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Seniors contemplate what to do with their income tax refund

Universal design and home improvement for the long-term does not have to be expensive.  If you received or are receiving a refund on your tax return, one great way to spend that money is to complete some simple home improvement with an eye toward the future.  Most small projects that make a big impact are actually somewhat economical to carry out.  By investing a little money toward improving your home, you can really increase your home’s apparent value as you look forward to your active retirement.  Consider some of these improvements when looking to invest your refund or home improvement dollars.

• Paint:  Apply a fresh coat of paint to the walls. Think about investing in Low VOC or no VOC paint (VOC is the smelly stuff in paint that is actually harmful to breathe in).  Strip off that dated wallpaper and replace with a fresh new paint color.  Keep in mind that very shiny (high gloss paint) can cause glare and is hard on the eyes.  Do not resort to flat either though because it is often harder to clean and marks easily. Consider a Satin or Eggshell finish.  Also, keep in mind that as we age, we need more light to see and if you choose a dark color, it will absorb light making it seem darker.
• Yard work:  Consider low maintenance landscaping and raised beds. Gardens and flowers are great mood boosters but is hard on the knees.  If looking at adding flowers, consider a raised flowerbed for easier access.  Xeric landscaping is a great way to create a low maintenance yard.
• Replace bathroom fixtures.  Accessible bathroom and kitchen fixtures are a great investment for not only now but in the long-term too.  Consider installing comfort height toilets and installing D-shaped cabinet and drawer handles.  Replacing the handles will naturally give the bathroom or kitchen a more updated look and make it easier to open and close the drawers and handles.
• Replace the kitchen counter tops.  Replacing kitchen counter tops and work surfaces is pricey but can add value and less maintenance.  Consider installing quartz counter tops or laminate depending on your preferences.  If you worry about resale, the direction to take would be the quartz counter top because it adds value and there is no maintenance involved.  If you are looking more for ease of maintenance and lower price investment look at having laminate counter tops installed.  There are fabulous patterns that look like granite if you gravitate to that look.  Consider a contrasting counter top color from your cabinets and flooring to help with depth perception.  Choose to round the corners on all the counter tops to reduce impact injuries.
• Invest in your closet: there are many systems that installable to help with accessibility to your clothing and help with organization at the same time.  There are items like the Pull Down Closet Rod that brings the closet rod right to you.  The unit uses hydraulic action and has an accessible handle, which you use to pull the rod down.  There is a weight capacity for it so research it first.  One more option: rearrange the structure of the closet.  Lower the rod to a suitable height or use a closet system with various height clothes rods and storage choices.
• Install cabinet organizers: install pull-out shelves and organizers for accessible storage. This way you will be able to reach your items easier.

A great way to spend your tax refund is to reinvest it in your home and provide for your long-term safety and low maintenance.  Investing a little money toward improving functionality your home by investing in even one or two of these suggestions can really increase your home’s apparent value as you look forward to your active retirement.  Thank you for reading and please feel free to comment.

An Aging in Place Couple Want to Remodel Their Bathroom

Tilly and Harold, a couple of mature seniors living in their fifty year old home are looking to make their bathroom comfortable and safer. They contacted a CAPS (Certified Aging in Place Specialist) through the NAHB website to help them navigate this process. Since Tilly and Harold are not the sort to follow blindly, they consulted many sources like the NCSU CENTER FOR UNIVERSAL DESIGN Residential Rehabilitation, Remodeling and Universal Design report and the AARP for information. They started a list of wants and needs to discuss with their CAPS.

In their research, they discovered there are several things they should concentrate on for their bathroom remodel. First and foremost, they want to make sure they are preparing for their long term comfort and safety. Since they both have arthritis and find it harder to keep up, they want low maintenance finishes. They also know that making these changes will help increase their home value so they want to keep it reasonable but do it right too.

One of the main things on their list, of course, is to get some grab bars near the toilet and at the bath or shower. Luckily, their original builder installed blocking in the walls so they can be installed easily. They also know noted they will need to have a 36” wide door with lever handles and no threshold. Thinking about the layout, they know that a clear 5 foot turn space at the toilet and at the bath or shower will be necessary for maneuvering too.

More items on the list include:

A vanity that will have multiple heights so Tilly can sit down in front and still be able to reach the sink. Harold is a little concerned about future resale and thinks maybe those new fangled cabinets that could be put back under the vanity if need be would be their best choice.

They want to install great storage that is easily accessed like pull-outs so Harold won’t have to reach high to put the towels away anymore. Tilly hasn’t been able to reach up to the upper shelves in years.

Tilly is adamant that they will need a full-length mirror installed in addition to locating the vanity mirror low enough so if she is seated she can still see the mirror.

The low maintenance laminate flooring is Harold’s vote since it is really nice looking but isn’t going to cost an arm and a leg. Tilly agrees and adds the low maintenance angle.

They make a note that it will need to be low slip too.

Another safety decision they read about is to include anti-scald fittings on the faucet and tub or shower.

Tilly pointed to a picture of a shower and mentioned she read there is such a thing as a curbless shower that will still keep the water from going all over the bathroom. They decided to list that and ask their CAPS about it.

Harold thinks they will need a shower chair or bench that can be built-in or have enough space for their free-standing chair they already use.

Tilly made note too that the shower head will need to be a hand-held shower sprayer on a sliding vertical bar, with a 60” long hose.

Tilly is thinking maybe she would prefer a bathtub over a shower and Harold said they better make sure the bottom is non-slip and there would need to be a 15” extension on the tub deck to make it easier for them to get in and out.

Harold noted the shower head contraption would work for the tub too.

Harold pointed to a picture of a toilet and said, “Tilly, let’s make sure we get one of those higher toilets like the ones in the handicapped stalls. They are so much easier to get up from these days. I go to sit down on ours and I feel like I am falling!” Tilly nodded and jotted it down.

“I think they call those Comfort Height or ADA or something like that. It says here on this Kohler site that they are in the 17-18+ inch high. Nice. The elongated bowl would be our best choice,” said Tilly.

Harold held the list and Tilly said, “Didn’t Elsie and John mention about the electrical outlets at 18 inches off the floor so we could reach them and those rocker light switches? We will want those too. Oh and I would love adjustable lighting that I can change depending on what I need it for, like trimming your eyebrows my dear!”

Harold smiled. “Didn’t John mention something like the light controls being easy to reach if they were between 36” and 42” above the floor?”

Tilly nodded, “Do you think we should consider one of those tankless water heaters? I read where they are good for low maintenance and energy efficiency too.”

“Oh, yes, I like that idea. So, let’s look over this list before that CAPS gal gets here. Seems like there are lots of choices, glad we are going to get some help.”

Guest Post: Gardening and Landscaping for Aging in Place by Fleeting Architecture’s Shenandoah Kepler

I write a blog called “Fleeting Architecture” ( http://gardenaginginplace.com ) about my successes and failures to age in place in my garden. My Dear Husband (DH in my blog) is a talented photographer and takes beautiful pictures that I share in the blog.

There are many sites about aging in place on the web but there is not a lot of information about aging in place in the outdoors. There are a very few websites about accessible gardening, targeting those in wheelchairs, but nothing about do-it-yourself stuff or about using a cane or walker/rollator, so I thought I’d fill that niche as we baby boomers get older (oops! “more mature”) and share my experiences, both as advice and “lessons learned.”

I have tried to apply Alesha Churba’s guiding mantra, “Design with the Future in Mind,” to my desire to keep on gardening as I mature, making the work manageable and fun, no matter how aging affects me physically. I have had several scares due to falls, infections, etc., that have made me rethink how I garden and manage the risks inherent in this activity. As we get older, some of our friends have also had health issues that leave them less than able, and we wanted to make both the interior of our home — and our garden — “visitable” by everyone.

Just like Alesha’s guidance to think and plan for safety and low maintenance inside the home, that is what I have tried to do in my garden. We have over 2 1/2 acres of property in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC and it is like living at a resort, but the far reaches of the property are getting worked on less and less, as I tire easier because of the heat and humidity (and as I “mature”). DH cuts the lawn and does the heavy lifting, and I do the landscaping, weeding, and planting. We share pruning and have hired help come in to mulch the many planting beds.

In central Florida, we have a tiny plot (maybe 150 feet by 150 feet) with a double wide manufactured home on it that has sandy soil and is absolutely trouble-free to maintain at this point in our lives, and we live there from January through March each year. Neighbors have asked whether we have considered moving there when our Maryland property gets too much for us, and the answer is we have, but health care is a bit dicey in this part of Florida and that too is a major issue for us as we age.

We started the blog with posts on reducing risks of falling or hurting oneself gardening, such as making one’s garden paths wide enough for rollators and wheelchairs (or even wheelbarrows), then advanced to planning for reduced maintenance in the garden for the long haul. We also travel to nature preserves, National Wildlife Refuges, public gardens, etc. and now share our travel photos and comments on how accessible these locations are for those with walker/rollators or wheelchairs. An occasional post about aging in place gurus, such as Alesha, rounds out what we do and what we share on the blog.

Like my interviews with Alesha ( An Interview with Alesha Churba, Design With the Future in Mind ) and Laurie Orlov (An Interview with Laurie Orlove, Founder of Aging in Place Technology Watch ) have mentioned, we have found that baby boomers do not want to “go silently into that good night” – according to Senior Concerns, 40% of them have less than $10,000 saved for retirement and 55% have no will. I cannot imagine how the mere effects of aging are being ignored, denied, and mentally fought! So we have to find new ways to market to them without mentioning “aging.” You will notice that I am trying to use the term “maturing” (because “mature” has a whole different connotation!) but aging-in-place (AIP) has a certain traction for web searches so that it is difficult to give it up entirely.

Advice for those wanting to make their gardens more visitable and workable (think wheelbarrow):

• Don’t install steps in the landscape; someone with wheels has to lift them up or down the steps!
• Make sure the paths in your garden are at least 36 inches wide – that is what a wheelchaired visitor will need as well as a hoe laying over a wheelbarrow!
• Make the path material as rigid as possible so that wheels don’t get bogged down in some soft material and make wheeling really difficult. A paving like concrete, stone, brick is ideal, but gravel that is well tamped might be okay too, depending upon how hard the resulting surface.
• Don’t plant anything too spiney or thorny where a visitor might brush into it. Put soft, fragrant, brightly colored plants close to the path’s edge for visitors to notice, brush by, and touch and smell.
• Make sure there are lots of stopping points and seating in the garden for those who have to rest in their travels around your garden.

Now what we need is more outdoor leisure and equipment manufacturers designing and offering tools and helps for outdoor safety as we mature. For example:

• Something like grab bars in the garden that can be left in the garden
• Hard surfaces that can be easily installed, even rolled out
• Motorized golf-cart-like vehicles with space to transport pots, tools, weeds, and dirt
• Motorized hand tools for weeding, pruning, cutting, etc., that don’t require much hand and wrist strength
• Ramps and heavy-duty railings that are decorative like bridges, and balustrades

I’m sure lots of you out there reading this have more great ideas – leave a comment with some of your needs and wants! We’ll forward them on to companies and people who need to know and can respond.

Thanks, Alesha, for allowing me to guest blog and let you know what we gardeners are doing to “design with the future in mind”!

Thank you Shenandoah, for sharing some great advice and information! Readers~ please check out Fleeting Architecture -Diary of an Ancient Gardener: http://gardenaginginplace.com.

Guest Post: The Barrier Free Mission

This Guest Post is brought to you by Todd A. Stull, President of Alone Eagle Remodeling, LLC.  Alone Eagle Remodeling is a specialty Bathroom Remodeling Contractor in the Harrisburg, PA area.

With more than 15 years of experience in the bathroom remodeling business as an employee, installer and now a business owner, I have come to recognize and understand how specialized this type of remodeling can be. Handicap bathroom remodeling is very detailed and case sensitive that will vary from a handicapped individual to a senior citizen that is planning to age in place.

These specialized aspects became personal when I met my wife, Erika, who has three daughters, one of whom is disabled. Alexis was born prematurely, diagnosed with a form of Cerebral Palsy, with developmental delays. Alexis has been truly blessed in life by beating the two-week life expectancy given by the doctors. My wife and I, as parents, have experienced the trials and tribulations of living with, and adapting to, the various challenges of disability.

Private clients and a project completed through the local United Cerebral Palsy Organization have benefitted from my experience and knowledge. I have been able to put recommendations of products and procedures to good use just by thinking of how I would do it at home which, in turn, has benefited our clients tenfold.

Design must be accurate and functional to meet personal needs. When considering a safe and accessible bathing environment, I always begin with a full tile application for a Barrier-free bathroom. Barrier-free showers, also known as Curb-less showers, offer a smooth transition in and out and free of any tripping obstacle. The use of tile allows for a full custom layout where items such as shower benches, shampoo niches, and faucets can be built in to the exact size and dimensions required.

• Preparation of walls and floors must be structurally sound and waterproof. Wet rooms require a sufficient waterproofing membrane throughout the room. This includes shower walls, shower floor, bathroom floor and baseboard or wainscoting areas.
• Linear Drains are the best option for a full access shower. Versatility of placement is not limited to specific locations and framing can be lowered to meet mortar bed applications and pitch requirements.
• Tile must be rated for handicap applications and slip resistant.
• Grout must be a premium selection of epoxy or urethane for its mold and mildew resistant properties.

Although preformed shower units made of fiberglass or acrylic may be an option for a definite improvement over the existing facility, keep in mind that these molded units mostly have shelves, seats and bars already in place and not where you can adapt to. I find myself measuring my client’s legs or wheelchair while framing the shower and adding blocking for grab bars. Kit installations may not be able to withstand your mechanical equipment like wheelchairs or shower chairs. Vinyl flooring does not offer any waterproof properties and can wear down from everyday traffic when rolling equipment is involved. Take into consideration how your bathroom will hold up during the test of time. Ask yourself, “What will work for me and be safe?”

When working with organizations that fund a home modification for you don’t be afraid to question any or all recommendations that are made and don’t lose focus. The approval process can take months and it can be stressful for both you and your contractor. I find that many modification services offered have the task of meeting a financial budget. When budgets are involved you may end up with the cheaper option and I will always disagree with that. Your shower equipment must be just as durable as the medical equipment that aids you in everyday life. It must perform just like a pair of leg braces or a back brace that lets you stand or walk or a wheelchair that allows you to be mobile. Finally, it must meet your personal, every-day needs and contribute to quality of life.

Aging in Place, Aging Eyes and Color Choices

Elsie and John are seniors who have chosen to age in place.  Their kids are trying to help and have decided they should paint the walls in their parents home. Elsie and John would like to go with something light and warm but not too warm. The kids think they should go with something trendy and edgy. They keep seeing dark, shiny walls in all the spec homes they tour and think that is what their parents should do to stay up with the times. What should Elsie and John do?

They should stick with their gut instincts and go with lighter colors that are warm but not too yellow. Why is that? Because as we age, our eyes see color differently, we see less clearly and we need more light. The muscles in our eyes become weaker as we age. Our eyes begin to change starting in our forties and not necessarily for the better.  Maybe you can relate?  Are your arms getting too short for reading?

What may seem red to you could be very different from what the person next to you is seeing. Don’t assume that because a certain color is “in” it is the best color for your space. Older eyes may see colors that have more of a yellow cast to them much like aging newspapers get turn yellow. Keep this in mind when choosing any colors. 

Another important thing to remember is the need for more light as we age. The eye requires more light to see things clearly. Choose to spread lighting evenly throughout the room.  Glare is very hard on aging eyes so cut down on very shiny surfaces.  Prevent contrast in area lighting because it is harder for the eye to adjust if there are light and dark areas.  It is a lot like walking into a brightly lit room after being in a pitch black room.  It takes your eyes a long while to adjust and in the meantime, accidents may occur.  You can read more about lighting in the article, “Lighting For Life.”

Ever notice how, as we age, we tend to run a little colder too?  Choosing a warmer color is a good choice. Visually, your eyes will signal to the mind that the space is warmer. Not sure what the warmer colors are? Think about the colors of the sun and heat like yellows, oranges, and reds to know what are warm colors. Use these colors sparingly in your choices though because too much will be overwhelming: remember aging eyes see things darker.  If you are trying to choose a color, take color samples home and place them in the location where you are thinking of painting that color. What you see in the showroom or paint department will probably not look the same as your home.

Yellowed colors need not be a detriment in the aging process, after all, your yellow and my yellow may not be the same.  Choose wisely with thoughts to your future too.

Practical Tips When Planning to Travel with Seniors

Guest post compliments of Ashley O’Connor:

Taking a trip with seniors is a good way to help them fight off boredom.  Traveling is also a perfect means for the senior citizens to relax.  Upon reaching the golden age, most seniors just stay at home and do simple activities to occupy their time.  So why not take them on a vacation?

Planning a family vacation with the seniors demands you to take into account a few factors.  Thinking of these considerations can help make sure an enjoyable and comfortable vacation for the elderly.

See some beautiful places with your favorite senior!

Look for senior friendly destination - A vacation destination for the young adults may seem not suitable for the seniors.  Check out those travel hot spots where every member of the family can enjoy including the seniors.  Browse over the net and search for ideal places for the entire family.  Start searching from local destinations where you have not gone yet then you can try looking for international places.

There are so many places in the US known to be senior-friendly just like Florida.  But if you want to take your older folks overseas, you can try going to destinations like Caribbean Islands, London and France.  Of course, consider your budget.  There are many places you can head to without spending a fortune.

Make use of senior travel discounts – Traveling with seniors will not really burden you financially.  In fact, it can help you save a considerable amount of money.  Seniors have discounts in many establishments.  Take advantage of these discounts especially with regards to airfare and other transportations.  Elderly people have likewise discounted rates in restaurants, hotels and some other leisure places.

Book in a senior-friendly accommodation – Most seniors do not like crowded places so you may choose to book in a smaller hotel.  Smaller accommodation means less number of people.  But make sure that it has comfortable room for your elderly.  Some hotels have special offers for seniors such as softer bed or more sheets, special menus, meeting rooms and others.  If you have the budget, you may try those luxurious hotels since they have fabulous amenities.

As much as possible opt for accommodation that has easy access to different tourist spots. Keep in mind that elderly people cannot endure long distance walking so make an itinerary of places you plan to visit.  This way, it will be easier to decide if you need a ride going to the place or you can just walk.

Bring medical alert device - In case your senior has an age related condition, be sure to bring along medicines and medical alert device if possible.  Alert system is very useful to quickly notify the family if the senior needs help.  Check with your alert device provider if it can work overseas (when travelling abroad).  Pack the medicines in a hand carry bag so it will be easy to get them when needed.

Spending a vacation with your seniors will be a memorable experience for them.  That is why it is important to prepare things ahead and to know their needs to avoid bigger problems.  Majority of the elderly people are sentimental so the trip will surely become a lasting memory.

About the author: This guest post was written by Ashley O’connor. She enjoys writing about family matters and travel topics. She is a social media writer who works with several successful establishments including Fall Alert, a provider of personal emergency response systems. When not writing, she just watches TV or reads books. Follow her on Twitter at @AshleyOconnor82 or on Facebook.