STILL Adapting Our Home

I've learned to be much more patient about makovers and changes in our home. When I talked about "Adapting Our Home" back in February, I knew it would be a slow process. One we actually started in November. 

This was our first project. Converting the dining room into my husband's new office. All we need now is some different lighting. We have a temporary café table set up that can stay until I need to use my chair in the house. It is a space that works well for us. We both enjoy the coffee bar and the mini fridge is much easier for me to get things out of then our hard to reach big fridge in the tiny kitchen.

We just need to replace this chandelier with more appropriate lighting.

We keep trying to have a yard sale, but the weather has been against us. Our new projected date is April 1st. We have a garage full of items that will help us buy what we need for our new livingroom.

We need to do this in stages due to finances. It also reduces the stress of change for my man. He makes me go slow and consider things more and I goose him into action. It works out well.

Right now we have a dominating entertainment center. 
We will trade it in for a large flat screen TV on this wall.

What I'm most looking forward to is getting our couch out of the path of my wheelchair and away from our front door. But with the entertainment center gone, we could have room for a glorious "L" shaped couch... like this one I saw at Costco. Drool! Drool!

Max will never leave this couch again once he has a spot in front of the window.

I promised my husband he could have a lovely lit, corner bar in a recessed spot by the couch.

We used to have hundreds of DVD's in here. But who needs DVD's anymore?

I want a similar lit cabinet and some stands for my precious house plants.

It will look lovely and echo the bar.

The purging will continue right up to the yard sale. It will be a challenge to get rid of our couch, entertainment center and other huge items when the time comes. I'm thinking of using Facebook for that part. I really wish I could just wave a wand and have it all perfect. 

Adapting our home

This is a big topic. It's also one that every disabled person I know struggles with. How to make your home work with you rather than against you.

Come to think of it, this isn't just a problem disabled people have. Anyone with a new baby, new partner, new hobby or hell! Just a life change has this issue. Our homes are living things. They need to constantly change to work better for our needs. I know my home now looks nothing like it did when my son was young and in school. Our needs were completely different then.

I've personally always loved changing my house to fit me. My husband on the other hand doesn't just dislike it... he HATES it. Though he does almost always enjoy the results. His reluctance and my chronic impulsiveness have a beautiful way of meeting in the middle to create our unique, well loved home.

Smartly when we had our floors replaced the last time we went with a hardwood without threshold molding between rooms. Just smooth easy rolling. This was before I was even disabled. I just liked the look. I love it when things work out that way.

Unfortunately our home was built in 1957 and you can tell. The bathroom is a closet and the doorways into each room are miniscule. Our home is what my mom calls is "Not disabled friendly at all!" But we're working on that.

During 2021 we had a beautiful stone ramp put in the front of our house. It even has it's own light. We made the front of our house disabled friendly and beautiful. Sadly, it also cost a butt ton of money. As does any remodel. Currently we're doing another one on the cheap.

This time we're changing our dining room and living room. I'm planning for a future when I may no longer be able to walk through our house and might need to use my chair. It also works out that my husband has a bigger office space, given he still works from home almost all the time.

So phase 1 in this new project was to move my husband's tiny office out of the living room and into our old dining room. This would allow him to purchase an electric standing desk and have about double the amount of space he had before.

After that we had some shelving professionally installed. This became the future "disabled kitchen" where I could keep everything I need to help myself. My protein bars, some fruit, a coffee bar, mini fridge with my vitamin drinks, my cups with lids. All that kind of thing. For now it's a bit of a hybrid. But we can easily change what's on the shelves if need be. It also cleared up some counter space in our tiny galley kitchen.

That was Phase 1 and it's pretty much done. Phase 2 will be to re-arrange our livingroom to make it easier to get my chair in and out of the front door. Also I can use my chair in the livingroom if I want with the new arrangement.

All of this has caused a big purge for us. That's not a bad thing. We're making space for the things we love and need and letting go of possessions that no longer serve us. Something my husband finds more difficult than I do, but he's been a champion.

I'm excited to make our home work better for us. And for our family and company! 

Life in 2020

My mother posed a question the other day. Only she didn't realize it was a question. She shared with me a collage that she made which stated "How we live now." Her statement of "How we live now" struck me and I asked myself "How am I living now? How has my life changed? How did the global distress of 2020 mold my life?" The answer came to me quickly. My creativity has blossomed. 

My mantra for 2020

graphic courtesy of my creative Mama

Here is a small sampling of how 2020 has encouraged my creativity to stretch and grow.

The pandemic hit California.

Each day all of us grows in our creativity. I love exploring new ways to create with my husband and mother. Artwork is always better when shared.