In the bathroom, storage near the toilet for "necessities" you might need.

Convenient home office for working at home if possible, and separate space for spreading out all the Medicare and medical paperwork. My parents like to do it at the kitchen table where they're close to the calendar, coffee, and Jeopardy. Yes, there's a desk in the kitchen, but it's for house-and-family related business. Medical becomes a whole other department.

A good sized safe or secure storeroom where valuables can be stored if you have to have caregivers in, or if you go to a seasonal vacation home.

Casement windows. They need only one hand and don't need much leverage. Also more secure than double-hung.

Lever style door handles, rather than door knobs?

Rounded corners on as many things as possible. No sharp corners on furniture, counter tops, island, etc. I personally, hate sharp corners on coffee tables.

Wider aisles between furniture...and flexible rooms that can change their purpose, as your interests change :)

I don't see it mentioned, but make sure all of your doorways are wide enough for easy navigation with a wheelchair. Bathrooms often have narrow doorways- in the one room you might want to access in a hurry!

I would consider a hand held shower head a must have for aging in place. While I was quite ill and hospitalized for three weeks last year, I was able to sit on a waterproof safety stool and shower with a hand held nozzle. It was also great for quick cleanups when I was too weak to take a full shower and wash my hair.

This post was edited by bird_lover6 on Mon, Oct 7, 13 at 16:56

36" doorways to all rooms, with halls proportionate to this.

Well, here's one I haven't seen before: "Wall-mounted glass holder (like the kind you use to keep a water glass near your toothbrush) by the toilet and the tub -- to hold reading glasses." That is genius. I could use one of those now-- in every room.

What I like about your list is that it addresses a wide variety of common potential issues. A lot of people seem to focus on the assumption that we will all end up in wheelchairs, which we won't. But those of us who live long enough will likely have some mobility issues, stiff joints, etc, at least at some point. Thanks for starting this, MrsPete

This is a great list. Especially helpful to a 41yo like me who's building her empty nester "forever house" if we can help it.

I do have trouble envisioning today's 30- or 40-somethings still living in their 4000+ sf two-island-kitchen different-room-for-each-meal garage-house McGablesauruses in 50 years!

I've known people to live into their 90s with little difficulty in old townhouses and ramblers, and other people have to move out of their "forever house" in their 60s or 70s because of location (to be closer to family or amenities), excessive square footage/acreage, or completely unforeseen reasons. With that in mind...

Choose location wisely: Live in or very close to town so you're near friends & family, good services (laundry, cleaning, health/fitness, restaurants, grocery delivery, emergency response, etc.), and not reliant on a car for everything.

Build modestly: Many of the ideas above are great and involve no extra expense. For all ages and all abilities, it is most important to design/build/furnish/maintain/clean to minimize risk of slipping and falling. But beyond that, try not to spend money building for every eventuality when you could instead hold onto your money and selectively adapt to fit your actual circumstances when you're older.

Good point- one of the main things that will allow us to age in place in our new home is the fact that it is small, energy efficient, and low maintenance. A small home is easier to keep clean, cheaper on utilities (and taxes!) and the use of low maintenance materials will pay off when I'm too old to climb ladders.

No over-the-range microwave/hood combos. Not only are they bad at venting, but dangerous to someone with unsteady hands trying to get something hot out of the MW (at face level!) I personally love my drawer MW and think a below-the-counter MW would be better for aging in place than one placed above the counter at upper cabinet level.

Induction cooktop - stays cool to the touch and only heats the pot. No worries about leaving a gas flame on or accidentally touching a hot burner.

Front load washer and dryer, raised up on pedestal bases to minimize bending.

Lower cabinets in kitchen with drawers - can view from above rather than bending and searching through fixed shelves, and one motion to open is easier than opening a door and then pulling out a rolling shelf.

Drawer dishwasher.

My grandparents were able to stay in their own home into their 90s, and I think the main things that made that possible were:
1) Luck (they avoided dementia and other seriously disabling health problems until the last 6 months-year of their lives).

2) Their home was one story-- no upstairs, no basement. If there had been an upstairs or a basement, they would have felt obligated to tend to things there, even if they didn't *need* the space, and that may have been a burden that led them to leave the house.

3) Their home was fairly small, so they were able to care for it in a way that made them proud, and kept it a safe place to live.

4) They had an attached "Florida room"-- basically a screen porch, that let them safely be outside even when my grandmother's balance interfered with her mobility. There was a small step down to get into this room, but they were able to add a ramp.

5) They were able to find a community that kept them socializing and gave them things to do. My grandfather was always handy, and so he spent a lot of time not only fixing up their house, but also helping out the widows on their street. They also had a group of friends they met at the pool every day, and they were able to walk there from their house (until my grandmother's balance went), so it was both social and exercise.

6) Low maintenance landscaping. My grandfather was very happy they built in a neighborhood that allowed people to use hardy grass -- I think it might be Burmuda grass? Anyhow, it is close to crabgrass, and not as pretty as some other varieties, but it was MUCH easier for them to keep it healthy in the Florida heat, compared to the grass some newer developments required. They still hired out some of the landscaping work, but because there wasn't tons to do, they could afford that, and managing the work never got to be too much.

7. They had hobby space, so they could each do what they loved and keep busy.

The design of their house would get ripped to shreds here, but it worked well for them for almost 20 years, and then resold quickly when they could no longer live there, in large part because they had always been able to maintain it.

Lots of good ideas here:

Lever handles -- yes, definitely. I would really prefer old-fashioned crystal doorknobs, but I see the point in going with the levers.

Medical paperwork -- I want to plan a place for sorting mail and bills, and it makes sense to me to include a spot for medical-related items in that same item.

Hand-held shower, yes please. I have one now, and although I'm perfectly healthy, it's so much easier to wash my hair. When I said "adjustable showerhead", I really meant hand-held, but you've pointed out to me that I should word that better on my list so as to avoid ambiguity.

I am not into the 36" door concept. They're more expensive, more difficult to open, and most of us won't end up in wheelchairs. Instead, I'm looking at 32", which aren't nearly as big . . . and IF a wheelchair becomes necessary, we can add swing-clear latches to get that extra few inches.

Actually, we have relatively few doors in our plan anyway. Just the bedroom, bathroom, closet, and laundry. The reach-in coat closet doesn't count for this topic.

I do agree with wide aisles.

Yeah, I think I invented the "toothbrush holder to hold reading glasses" idea. My husband and I have reading glasses . . . well, everywhere. I'm thinking that if I have a specific holder for them in specific places, we'll always be able to lay our hands on a pair, but they won't be knocking about on the kitchen table and the end tables.

No shiny hardwoods. Sounds good. Housekeeping isn't my greatest joy anyway.

I sooo agree with the idea of building modestly. We've lived frugally all our lives, and we're in a position to build pretty much whatever we want -- for cash -- and perhaps that's making me think through, "Do I want to spend money on this?" more than someone who's considering this or that extra item just a few more dollars on the mortgage. I'm very conscious of low-maintenance and cheap-to-keep ideas.

To give one example, I want to build a cozy living room that'll feel comfortable when it's just the two of us (the majority of the time), BUT to make it adaptable, we're backing it up to the entryway . . . which will not be divided with any type of casing and will share the same flooring, etc. If we have a large number of guests, we can bring dining room chairs into the entryway, and it'll accommodate more people.

I'm not sure what I want to do with my microwave. It's one of the biggest question marks in my kitchen plan.

As for one story, I'll buck the trend here: We plan to build everything WE NEED on the first floor, and we're planning an upstairs with two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small landing/sitting room. Our thoughts: In the future, if we need someone (one of our children or a paid caregiver) to move in with us, it'll be nice for that person to have his or her own space on an upper level, while we have what we need downstairs.

We're not looking at a Florida room, but we are going to have a large patio out back, and one of my absolute requirements is that it is a flat step-out -- no steps. We have that type of set-up now (though it's a porch, not a patio), and we love it. I know that my grandmother, once she was nervous about taking the steps down into the yard, could still enjoy the outdoors this way.

My husband already hates yard work of all types, so I know he's not going to do it when it becomes physically challenging for him. Likewise, I don't anticipate that I'll develop a great love of house cleaning late in life. This is one more reason to build modestly: If we spend all our resources on the house, it'll be harder to pay someone else to help with upkeep.

MrsPete, we are doing the same thing regarding making the first floor complete (with a tv/guest room that could become our bedroom plus the largest bathroom.) But as long as we can get up the stairs, we will have our bedroom there (and a smaller bathroom.) Similar logic as yours, though I tell my DH if he dares to die on me prematurely, I will install the cabana boy upstairs... In reality, if we are permanently unable to get upstairs, we are probably too feeble to live in this location anyway-- it's not exactly near medical care.

We had friends who lived in an old house with all bedrooms upstairs. When he got a debilitating illness in his thirties, they had to spend many thousands to put in one of those stair chair things, I forget what they're called. I realized then I'd never want a house without a first floor bedroom and bathroom, no matter my age.

I'm with you on the low maintenance aspect, too. "I don't anticipate that I'll develop a great love of housecleaning late in life." Well put!

Yeah, I've never heard anyone say, "Yeah, I want one of those ride up the stairs jobs."

And another for those building in middle age :) to age in place.

NO GLASS SHOWERS! Let's face it, the glass might be gorgeous, but you might not be at seventy. :) As Meryl Streep's character told her "ex" in "It's Complicated," gravity tends to pull everything downward!

Seriously, though, I truly appreciated the shower curtain in my hospital bathroom room when I had surgery last year. Although I needed help in and out, I could still sit behind the shower curtain and enjoy my privacy. My dignity did take a hit while my daughter was helping me.

This post was edited by bird_lover6 on Fri, Oct 11, 13 at 14:01

And another. A movable bench would provide a place to sit without taking up valuable space that might be needed later to maneuver a wheelchair.

This post was edited by bird_lover6 on Fri, Oct 11, 13 at 14:00

And another design that affords a bit of privacy without a curtain.

And one with glass

Already mentioned but high, easy to reach outlets and lots of them. Bending down to use a plug that is usually behind furniture is not easy for many. Consider than you may have extra things to plug in like, oxygen machines, cpap machines, electric scooters, life alert systems, etc.

For my 83 year old mom, outlets are a big issue. Except for the outlets in her backsplash she can't reach any of the other outlets so someone else always has to plug things in and out. I may need to set up a power strip on a table for her.

I have been collecting AIP ideas for a while and have quite a few. If this thread pokes up again I will list them, but for now, here are the more unusual ones and not necessarily all wheelchair adjustments:

1. Paint or stain the edge of your stair treads a different color to make it obvious where the step is
2. Closet hangers pull down for easier reach
3. Shallow sinks
4. Stove has controls on the front like a slide in does
5. Stove uses different colors to tell what is hot
6. Toilet close to bed
7. Rope lighting under cabinet in bathroom as night light
8. Smoke detectors have strobe lights
9. Hand rails extend beyond the top and bottom of stairs
10. Two interesting approaches to AIP are discussed in the article which I have linked to below.

TY everyone for sharing their ideas.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Best Last House