Can Safety Be Sexy?

Our vision behind AFriendlyHouse.com has been to change the conversation of safe design from its traditional focus on homes built specifically for the disabled or the aged, or on ADA-compliant institutions, to include beautiful spaces that are safe and healthy for all of us. Spoiler alert: We are all aging and we all have our challenges, be it height, dexterity, vision, mobility. So, don’t we all deserve design that enables safety and ease of use? And who says good, safe design can’t be sexy? What isn’t sexy about moving seamlessly through your kitchen, your bath, your home and your community?  (As can be done in this open floor plan, pictured below.)

Longtime journalist and sometime interior designer Lynette Evans founded AFriendlyHouse.com after retiring as the Home & Garden editor for The San Francisco Chronicle. Prior to that stint she had practiced interior design, specializing in kitchens and baths, and was responsible for the fully accessible interiors of her parents’ last home — a stunning 5,100 sf home overlooking Puget Sound, which is featured on the website.   You can also take a virtual tour here.   Rather than simply writing a book on the subject of universal design and aging in place, she decided that a website devoted to the subject of beautiful, universally designed homes would be of more value to both professionals and the public.