying to incorporate convenience into a design without compromising the overall aesthetic appeal. Fusing style with functionality helps to streamline the modern kitchen environment. By concealing options and stowing away traditional kitchen appliances, modern design tends to create a very clean and simple feel while highlighting its basic features.”

New design changes have added convenience to the overall appeal of the kitchen, such as toe kicks that open a low-lying cabinet with just a tap, adjustable-height solutions, and infrared and new wave technology according to Lynn Schrage, marketing manager for The Kohler Store, in Chicago, IL.

Schrage says that touch-free technology not only makes opening a cabinet or drawer quiet and easy, it also helps avoid contamination throughout the home.

The popularity of drawers has led to innovative designs that maximize the use of the space inside. One designer notes that there “is a trend toward wider and deeper drawers to store untidy items such as boxes, canisters, jars and other things that, until recently, have been kept habitually in upper cabinets or on the countertop.”

Another new trend is a tap-to-open is a newer concept. This technology is based on an electrical drive that, once triggered, opens the drawer.

Socially responsible designs and sustainability are key factors in today’s kitchen design, according to Rebecca Hewing of John Boos & Co. Hewing, national sales manager/Kitchen Countertop Division for the Effingham, IL-based manufacturer. Hewing says “Using natural, renewable materials” and ensuring low-energy costs is important to today’s consumer.

Adds Matsumoto, “The green movement has made consumers more aware of the materials used in manufacturing. There is a heightened concern for eliminating wasteful products and using recycled material. The life expectancy of a part can be taken into consideration to prevent multiple replacements, thus making durability a major factor.”

Read the article and let us know what you think about some of these new Universal Design concepts for the kitchen. Will they make your life easier?

And don’t forget. Through May 31, 2009, as part of our outstanding service to our customers, Home Evolutions is offering a free in-home assessment. We’ll conduct a thorough evaluation of your current lifestyle and home to identify what can make your home safer and more accessible. Please note:  This limited time offer is currently available only to residences within Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

If you, or someone you know, are interested in this free, limited time offer, please fill out our contact form today and one of our representatives will be in touch to schedule a convenient time to visit you in your home.

Here at Home Evolutions, we are always interested in informing you about all of the personalized home remodeling options that we offer which can help you to age-in-place comfortably and safely. But we also occasionally like to present other ideas and options (like home sharing) that may also allow you to remain living independently in your own house for years to come.

In a recent article by Dr. Christina M. Anastasia, she addresses this growing, aging-in-place living option. Anastasia believes that as more seniors and people with disabilities choose to age-in-place, one nontraditional option that is now taking root in the United States and abroad is home sharing/cooperative living—or sharing a home with one or more people. She notes, “This long overlooked option may satisfy many of the different needs of retirees.”

The article references a research study exploring factors that influence people who are seeking non-traditional cooperative living arrangements during retirement. The study observed 18 retired or near-retired people who were home sharing.

Seniors and people with disabilities may each have very different and specific personal, medical, financial, and other reasons why they would choose to home share. “While economic factors influenced the initial decision to live cooperatively, social interaction through friendship and activity was the primary driving force remaining in this alternative type of living scenario,” adds Anastasia.

In other words, the study found that home sharing can satisfy both financial necessity and personal needs for interaction and socialization during life’s later years. In fact, most of the situations examined initially began out of financial need, but then progressed into social environments of friendships and relationships that also increased overall satisfaction with living and aging.

The study also addressed the natural fear of aging, and how home sharing can help somewhat alleviate that fear. Anastasia explains, “It found that as people entered into these home sharing situations, this fear of the unknown was replaced with an excitement about life as a retiree.” So as an added bonus, financial and social necessities are also satisfied because (as shown by the study’s results), home sharing participants share resources and eventually begin embracing other activities that are not associated with just surviving.

“Volunteering, physical activity, reading, writing, and traveling were among the more popular changes in the living scenarios,” adds Anastasia.

She offers the following tips to consider before deciding to home share:

•    Research home sharing;
•    First talk to friends who might want to share a home;
•    Pre-existing friendships eliminate much of the fear associated with change;
•    Ask for references when deciding to use home share matching organizations.

And remember, if you do decide that home sharing might be an option, you can also greatly enhance the livability of your house for you and your living companion by utilizing the CAPS designated, aging-in-place, remodeling services of a company like Home Evolutions.

Take the next step toward your independent future. Now through May 31, 2009, as part of our outstanding service to our customers, Home Evolutions is offering a free in-home assessment. We’ll conduct a thorough evaluation of your current lifestyle and home to identify what can make your home safer and more accessible. Please note:  This limited time offer is currently available only to residences within Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

If you, or someone you know, are interested in this free, limited time offer, please fill out our contact form today and one of our representatives will be in touch to schedule a convenient time to visit you in your home.

Might home sharing be an aging-in-place option for you? Is your house aging-in-place ready for a cooperative living companion?

Today, there are many unique and innovative residential options for seniors and people with disabilities wishing to age-in-place. In addition to companies like Home Evolutions that can appropriately modify existing homes, others offer entire communities and housing developments that are dedicated to independent living. As always, you and your loved ones must determine which aging-in-place options are best for you personally.

Americare is one such community-based housing conglomerate which is located in the Midwest. For over 25 years, Americare has extended care to senior generations in America’s heartland. In addition to fully independent living residences, the company also offers a variety of other lifestyle options including assisted living, Alzheimer’s care, and skilled nursing. Americare’s communities can be found throughout Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and Mississippi.

At the heart of every Americare community is a philosophy of “person-centered care.” This philosophy guides Americare’s decision making policies and the company believes that “person-centered care” truly makes a difference in the lives of its residents and their families.

In its independent living communities called The Cottages, Americare offers a variety of maintenance-free homes in various sizes to fit each individual’s needs. These residences offer catered living to seniors and balance independence with security. Each maintenance-free, two-bedroom cottage is equipped with a full kitchen, washer, dryer, screened porch, and emergency call/intercom system.

Americare offers beautifully situated, intimate, independent cottages in the states of Kansas and Missouri. Also, in response to inconsistent pharmacy services, Americare developed Pegasus—its own, in-house pharmaceutical provider to address its communities’ needs. Today, from a single location, Pegasus serves residents living in all of Americare’s 88 communities in four states.

The Americare Experience Project is a collection of stories from Americare’s communities. Each unique story is told from the different perspectives of residents, families, and Americare co-workers.

Take the next step toward your independent future. Now through May 31, 2009, as part of our outstanding service to our customers, Home Evolutions is offering a free in-home assessment. We’ll conduct a thorough evaluation of your current lifestyle and home to identify what can make your home safer and more accessible. Please note:  This limited time offer is currently available only to residences within Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

If you, or someone you know, are interested in this free, limited time offer, please fill out our contact form today and one of our representatives will be in touch to schedule a convenient time to visit you in your home.

Specifically, what kind of independent, aging-in-place option would you or your loved one prefer?