House For Sale

You guys, I can't believe I am writing this post, but here goes..

We are selling our beautiful home!

Andrew and I designed and custom built this house just five years ago, and it was the perfect home for the three of us. We have made so many wonderful memories here. We have worked here, and played here, and hosted friends and family here. While we built this home to be accessible and functional for Brennen's needs, ultimately we wanted our home to be a place where everyone felt safe and loved and where we could spend our days creating beautiful, exhausting, and real life moments that we would treasure for a lifetime - and we have certainly accomplished that.

Shortly after we moved in, our house was featured on Houzz.com (see HERE).

We are still so in love with this house, but the reality for us right now is that we need more space.

We had not ever planned on expanding our family to include two more children (and all of the 'stuff' that comes with them!), but as we well know, life doesn't always go as planned! Opening our home (and our hearts) to our foster babies has changed our lives in the best way possible. We have a busy house, full of so much love and every day is a new adventure. We are loving our life and we wouldn't change a thing, but we need another bedroom, and could really just use some extra space!

Andrew and I want our children to feel a strong sense of 'home', of belonging to this family and being loved by us. We have already begun building our 'Ultimate Dream Home version 2.0' and we are super excited about that! I will try to bring you along for the ride as we work on our new home, but there is so much to do and my brain is still catching up to all that is happening.

It is a bitter-sweet feeling, because we really do love our home here.

We love the open concept. It was important for me to be able to see Brennen at all times from wherever I was, but it has proven to be super functional and practical for many other reasons. The truth is that an accessible or universally-designed home will accommodate everyone and has many conveniences that we hadn't even thought of.

From Universal Design NL:
"Everyone will benefit greatly from a home with universal design features, as it makes life more comfortable and enables ease of access and movement throughout everyday tasks. A home that is constructed with universal design will also be a safer and more welcoming home, easily accommodating your family members and visitors of all ages and abilities. As you grow and age, your housing needs will also change. Planning for these changing needs and abilities helps you better customize your home’s features and can also reduce the need for costly future renovations.
Homebuyers who invest in a universally-designed home will benefit from an open, modern design that will be immensely useful to them in all stages of their lives – from parenthood when frequent in-and-out stroller use and active kids are in play, right through to retirement when mobility issues may become a reality. Consider how everyday scenarios will be much easier with universal design – you’ll have a safer home with the added convenience of layouts that allow easy clearance and access for movers, service personnel and equipment if ever you should need them. Finally, universal design can also make your property more valuable and appealing when re-selling."

The hallways are wide (4 feet), and all doors are 36". The garage is built up to be level with the floor, creating a "no step", level entry into the home. There is a ramp from the driveway to the backyard, which leads to an above ground, walk-out basement and beautifully landscaped yard.

We had a bathroom connect to Brennen's bedroom with a pocket door, and the bathtub was raised to make bathing him so much easier. This tub has certainly saved my back on many occasions!

The playroom gets tons of natural light and has provided countless hours of fun for our little ones. We are so proud of this space, and will certainly miss it when we go.

And this room (the nursery) has to be my favourite. I just love the feeling I get when I'm in this room, knowing that we are providing a safe and loving home to these precious little ones. I get emotional just thinking about it. It's the personal details and the love that goes into making each room as cozy as can be, that really creates the feeling of "home" and brings us so much joy.

I can't even believe that we are selling this house, but it has served us well and now it is time to move on. This little family of mine is everything, and home is wherever we are together!

Want to buy my house?! You can see the MLS listing HERE.

If you are interested in a private viewing, contact Erica at 709-330-0575.

Universal Design - Building for Everyone

The Independent Living Resource Centre recently hosted an information session on Universal Design.

Betty Dion, of Betty Dion Enterprises Limited was in town to share her 35 years of experience and expertise in universal and accessible design. She presented on the principles of universal design and how they can be incorporated into the built environment. "Incorporating universal design and accessibility is integral to good design as it ensures the usability of the built environment for all people, including persons with disabilities."

Dion has authored a book investigating how to create more accessible built environments for people with disabilities and older persons around the world. International Best Practices for Universal Design: A Global Review compares international codes and practices from 16 international jurisdictions, in order to determine the "best practice" for common accessibility issues. Some issues covered in the book include: doorways, ramps, washrooms, turning radius, communications, and the use of colour and texture in way-finding cues. 

At the Bally Haly Country Club in St. John's this week, Dion addressed a group of over 100 attendees, including politicians, architects, engineers, health care professionals, and members of local disability-related organizations.

The number of people worldwide living with at least one disability is exponentially increasing, and something needs to be done on a large scale to accommodate this growing number of individuals. In order to make an inclusive society a reality, it is necessary to identify and remove barriers to access. Universal Design and Inclusive Design provide guiding principles that consider the needs of everyone and seek to create an environment that is usable by the greatest number of people, regardless of ability.

The seven principles of Universal Design are:
1. Equitable Use: The design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities.
2. Flexibility in Use: The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities.
3. Simple and Intuitive Use: Use of the design is easy to understand, regardless of the user's experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level.
4. Perceptible Information: The design communicates necessary information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions or the user's sensory abilities.
5. Tolerance for Error: The design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions.
6. Low Physical Effort: The design can be used efficiently and comfortably with minimum fatigue.
7. Size and Space for Approach and Use: Appropriate size and space is provided for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless of user's body size, posture, or mobility.

A barrier-free environment is one that benefits everyone, not only people with recognized disabilities. Making buildings and other public spaces accessible to people with disabilities is about more than just building ramps. From bathrooms to classrooms, airports to workplaces, Universal Design takes into account the reality of these different environments and whether or not people with disabilities are fully able to benefit from them, as well as addressing any barriers that may be preventing full and equal access.

Betty Dion won the 'Accessibility by Design' Award for her work on the Ottawa McDonald-Cartier International Airport. After touring the airport, Dion had someone comment to her that they "didn't see anything for people with disabilities in there". That is exactly the point. Universal Design is not meant to be obvious or to single anybody out. It is meant to include all people, without segregation. Universal Design is just good design.

A couple of years ago, we built our beautiful new family home. We incorporated many elements of Universal Design when designing our home, and we created an accessible space that meets the needs of our family.

You can see our home featured on Houzz.com here -
My Houzz: Universal Design Helps an 8-Year-Old Feel at Home

For more information on Betty Dion and Betty Dion Enterprises Limited, visit www.bdel.ca