36" doors on all openings including bathrooms.

The bath adjacent to the office is the only bath accessible to the whole first floor, so it should be more accessible to a user on a walker if not fully wheelchair accessible.

A stack washer and dryer will not be too user friendly when you are elderly. I would plan on front loading side by side, perhaps on platforms for waist to chest height access.

If that is a free-standing tub in the master, it is going to be a pain to clean around as you get older. The shower also does not have great access given the size of the bathroom. I would not only switch it with the toilet I would make it much later and with better access,

There is no entry into your house without a number of steps. I would try to plan for a near-flat entry from somewhere. My parents had to get a platform elevator for two steps, which was expensive, kind of ugly and in the way of everyone who is able bodied, but watching my mother try to get down those two steps was like wathching someone doing rock climbing. We also had to take the door of the downstairs powder room and put on a curtain, a situation that made no one very happy to use it.

Since the house is on paper you will want to make all the things that you will need to help with univerals access look intentional and part of the design NOW, instead of cobbling things together in the future which is how many people who age in existing houses have to..

Thanks for your suggestions.

What do you and others think about moving bathroom #2 next to stairs, widening bathroom 4" to accomodate a 3' door and moving office/den so it sits between bedroom and bathroom? The biggest downside I see is that guests staying in bedroom #2 would have to walk through office to use bathroom. Then again, the office sort of becomes their sitting room of sorts, since I would make it quite cozy.

Thoughts?

The only entrance to the master suite is allll the way at the back of a rather large house. I'd consider a second entrance nearer the closet /bath end. I suspect this would be convenient quite often.

Since you're talking about aging in place, a toilet in a closet is impractical. Tuck it behind a door or behind the shower, but allow yourself the space you'll need to navigate the area.

I would open up the pantry to be a part of the mudroom. This means that when you enter the house with groceries, you're set to put things away.

I don't see laundry anywhere?

You have a large, space-hogging set of stairs . . . but they're tucked away. These lovely and expensive stairs make sense, if you're showcasing them in your entry or on the edge of your family room, but if you're tucking the staircase away to the edge, I'd go with the less expensive, less space-hogging straight stairs.

Also, if you are going with these stairs, at least harnass the space underneath them. You have probably 4 or 5x8' of half-height space, which could be storage open towards the garage . . . or a built-in desk or shelves open towards the office. I would not block off this space!

If you stick with this staircase, definitely add a window on the landing. You don't want people navigating the stairway in the dark.

Both of your showers look narrow-skinny.

Your kitchen aisle looks rather narrow-skinny too.

In the secondary bedroom, if you move the closet to the bathroom wall, you'll insulate that room against bathroom sounds . . . and I think you'll get a larger closet. You'll also have a bit of an "alcove" as you enter the room, which is nice.

Reaching this secondary bedroom is a long walk. I'd consider a door near the kitchen. If you (or another owner) ever needed to use the office as a bedroom, this would be a better option.

I'm not a fan of over-sized garages, but I see a problem with this one: The opening closest to the house, I'm not sure you can pull into it. I think the front stairs might prevent you from making that turn. Will your middle garage door allow a large vehicle (i.e., handicapped van) to enter?

Again, thanks for the input. I'll address a few great points raised.

We thought through many of these suggestions while creating our plan and decided we'd update as necessary, hopefully 20-30 years down the road since we're in our 40s now -- ramp from garage to mudroom in place of stairs, ramp from veranda to lower level/beach, raised side by side w/d in master closet instead of stacked, handicap tub with door in master bath, removing walls around toilet in master bath, adding a door from bedroom #2 to kitchen should the need arise.

In bedroom #2, we're omitting the closet and will have a moveable wardrobe to allow more flexibility.

We had larger showers in our last house, but in trying to downsize, we had to get real about needing to cut space from many places. I know ... I want a smaller house yet want ALL the spaces to be roomy. :)

We measured showers that were smaller than ours yet still felt comfortable and used those dimensions. Ditto for the toilet room. My shower and tub area will resemble the one shown in the link.

If anyone has a better layout suggestion for our master bath **using the current footprint**, please let me know.

In kitchen we'll have 4' between cabinets and island. How much space do all of you allow?

How would you optimize mudroom closet space and pantry access? I wanted to have pantry door closer to island, but with a few drawing revisions couldn't make it work. Maybe I'll benefit from a fresh pair of eyes.

Full 9x11 laundry room is on lower level that we won't be accessing much ... and probably not at all in later years. Let our kids, grandkids and guests do their own laundry I say! We'll stick to our small set up in our closet.

The stairs go down to lower level and up to unfinished bonus area, so I don't see where the unused space is. What am I missing?

Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful:

This post was edited by jujubean71 on Tue, Oct 8, 13 at 15:50

Our kitchen and dining will look something like this. I can't believe there'd be more than 4' between wall cabinets and island.

Here is a link that might be useful:

This post was edited by jujubean71 on Tue, Oct 8, 13 at 15:48

I don't think the showers need to be larger for a sense of luxury, but they may need to be larger or better positioned within the space for access.

It would be difficult to assist anyone in the shower in the master bath because of the entry toward the back corner, and you don't actually have a bathtub that it would be easy to bathe someone on the first floor at all.

This isn't necessarily things that you may only need to do when you are nursing home age either. My mother broke her leg when she was in her early 60s, my sister was in a nearly fatal car accident when she was in her early 50s. Both of them were at points where they no longer needed to be hospitalized or in a rehabilitation hospital but needed to be taken care of at home and it was Very difficult in a house with typical bathrooms in each case.

I actually considered using curtains like these for the shower but not so hospital-y looking.

Can you show me a tub example that's more accessible that's not the handicap door type? I can't picture it.

Actually a conventional three wall alcove tub is the most accessible because it tends to have a low rim, and can accommodate a seat (some have seats designed to fit) and can have wall mounted grab bars mounted to the side and back of the tub. It's not as glamorous as a large free standing tub, but it's the most practical from a user standpoint .

That type of shower, particularly if it can be designed without the ledge as shown, is very accessible.

The tubs with the doors, I don't understand. The door can't be opened unless it is fully drained, so the occupant is left seated in cooling water until the tub is empty. I also read a story where someone couldn't get it to drain and was found sitting in cold water suffering from hypothermia some hours later.

Juju, that's a lovely shower -- the one with the dark wood and white tub, but tell me that's not a step-up to the tub and shower. Tell me that's just the white against the dark. Since you're looking at aging in place, you certainly don't need a step in what's already the most slippy room in the house.

I love the contrast of the large white tile and the small mosaic tile above.

I also love the idea of a walk-right-in-shower.
I'm going with a moveable stool rather than a built-in stool because I think it's more versatile. With the bench in the picture, you could sit on the bench and use the shower head with your left hand . . . but if you have a moveable stool, you can use it with either hand, or another person can stand behind you and wash your hair with the hand-held shower head. Or you can put a small child on the stool to wash his or her hair.

Another thing I'm planning for my shower: A Tornado body dryer. It's intended for handicapped people, but I think am certain it would've been useful to my grandmother. It goes in the shower itself, and it's like a giant hair dryer . . . but it's for your body. It eliminates the need for toweling dry, though I do suspect you'd still need a towel for your hair. I've not heard any feedback about this product on this site, but I sure would love to do so.

One last thought: I've read that bathing is the first thing that becomes really difficult for elderly people (and needing help = a big loss of dignity), so I think the bathroom is a very worthwhile place to put your effort and your money.

Mrs Pete, no there's no step into the shower. I'm going with a moveable teak stool also. I really love the whole look. The tornado dryer sounds wonderful.