Introducing the 60 Second Solutions series by Sandy Hubbard
60 SECOND SOLUTIONS are short posts on smart designs that make your home or business more accessible to people of many ages and abilities. With thoughtful design, you can remove unnecessary barriers and allow people to move through our world with dignity and independence.
Our team of design innovators was called in when an older woman had fallen in her own home and broken both arms. She was now home from the hospital, and her niece wanted us to list the ways to make her home safe.
We interviewed the woman and her niece and then did a walk through of the house.
We noticed many small adaptations the woman had made to her home over the years, and many seemed to work just fine for her.
The niece was amazed as she saw me moving through the home.
“You are grabbing all the same things my aunt uses to stabilize herself. It’s kind of eerie!” she said. 
Actually it is quite common to see people rely on unstable or decorative items for balance. Usually the item is something that helps them go around corners or navigate changes in elevation. For example, the client may grab a bookshelf, a doorknob, or a piece of door trim to gain stability.
In this case, it was clear that a metal baking rack with removable shelves and hanging pots was being used as a dangerous handhold to help her over a tall threshold.
Rather than install industrial grab bars or “ugly” devices in that corner, we proposed two solutions:
1. Remove the threshold, take up the carpeting in the hallway, and put continuous flooring from the kitchen into the hall and bathroom.
2. Move the baking rack out of her walking path, and create stable handholds that she could wrap her fingers around.
These tap lights available in LED Sensory Lighting at the Demand Design store work use LED lights, cost under $10, require no professional installation, and get up to 100 hours of life on batteries. Shown here underneath kitchen cabinets- they can also be used in closets or anywhere in the house, and only require a finger to turn on and off.
The niece liked those solutions.
- The client chose very pretty, lightly-textured vinyl flooring with a pattern that would not make her dizzy yet would help her discern distance by perceiving the floor pattern. The flooring design was simple enough that she would be able to see if objects were on the floor. The flooring was a high-end product that would be durable and stand up to canes and walkers, if those became necessary. It was professionally installed so there would be no lumps or bumps as a tripping hazard. The color and design of the flooring accented her lovely wooden countertops.
- We designed a beautiful end cap to her counter that actually was a disguised grab bar. It was anchored to the wall and bolted to a reinforced area in the base cabinets. It matched the wooden counter, and she could wrap her hand around it.
- We added a soft undercabinet light in the upper cabinets for better visibility as she transitioned from the kitchen to the hall.
- We added a wall sconce in the hallway to make the lighting more even, instead of having dark and light areas or shadows caused by the client’s own body.
By making the flooring and the grab bar at the end of the counter so pretty, the client was encouraged to relocate the pet food and water bowls out of the traffic zone, which previously she did not want to do.
We also made other changes to her home, but the client’s niece said the counter endcap was the one adaptation that made the most difference in her aunt’s confidence in moving around her kitchen and into the hallway.
By creating something both beautiful and functional, the client was more open to other creative ideas. She was also less likely to revert to bad habits in navigating around her home.