Night lights in the bedroom, hall, bathroom and stairway reduces the threat from red to orange – but I quickly learned from my clients, house design opportunities can reduce this threat even further. Light plays a significant role in the perception of safety by allowing us to see the coast is clear.

Today lighting has brought the opportunity of programming and greater spread and even distribution of light at a reduced cost. Programmed scenes such as day and night with dimming features allow better placement of light. For example, up lighting the entire ceiling in a child’s bedroom evenly cast light into the entire room at the same level as a night light in the corner, thus the boogie man has nowhere to pull off a sneak attack.

With a little planning, everyone can sleep better at night knowing evildoers don’t stand a chance!

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Sinks, toilets, bathtubs, and countertops are all designed for people who pay the mortgage/rent and not the other members of the family who are along for the ride. I find it ironic that with children not being an entirely new concept, many of the elements haven’t evolved to include the little one.

Consider for a moment – built in steps or other altering devices for fixtures placed into the design of our homes. The small step my kids used was helpful, but the instability of it lead to our share of boo boo’s. With a little forward thinking and the cleverness of manufacturers – I am confident some economical alternatives can be brought into our homes.

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Lifestyle Improvement would have us consider, for an example, a built in restaurant style booth. It brings people physically closer together while providing ample space for food. Another resolve is island seating in the middle of the kitchen. Today custom kitchen design has unlimited possibilities that resolves not only functional requirements, but prevents war breaking out on game night!

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Too many times I have witnessed people heading down the aisle with luggage never designed for the overhead. This may seem logical to some, but one thing we are all guilty of is the consideration of where to stow these pieces in our home. With everything to consider in the process of design, this is often overlooked.

Walk-in closet design provides an opportunity to place these items in a very logical place. For those of us who travel often – this is a significant time saver in not just packing, but allowing an inventory of supplies to be better managed. Lifestyle Improvement can incorporate these items into any design while providing smoother transitions  between periods of travel.

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This is not always as easy at is seems. All to often these are place on the ceiling, rooftops, attics and the list of difficult accessible places goes on. The reason is that no one wants to look at an ugly grill. Lifestyle Improvement places the location of these grills into the design. Placement oftentimes does the trick!

A grill on a door leading to the filter, placed on the wall in a utility room, etc. Once these filters are placed in a more accessible location, we might just incorporate the routine of changing filters into our schedules. The result will be a healthier environment and in many cases, allergies have been significantly reduced.

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Lifestyle Improvement is about selecting a faucet that accomplishes its intended purpose. A general rule I tell my clients is a faucet should be placed so as the water spills out, it hits the center of the bowl. Ergonomics are not just for the physically challenged, so controls should be easy to use for all of us. Economics are important but as I cruise the big box hardware stores the vast majority of faucets today don’t even allow fair opportunity for a passing grade during inspection.

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The point is there is a disconnect in how we represent our spirit of community. Over and over again we attempt to achieve someonelse’s notion of what our community represents. Consider for a moment the inspiration found within our own community. Effective leaders, natural landmarks, historical events, or even a design that inspires all.

Here is an example: one developer held an art competition to place art pieces in the common areas of the subdivision with first place to be located at the entrance into the subdivision. The result was a community embracing the idea and directions including the name and description of the art pieces.

Lifestyle Improvement incorporates the spirit that comes from what makes our community unique, not just an attempt at duplication of what another community represents. The more we try to do this, the more we reduce what makes us a community unto ourselves.

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Logical as this seems, the madness didn’t end there. Heavy concentrations of salt are put down during threats of frozen precipitation, non-native species of plants are heavily utilized in all common areas, and incorporated into landscape packages provided by builders. Upon receiving the Covenants and Restrictions, there was a dedicated section on how to apply to the homeowners association for any landscaping additions one cares to make. It listed by species what would be allowed and the irony is that less than 10% of them are indigenous to the region.

Lifestyle Improvement is about environmental responsibility especially when the developer opted to include an environmental strategy. Perhaps if common sense combined with the requirements of each of the plants selected is applied, the yearly cycle of replacing dead and dying areas could be eliminated. As an expanded thought – perhaps leaving as much of the natural surrounding in place and enhancing it with native species would require less human involvement.

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Every time I need to turn a circuit off, my oldest son stands at the top of the stairs in the basement and yells down to me when the lights come on or off based on the situation. Labeling is an obvious choice, but often these circuits are organized based on economy, rather than common sense.

When I work with an electrical engineer during the design process and electricians in the field, we work together to resolve these issues, marking things clearly and walking home owners through some basic steps to resolve most issues. Many of the fears we have can be minimized with a little education and our lifestyles can be restored as quickly as possible.

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I ask all of my clients if they have a disaster kit in their home. With our climate providing storms in all portions of the world, combined with power outages and other forms that interrupt our daily way of life, it only makes sense to take some precautions. Water bottles, canned food, flashlights, matches, weather and information radio, etc. Added benefits included an electrical generator, and the incorporation of a storm shelter.

Lifestyle Improvement involves planning for situations that impact our daily life. It only takes once to understand the value of even the most basic supplies. At times it is a matter of surviving rescue, not just the act of rebuilding, that one should consider.

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