The Renner Companies

Embarking on a remodeling project is an exciting and creative process. When considering your remodel, take time to imagine, brainstorm, and plan. Design ideas can be found in lifestyle magazines, online, and from experienced professional remodelers. While researching ideas for your remodel, feel free to ask the Renner Company about some of the most popular room requests they receive from their customers.

In the last two articles we gave a brief overview of what Universal Design and Aging in Place issues are all about as well as the differences between the two.

In Part One of this series, we gave you a very brief idea of what Universal Design and Aging in Place is all about. We would like to expand upon that in this installment. The term Universal Design (UD) has a fairly broad scope. Aging in Place really is a portion of UD. The definition of Universal Design is; “The design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design”. The intent is that anyone … tall, short, young, old, obese, blind, deaf, partially impaired, severely impaired, mentally challenged, etc., can use the space or product without any special adaptation or special knowledge and so that in the future, no matter which of those categories someone fits into, the house will be suitable without major modifications. Flexibility of use is the main idea.

Three doors down from their current home, John and Jane Doe are building a new house they hope will be their last. The one they live in now has many stairs and an elevated living room that already pose problems for many friends and visitors. The Does aren’t ready to retire, but down the road, they don’t want to be forced out the door due to accessibility issues.