Disclaimer- I am not an Engineer, Architect or trained designer of anything. This series of Blog posts is intended solely for informational purposes, not educational.
First off, my apologies. I haven’t posted as I promised I would, which was once a week. Things have been rather busy around here, with baby showers,out of town visitors and our grandson coming to stay for a while. This one will be short, but sort of on-topic.
As I said, our grandson is here for a visit. Having him here reminded me about how accessible to all ages and all stages really does apply. He is 3 now and there isn’t much in the house that gets in his way, which can be a good thing, or a bad thing. For example, he doesn’t need help to turn on the light when he needs to use the restroom after dark or in the middle of the sunniest day we’ve had, ironically enough. He also doesn’t see the point in turning off the lights when he leaves the room either. On the upside, it’s not hard to find him when he takes off, just follow the trail of lights. There are many such examples, and I know I’ve mentioned a few of them before but I believe they are very important.
Lever door handles are awesome. They are so easy to use by everyone, abled, disabled, and at any age. The older you get, the harder grabbing and twisting a door handle is even without arthritis. The younger you are, well…. It can be great, but it can also be a trial. There are not many good ways to childproof a lever handle. The only option I found was effective, but it required extra sticky pads that left marks on the door that I am still unable to remove. If I had thought about that part of it prior to building, I would have taken an extra step during the build to solve it. You can get the simple slide locks and install them at the very top. Like these:
Slide lock. That site is pretty pricy, but I’m in a hurry today because his naps only last so long. On important doors, such as garage or stairwell, these make a nice solid lock that they will be unable to open. Downside, they can only be used from one side of the door. So if you forget to undo it, well, you get the drift.
Lowered Microwaves are another great idea. It makes my life a lot easier. However, it also means he can reach it. This is not the one we used, but it is very similar. Microwave Door Lock These lock the doors for microwaves, ovens, freezers, washing machines, dryers, etc. but NOT the keypads or dials that operate them. So while he may not be able to stick their favorite toy inside, but unless the appliance comes with a keypad lock they can still turn it on/off and make adjustments. The downside, again, is the extra sticky goo it leaves behind; and if you only need them for occasional visits from grandchildren, they don’t do well with taking them off and replacing them. It’s pretty much an install and stay. Lucky for us, our grandson is a very good child and listens well, so we haven’t had a lot of issues with it. When you shop around for appliances, check for ones with keypad lockouts. Some of the smart ovens even have them so that the keypad lock also locks the door. Worth the few minutes it takes to find out!
That’s about all the time I have today, he should be waking up anytime now. I will try to keep finding neat ideas to post to the ‘Life or Something Like It’ Facebook page, if you find something, feel free to send me a link or post it yourself.
Thanks for reading!
TH
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