With advice on everything from creating multilevel countertops to installing grab bars in the bathroom, it explains how to make your beloved house safe, easy to navigate, and conducive to independent living, as you or your parents get older. Three sections help you plan for any necessary remodeling, present makeover examples for every room, and lay out projects with instructions.

A Real Simple Best Book of the Year A deeply moving story of an epic home renovation in the Pacific Northwest—from New York Times–bestselling author of The Scent Keeper In this mesmerizing memoir-in-essays, Erica Bauermeister renovates a trash-filled house in eccentric Port Townsend, Washington, and in the process takes readers on a journey to discover the ways our spaces subliminally affect us. A personal, accessible, and literary exploration of the psychology of architecture, as well as a loving tribute to the connections we forge with the homes we care for and live in, this book is designed for anyone who’s ever fallen head over heels for a house. It is also a story of a marriage, of family, and of the kind of roots that settle deep into your heart. Discover what happens when a house has its own lessons to teach in this moving and insightful memoir that ultimately shows us how to make our own homes (and lives) better. “ . . . for anyone who has wondered where home is and how to find it, fix it, love it, and leave it for later as well.” —Laurie Frankel, New York Times–bestselling author of This Is How It Always Is

Anyone who’s 50 or older should have this intelligently conceived, wonderfully illustrated, room-by-room guide. With advice on everything from creating multilevel countertops to installing grab bars in the bathroom, it explains how to make your beloved house safe, easy to navigate, and conducive to independent living, as you or your parents get older. Three sections help you plan for any necessary remodeling, present makeover examples for every room, and lay out projects with instructions. Some of the alterations are do-it-yourself; others may require a professional. More complicated tasks receive especially detailed discussions that clarify exactly what the job entails, how long it should take, and what it typically costs.

Selwyn Goldsmith's Designing for the Disabled has, since it was first published in 1963, been a bible for practising architects around the world. Now, as a new book with a radical new vision, comes his Designing for the Disabled: The New Paradigm. Goldsmith's new paradigm is based on the concept of architectural disability. As a version of the social model of disability, it is not exclusively the property of physically disabled people. Others who are afflicted by it include women, since men customarily get proportionately four times as many amenities in public toilets as women - and women have to queue where men do not - and those with infants in pushchairs, because normal WC facilities are invariably too small to get a pushchair and infant into. To counter architectural disability, Goldsmith's line is that the axiom for legislation action has to be 'access for everyone' - it should not just be 'access for the disabled', as it presently is with the Part M building regulation and relevant provisions of the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act. In a 40-page annex to his book he sets out the terms that a new-style Part M regulation and its Approved Document might take, one that would cover alterations to existing buildings as well as new buildings. But architects and building control officers need not, he says, wait for new a legislation to apply new practical procedures to meet the requirements of the current Part M regulation; they can, as he advises, act positively now. This is a book which will oblige architects to rethink the methodology of designing for the disabled. It is a book that no practising architect, building control officer, local planning officer or access officer can afford to be without.

"The idea of the accessible home has evolved beyond grab-bars and ramps to one where accessibility is built into the design, making living in the house easier both for people with disabilities and those without disabilities, young and old"--

Occupational therapists require skills to access the daily living skills of their clients. This book uses a transactional approach to examine the home environment and the client. Current and future needs are assessed and this book addresses concerns and suggests solutions which will assist in helping the client remain in their own home.

Rick Peters presents six themed ways to transform the garage into a comfortable, effective, and efficient space: enclosing a carport; making a mechanics dream work area; adding a woodworking shop; creating a craft room; putting in storage (and more storage); and building a family room.

Essential for homeowners who want to give their homes an updated look, "Easy Home Makeovers" provides all the information and inspiration needed to give them style, warmth, and comfort.

Buy fewer (and better) things. Store like with like. Get rid of the plastic. Display—don’t stash—your belongings. Let go of your inner perfectionist and remember that rooms are for living. These are a few of the central principles behind Remodelista: The Organized Home, the new book from the team behind the inspirational design site Remodelista.com. Whether you’re a minimalist or someone who takes pleasure in her collections, we all yearn for an unencumbered life in a home that makes us happy. This compact tome shows us how, with more than 100 simple and stylish tips, each clearly presented and accompanied by full-color photographs that are sure to inspire. Readers will learn strategies for conquering their homes’ problem zones (from the medicine cabinet to the bedroom closet) and organizing tricks and tools that can be deployed in every room (embrace trays; hunt for unused spaces overhead; decant everything). Interviews with experts, ranging from kindergarten teachers to hoteliers, offer even more ingenious ideas to steal. It all adds up to the ultimate home organizing manual.