Naperville family renovates rooms for whole-house accessibility
“Home” is supposed to be the place where we are most at ease. It should be the place where we are most comfortable in our own skins, where we can relax, be ourselves and take care of our basic needs.
But for people with physical disabilities, that is not always the case because most homes are not equipped to meet their needs — when showering, cooking or just moving from room to room.
In 2000, Marianne and Patrick Murphy of Naperville built their home with their son, Chris, in mind. It has wide hallways and hardwood floors to accommodate his wheelchair and an elevator to allow him to move between floors. But the kitchen and bathrooms remained an issue for Chris.
So they recently hired interior designer Joan Kaufman of Interior Planning and Design in Naperville to update those areas and accommodate the needs of Chris, who is now 26. The goals were to make the rooms ADA-compliant, as well as functional and stylish.
“In addition to wanting to update the home after raising four boys here, we wanted to make it more accessible for Chris,” Patrick says. “He was young when we built the house so there were things that we missed.”
“I really like the changes they made,” Chris says. “The stove is now lower so that I can cook and pull up closer to it in my wheelchair. In addition, it is much easier now to get into the shower.”
The project took about four months to complete but all three agree it was worth the wait.
Kaufman does both residential and commercial design work and had some experience working on a pro-bono basis with disabled veterans through the group Rebuilding Together Aurora, so this was not her first foray into ADA accessibility at home.
“It is really great to be part of a project that allows someone to better live their life,” she says.
At the Murphy home, Kaufman designed a roll-in shower with a zero-threshold that includes a bench and handheld shower head for the first floor bath which previously had no shower.
The old vanity was replaced with a custom vanity with a removable front panel that makes it wheelchair-accessible. In addition, automatic lighting with sensors illuminate the room as Chris enters and turns off as he leaves.
In the second floor bathroom, a bathtub was removed and replaced with a zero-threshold roll-in shower. The laundry chute was also lowered, with the extra space used to insert a storage closet for linens and towels. The new vanity is ADA-accessible and also features a removable panel. Like the first-floor bath, the room has instant-on lighting.
All the new surfaces in both bathrooms are highly durable, waterproof and easily maintained.
The kitchen, on the other hand, received an entirely new floor plan. The original gas range was replaced with an electric induction cooktop that has no open gas flame to catch Chris' clothing on fire.
The refrigerator was relocated and in its place is a new double oven with the bottom oven installed at a height Chris can easily access. The newly installed cabinets also have an extra-high toe-kick to allow for wheelchair clearance and the new arched island countertop features a food preparation station that is accessible for the entire family.
Beauty was also an important consideration, so lots of attention was given to tile choice and the colors of walls, cabinets and countertops.
In addition, a new buffet serving area was created to utilize unused space. Wing walls were built there to provide an alcove for built-in custom cabinets. This niche connects the new serving area to the kitchen and offers an ideal space for entertaining. There is also storage space for table linens, dishes and serving accessories.
“We really transformed the space with both beauty and accessibility in mind,” Kaufman says. “The goal was to design a kitchen where the beauty was not at all diminished by its accessibility. Form and function needed to go hand-in-hand.”