Designing Homes for All Ages: Tips from Award-Winning Designer Wendy Glaister

Wendy: 00:00:41

It's around the house families, middle 30s, probably into tech and so close to the Bay area, obviously.

Wendy: 00:00:49

But we're designing the home so that it is run by circadian rhythm and it's all tunable light.

Wendy: 00:00:57

So meaning all of the shades, all of the interior lighting, I think even the coffee pot is all tuned to sunrise and sunsets and all of the zones through the house ebb and flow as it's supposed to in order for optimal sleep, optimal rest, less stressful environments so you don't come down in the morning and have this glaring light in your eyes.

Wendy: 00:01:24

It's the sunlight, but it's just tuned so that your body reacts in a positive way.

Eric: 00:01:33

When it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know, but we've got you covered.

Eric: 00:01:39

This is around the House.

Eric: 00:01:42

Welcome to the Round the House show.

Eric: 00:01:43

The next generation of home improvement.

Eric: 00:01:45

Thanks for joining us today.

Eric: 00:01:47

I'm Eric G.

Eric: 00:01:48

This episode is brought to you by my friends over at Monument Grills.

Eric: 00:01:50

If you're looking for a brand new barbecue or this fall and winter season for tailgating or whatever else, head over to monument.

Eric: 00:01:56

GRS.com we have an amazing subject with a great friend here today.

Eric: 00:02:02

Wendy Gler from Wendy Gler Interiors is back in the house.

Eric: 00:02:06

And today we're going to be talking about really, homes for all ages and what to look for no matter what age you are.

Eric: 00:02:13

Wendy, welcome back to around the House show.

Wendy: 00:02:15

Hi Eric, thank you so much for having me.

Eric: 00:02:18

It is always fun where you and I can dive down the rabbit hole of design and really how it affects everyone in a household or other people that you're planning to come into your household.

Wendy: 00:02:29

There is so much to talk about with homes and we can have an episode together every week for a year and not touch on everything.

Wendy: 00:02:37

So it's great to be back.

Wendy: 00:02:38

Thank you.

Eric: 00:02:39

Oh, it is so much fun.

Eric: 00:02:41

And what's funny is it seems to me in design, geez, when I started 30 years ago, we were really just jumping into Ada and really what that meant and oh, you could even use it in your house versus a hospital or a hotel.

Eric: 00:02:55

And then we got into accessible living and it's so fun to see how far this has progressed and quite frankly how it should be in every home.

Wendy: 00:03:04

It's, it's true, I think.

Wendy: 00:03:06

Well, I think now people are starting to take a longer range view of what their investment dollars will get them over time instead of just the quick hit sort of a thing.

Wendy: 00:03:17

How can this home serve me better?

Wendy: 00:03:19

And my Family better later.

Wendy: 00:03:22

So I know it used to feel very hospitally and there's probably a better word than that.

Eric: 00:03:26

Oh, but it paints the picture so beautifully, right?

Wendy: 00:03:29

Oh, yeah.

Wendy: 00:03:30

It was so sterile and it was so.

Wendy: 00:03:33

It made the change in your life circumstance, I think, feel more like a punishment.

Wendy: 00:03:39

And it didn't exactly encourage healing.

Wendy: 00:03:41

There's so much more research and data out now about how your surroundings impacts your healing and your lifestyle.

Wendy: 00:03:49

So having someone who's been injured or someone who's had life circumstance, that's changed the their mobility.

Wendy: 00:03:57

Live in a place that just feels hospitally, it's not going to help them do better.

Wendy: 00:04:03

It works against them.

Wendy: 00:04:04

And so it's really great to see our industry answer that and start to respond to the data and bring more to the marketplace.

Wendy: 00:04:13

That's not hospitally, that's cozy and warm and hospitable and more texture, more color, less hard reflective surfaces.

Wendy: 00:04:25

It's a really great change.

Eric: 00:04:27

Nobody wants their house to look like that last minute hotel.

Eric: 00:04:30

You grabbed at the Motel 6 and you got the ADA unit right.

Eric: 00:04:34

It's just never far and it doesn't look good.

Wendy: 00:04:37

Feels accessible.

Wendy: 00:04:39

Ruth's like, I feel like I'm in trouble.

Eric: 00:04:41

Yeah.

Wendy: 00:04:41

You get there late, your flight is delayed, you still call the hotel, please don't give my room away.

Wendy: 00:04:46

And they put you in an accessible room.

Wendy: 00:04:48

And it's just sad.

Wendy: 00:04:50

It's so sad.

Wendy: 00:04:51

You feel like you're.

Wendy: 00:04:52

This is your punishment for being late on everything.

Eric: 00:04:55

Exactly.

Eric: 00:04:56

And the worst thing is, as designers, we all know that this could be done so much better and no one would even know that it was if it was done correctly.

Eric: 00:05:04

And that's the cool part.

Wendy: 00:05:05

Yeah.

Wendy: 00:05:05

I spent actually quite a long time working on an accessible project for a friend of mine who was in design school with me 12 years ago.

Wendy: 00:05:13

And the year after we graduated, she and her mother were struck by a drunk driver.

Wendy: 00:05:18

She lost her mother.

Wendy: 00:05:20

She's been paralyzed from the chest down.

Wendy: 00:05:22

And so I worked with the state of California forever government bureaucracy to get her space to a point where she could move back home because she had to go down to LA and live with her brother and his family because her home didn't work for her.

Wendy: 00:05:37

So all the things I learned too, about how different injuries or different mobility ranges impact the design and the requirements that you have to have in place so that people use it and have some level of independence.

Wendy: 00:05:51

I had no idea how important educated in that way really is.

Wendy: 00:05:57

I think people make a lot of assumptions about what there's like oh, there's a grab bar.

Wendy: 00:06:02

It'll be fine.

Wendy: 00:06:03

Well, for some injuries, that's not really not true.

Wendy: 00:06:06

So it's just, it's good to dive into things where you learn more about how to better serve people.

Wendy: 00:06:14

And as designers, I know, I know you feel like this, Eric, like you, we're really stewards of our clients money and we're in a service industry to provide something that is really going to enhance someone's life.

Wendy: 00:06:27

So this is a nice way add to that little toolkit of special things we know about to help people, you.

Eric: 00:06:36

Know, and we're seeing, we've, we've really gone from single family households to multi generational living now.

Eric: 00:06:43

And I think some of that has to do with culture.

Eric: 00:06:45

I think some of it has to do with housing costs.

Eric: 00:06:48

And a lot, a lot of that has to do with the older folks, our elders coming into homes because no one can pay the 6, 7, 8, $10,000 a month to have them in an assisted living because no one knew at that point when they were younger that it was actually going to cost that much.

Wendy: 00:07:05

Well, also I don't think that people understand.

Wendy: 00:07:08

Like, like my son is 24, can hear him in the background.

Wendy: 00:07:12

He is 64 and he is so tall and he is really, really bright and he has everything going for him.

Wendy: 00:07:19

Injury or old age is not even, thank God, pray to God, protect him forever.

Wendy: 00:07:26

Not on his radar at all.

Wendy: 00:07:28

Right.

Wendy: 00:07:29

So I think a lot of people make choices financially too.

Wendy: 00:07:33

It takes people a while to realize, oh, these things that I'm doing, these choices that I'm making will impact me in the future.

Wendy: 00:07:40

And like I have a really sweet nurse and she was a nurse manager and we redid her entire master suite to accommodate her and her husband in her retirement years because their home is paid for.

Wendy: 00:07:53

And at the time when they bought the home, it was very chopped up.

Wendy: 00:07:56

It was a huge footprint for a master suite.

Wendy: 00:07:59

Huge.

Wendy: 00:08:00

Could have been three bedrooms.

Wendy: 00:08:02

But it allowed us the opportunity to expand the toileting area.

Wendy: 00:08:07

We put in a neorest from Toto because as a nurse manager she saw repeat coming to the hospital with UIs and all that and the data on clean toileting and how that impacts your health and gives you so much better health and many less trips to the hospital, widened all the hallways, did all of that because when she again, she bought the house, she was younger, she didn't think about it, but she knows now I want to stay as paid for.

Wendy: 00:08:33

These are the changes I need to make.

Wendy: 00:08:35

We had a great time doing it.

Wendy: 00:08:37

And you would never know.

Wendy: 00:08:39

It is so pretty and she's so cute and she's so happy with it.

Wendy: 00:08:43

But it will work for her forever, which is very important.

Eric: 00:08:48

That is so important.

Eric: 00:08:49

I remember when my parents, I grew up with three younger brothers and we had this big 70s home.

Eric: 00:08:55

Grew up with, with seven levels, 4,000 square feet.

Eric: 00:09:00

When my parents were getting up there a little more in the age getting into their 70s, we went, okay guys, we got to get you out of all these seven different staircases because this is going to be almost impossible for you guys to safely navigate.

Eric: 00:09:12

So we designed out a new home for them.

Eric: 00:09:14

Was really cool as a designer 15 years ago to be able to play with that and do so many things that no one ever noticed.

Eric: 00:09:20

The 36 inches wide doorways everywhere, no steps up to the front.

Eric: 00:09:25

The driveway was a little bit higher so it could meander a walkway up to the door of steps.

Eric: 00:09:32

And so many basic things you can do in design.

Eric: 00:09:36

Just example the Neorest.

Eric: 00:09:37

These are things that you would see in every other home out there.

Eric: 00:09:41

But it really gives people so much more freedom just in the basic design elements that you're sticking.

Wendy: 00:09:46

Agreed.

Wendy: 00:09:47

And it's not when.

Wendy: 00:09:49

Well, when you talk about home for all ages, it's a lot of.

Wendy: 00:09:52

It's the bathroom and our puritanical world in the United States, people are very uncomfortable to talk about it.

Wendy: 00:09:59

It's not, it's not just something you talk about every day, but it's hugely important to your health and there are a lot of things that all the different functions.

Wendy: 00:10:12

So for your listeners who don't know and Neorest or even like the.

Wendy: 00:10:16

But DC Toto makes this great line of products that help people with that the warm water help people who have trouble being clean.

Wendy: 00:10:26

Making sure you're dry after all of that's done, especially as you age, it's critical because the, the hard thing on older people too, other than the financial expense of going in and out of the home and those homes, those rest homes, they don't have good toileting situation.

Wendy: 00:10:44

They don't have people thinking on you.

Wendy: 00:10:46

There's horror stories coming out of there.

Wendy: 00:10:48

But it's.

Eric: 00:10:49

Oh, I've seen it's, it's, it's a, it's a bad situation at best in most places.

Eric: 00:10:56

And now it's.

Eric: 00:10:57

My mom was in one here a few years ago because she had to have some heart surgery.

Eric: 00:11:01

I wanted to get her into shape so she could be home and take care of herself.

Eric: 00:11:05

And once she was in there and it was during COVID it was all we could do to get her up to speed and get her out of there because had to be there to get so she could move around.

Eric: 00:11:14

But it was a dangerous situation.

Wendy: 00:11:16

Yeah.

Wendy: 00:11:17

And the back and forth to hospitals.

Wendy: 00:11:18

That's the thing.

Wendy: 00:11:19

I have another client whose mother was staying with her.

Wendy: 00:11:22

She had recurrent UTIs just and she was in and out and in and out and in and out.

Wendy: 00:11:27

And the stress that that puts on someone who's older, not being in their own environment, not being near their family, not having their little creature comforts and things is just super tough.

Wendy: 00:11:37

And then she put a neo rest that well the little toilet.

Wendy: 00:11:40

I'm not seeing it the right way.

Wendy: 00:11:42

There's a everyone who's listening to Eric today, there's this really cool toilet seat.

Wendy: 00:11:48

You just plug it into the wall, you attach it to your toilet and it's by Toto and it does all of the things that the neorest does.

Wendy: 00:11:54

So if you don't have a neorest you can do this.

Wendy: 00:11:56

But she installed that in her guest room and then her mom was fine, didn't have to go back to the hospital.

Wendy: 00:12:03

So it does make a big difference.

Wendy: 00:12:05

Just that alone does.

Eric: 00:12:07

And it doesn't matter if you're a 25 year old kid out there playing in sports, I'm going to say a kid because you're off doing the.

Eric: 00:12:14

You're up playing in a soccer league or something after work or whatever and you get yourself hurt.

Eric: 00:12:19

Any of these things are great for everybody.

Eric: 00:12:21

When people come over and use mine at my house that are completely scared of them, they've never seen them, never used them, they're freaked out by it.

Eric: 00:12:28

They walk out and go well that was pretty cool.

Eric: 00:12:31

And boy, I gotta have a heated toilet seat.

Eric: 00:12:34

I always look over to the guest bathroom, right.

Wendy: 00:12:36

The heated seat is so cute.

Wendy: 00:12:38

My mother in law who is very prim and proper who I love very much and loves a good martini but she used the our neorest in our guest bathroom and she came back out and she said when toilet seat is keep it.

Wendy: 00:12:53

I said I know, I know.

Wendy: 00:12:54

Diane, you can have one too if you would like.

Wendy: 00:12:57

Oh, I don't know.

Wendy: 00:12:58

You feel.

Wendy: 00:12:59

Yeah, it's very impressive for the mouth.

Eric: 00:13:01

Proper kind of like oh, that was cool.

Eric: 00:13:03

You know and it's so funny to watch people.

Eric: 00:13:06

The door for ours is right off of the entry kitchen, living room kind of area right there.

Eric: 00:13:12

And it's so fun when people go in there and they come out and they're like oh.

Eric: 00:13:16

And it's so hilarious to watch that whole experience with that.

Eric: 00:13:21

And every time it's a conversation piece and then, then all of a sudden there's like a line for the bathroom.

Eric: 00:13:25

And I think that people are just going in to explore.

Wendy: 00:13:27

It's like, yeah, the super bowl party ends up being a tour of the bathroom.

Eric: 00:13:32

So funny how that ends up that way.

Eric: 00:13:34

Announce the conversation piece.

Eric: 00:13:36

But I have to think.

Eric: 00:13:38

I have to think in the United States at least Covid and our toilet paper shortage of kind of kicking the conversation door open on that as seemed like we weren't really getting anywhere up to that.

Eric: 00:13:50

And then all of a sudden we caught up with Asia and Europe on being accepting of something outside of the stuff we've been doing for the last hundred years.

Wendy: 00:14:01

I think, well, Covid did shift all of us to a heightened awareness of wellness and what we have to do to stay healthy.

Wendy: 00:14:10

Realistically that I don't think any of us really, none of us were ever so sick that it shut the world down.

Wendy: 00:14:17

So it made a big difference.

Wendy: 00:14:19

I know I do a lot to try to stay healthy and well and in front of clients and not delay projects and not mess up someone's expectations.

Wendy: 00:14:27

But all those different little health and care rituals that you do stay well are certainly much more important than they were then.

Wendy: 00:14:38

In: 2019

Wendy: 00:14:40

It's a totally different world now.

Eric: 00:14:42

It's going to end up being healthier for everybody.

Eric: 00:14:44

We can all debate now how bad that was back then, but the outcome now is that we see that or at least more of, more aware of what the situation is out there for their own selves, what they can do to be healthier.

Eric: 00:14:56

And we start looking forward and planning ahead.

Eric: 00:14:59

A little bit of okay, now I'm 45 years old now.

Eric: 00:15:03

Boy, is mom going to have to come live with me in five years.

Eric: 00:15:06

What's the plan there?

Eric: 00:15:07

And so people I see are starting to really think that through.

Eric: 00:15:10

And now that we've got materials out there that can go into the kitchens, the baths, the bedrooms, the laundry room, all the places where the biggest dangers are for people with age or limited abilities, we've been able to really navigate that so much clearer and just create a beautiful home at the same time.

Wendy: 00:15:30

Sure.

Wendy: 00:15:31

And like I have a couple of friends who moved up to the Santa Rosa area because they the commuter into the city to San Francisco is so much faster from there than it is from the Central Valley.

Wendy: 00:15:44

And even if you're looking at purchasing a brand new home, if you know in advance to ask for blocking for grab bars in your showers, if to look for models with some widened doorways like you discussed.

Wendy: 00:16:00

It doesn't add that much to the overall expense of the new home, but it certainly adds to your ability to enjoy that home for the rest of your life.

Wendy: 00:16:09

And a little bit of forethought and a couple hundred dollars is certainly worth it.

Wendy: 00:16:14

Another thing, I think that when people are looking for a home and health and wellness is at the forefront and they're buying at any age of their life, I think orientation is also important, like where the property sits and how the sun passes over or past your home.

Wendy: 00:16:34

So like, because we all know now to regulate your circadian rhythms, you have to have exposure to sunlight in order not to get in a funk.

Wendy: 00:16:43

It's best to start your day with the eastern exposure, southern exposure, not north and west.

Wendy: 00:16:51

Because even though the north light's great for art studios, it's not great to like get you going in the, in the daytime.

Wendy: 00:16:58

So I think too that's something that people don't often think about is where's the sunshine, how much am I going to get in this house and how's that going to work?

Wendy: 00:17:08

But it sure does make a huge difference in your quality of life in that space.

Eric: 00:17:13

No, it really does.

Eric: 00:17:14

And I was just at home this last week for a TV episode coming up and it was this gorgeous waterfront on the Pacific Ocean.

Eric: 00:17:22

So it was on like 3 acres and every single room, laundry room, had an ocean.

Eric: 00:17:29

This tech had done such an amazing job of making the hallways on what was the front of the house and everything facing, well, as everything was facing west.

Eric: 00:17:41

But it was just this whole cool.

Eric: 00:17:44

I mean, you had a waterfront view of the waves crashing as you were hanging up your laundry in the laundry room.

Eric: 00:17:51

And it is so cool to see great architecture and a well planned house that fits that because as you said, really makes a difference when somebody thinks through those processes and creates a house that's going to work for everyone.

Wendy: 00:18:05

It's you don't know what you don't know.

Wendy: 00:18:07

And I learned that there's so many things I don't know.

Wendy: 00:18:10

And that's, I have an excellent way to be reminded of that every day in this profession.

Wendy: 00:18:16

But if we could just.

Wendy: 00:18:17

Because I know in the past we've talked about things we love for people to know when they're thinking about buying a home or renovating a home.

Wendy: 00:18:24

And I would say one of those things is definitely the orientation of your house, how much sunlight you can get and what the Windows are like, because it just, it's totally game changing your house.

Eric: 00:18:36

And the cool thing is, is even if you have tall windows up there, so many people go, oh, I don't want to control blinds.

Eric: 00:18:41

Today's technology, you can go out and get motorized blinds that you can have them run automatically.

Eric: 00:18:47

You can run it phone.

Eric: 00:18:48

I think technology is a great thing to add into a home like this because it gives you so much more freedom to control things you might not be able to reach or you don't want to even get out of bed to turn on or open up.

Wendy: 00:19:00

Well, it's funny that you bring that up and working on a project in Livermore right now, and it's say families middle 30s, probably into tech and so close to the Bay Area, obviously.

Wendy: 00:19:12

But we're designing the home so that it is run by circadian rhythm.

Wendy: 00:19:17

And it's all tunable lighting.

Wendy: 00:19:19

So meaning all of the shades, all of the interior lighting, I think even the coffee pot is all tuned to sunrise and sunset and all of the zones through the house ebb and flow as it's supposed to, in order for optimal sleep, optimal rest, less stressful environments.

Wendy: 00:19:43

So you don't come down in the morning and have this glaring light in your eyes.

Wendy: 00:19:47

It's the sunlight, but it's, it's just tuned so that your body reacts in a positive way.

Wendy: 00:19:55

Some of the new research is saying that those cooler LED lights aren't always the best for you.

Wendy: 00:20:01

And so when you talk about tunable lighting too, it's lighting where in.

Wendy: 00:20:06

In the greatest part of the day where you need the most productivity and you have to really see and be alert and get going.

Wendy: 00:20:13

a higher Kelvin level, like a: 3500

Wendy: 00:20:18

But then when the nighttime comes, you start to try to calm down, seek and rest.

Wendy: 00:20:24

It starts to tune to a warmer temperature, so feels like it's dimming, but really it's just converting from 4,000 to 3,500, 3,020, 700.

Wendy: 00:20:36

Whereas this beautiful, low, quiet, peaceful light and, and your body does react to that.

Wendy: 00:20:43

It's really interesting science.

Eric: 00:20:45

It's just like the normal sunset is that light goes down, it gets the more dirt in the atmosphere and everything else.

Eric: 00:20:52

And all of a sudden you get that where you have this really warm, you know, low Kelvin number as far as the color temperature.

Eric: 00:21:00

And it is awesome how that works.

Eric: 00:21:03

And it's just, I guess auto relaxing is probably the best way.

Wendy: 00:21:06

It's remarkable.

Wendy: 00:21:08

I keep telling my husband I really, really want that because he's the guy who comes down in the morning, well, that's where you press flips on all the lights like this.

Wendy: 00:21:18

I don't know.

Wendy: 00:21:19

It's.

Wendy: 00:21:20

Well, also, did you know it depends on your eye color?

Wendy: 00:21:23

He had very dark blue eyes.

Eric: 00:21:25

I have no idea.

Wendy: 00:21:26

And I have blue eyes.

Wendy: 00:21:27

And I learned from my optometrist.

Wendy: 00:21:30

People with blue eyes receive data and light and everything very differently.

Wendy: 00:21:35

With dark eyes, they're sensitive.

Wendy: 00:21:38

See, so when people say I'm sensitive, they're right.

Eric: 00:21:41

Oh, interesting.

Eric: 00:21:43

Okay.

Wendy: 00:21:43

I love that coming at me.

Eric: 00:21:45

Makes sense.

Eric: 00:21:46

That is so cool.

Eric: 00:21:47

And yeah, only now is technology really starting to make sense with the.

Eric: 00:21:51

There were a couple companies that started out selling these smart light switches, and they didn't make it, but they were out there selling light switches that worked on the circadian rhythm.

Eric: 00:22:01

And then I put them in my house, test them out, really talk about them in the show much, because change the color, change light output.

Eric: 00:22:09

But I'm like, that's not what I'm looking for.

Eric: 00:22:10

That's really not doing what it says it's doing.

Eric: 00:22:13

Because it wasn't.

Eric: 00:22:14

Wasn't changing.

Eric: 00:22:15

And it didn't have the ability to change color temperature.

Eric: 00:22:17

It just changed the.

Eric: 00:22:18

In the evening, it would use less light, and that's cool with the dimmer, but it wasn't doing what really supposed to do.

Eric: 00:22:23

So you have to really pay attention as a consumer out there to make sure that you're the right thing with that.

Eric: 00:22:29

Because it's pretty easy to control light as a dimmer.

Eric: 00:22:31

When you get into changing color temperature, you have to have switches and light sources that play well.

Wendy: 00:22:36

Have you ever been to Light Ovation in Dallas?

Eric: 00:22:39

Want to.

Eric: 00:22:40

It is on a bucket list.

Eric: 00:22:42

Last time I was in Dallas was Covid, so it was one of those things that I was a little limited on what I could see and what.

Wendy: 00:22:47

Yeah, I think you would love it, Eric, because I got to go this year for the first time.

Wendy: 00:22:52

It was winter Dallas market, and I got to go.

Wendy: 00:22:56

I believe it was alloy and pure edge.

Wendy: 00:23:00

And I saw the demos on Tunable lighting, and it was incredible.

Wendy: 00:23:04

It was.

Wendy: 00:23:05

It was just so much fun to see what we could accomplish not only with the tunable part, but also these different lighting installations.

Wendy: 00:23:13

And you can do sculpture out of light now, and you could never do that before, but just these little channels in the drywall gypsum board.

Wendy: 00:23:23

And if you plan it out right.

Wendy: 00:23:24

And I have a great friend, Carrie Arnold.

Wendy: 00:23:27

She's a lighting designer.

Wendy: 00:23:28

We did a dental office together where the lighting was super important and Using lighting as sculpture now is.

Wendy: 00:23:35

It was incredible to see what she did.

Wendy: 00:23:37

It was just stunning place.

Wendy: 00:23:40

It's because of her.

Wendy: 00:23:41

She's a great lighting designer.

Wendy: 00:23:43

But yeah, now we can really truly play with white in a way that we've never been able to do before.

Eric: 00:23:50

It's amazing what you can do.

Eric: 00:23:51

inch can lights from the: 1980

Eric: 00:23:58

And now my favorite is the 1 and 2 inch lights that you use in the recessed can lights out there.

Eric: 00:24:03

Because I'm in a ceiling, you don't see where the light's really coming from.

Eric: 00:25:26

In instances can really plan that lighting out so everything is well lit, but so controlled and design it to be so down the road as you age, you still have places to go to make things brighter or make areas brighter or work areas and things like that.

Eric: 00:25:42

So you can really control what's going on.

Eric: 00:25:44

Because as we all know, or at least you and I both know, that if you're 25 and you're 65, you have two different needs for lighting.

Wendy: 00:25:51

Yes.

Wendy: 00:25:52

I just learned from Carrie the other day that the light that you need to see the same way you saw when you were 25, when you're 75, you need four times more light.

Wendy: 00:26:04

That's a lot lighting.

Wendy: 00:26:07

Oh, 4,000.

Wendy: 00:26:08

Perfect.

Wendy: 00:26:08

I can see to do this little thing.

Wendy: 00:26:10

And as a person who's nearly blind, it's probably coming into play for me sooner rather than later.

Eric: 00:26:15

But a good light is one.

Eric: 00:26:17

It's.

Eric: 00:26:18

It's first off, you never notice it when you're in the space.

Eric: 00:26:20

You just notice it's well lit.

Eric: 00:26:22

That's one of the things about lighting that when it's.

Eric: 00:26:25

When it's beautifully done, you walk in and go, this is stunning.

Eric: 00:26:28

But I can't tell you why.

Eric: 00:26:29

It's the.

Eric: 00:26:30

It's the one design element that people anytime look right over the top of, because great lighting, you never notice.

Wendy: 00:26:36

It's really true.

Wendy: 00:26:37

And I think it's been one of the more exciting parts of design and the things that I've been able to do in the last three years.

Wendy: 00:26:47

That collaboration with Carrie and learning power of lighting in a way I had never understood before is great.

Wendy: 00:26:56

Oh, here's another thing.

Wendy: 00:26:57

For people who are building the house or just buying like their very first house and it's being built if you use recessed lighting, but you don't do the typical builder can, can, can, can van in a bedroom.

Wendy: 00:27:11

Right.

Wendy: 00:27:11

She's taught me that you're supposed to light the walls.

Wendy: 00:27:15

So do a wall washer, A couple of wall washers on one side or another or on either side of the bed, because the reflected light is much softer and much more easy to live with.

Wendy: 00:27:28

And also for people aging in place, too, you don't want that abris of light coming down on you.

Wendy: 00:27:34

So it.

Wendy: 00:27:35

It's a better way to light it.

Wendy: 00:27:36

And it also enhances your mood.

Wendy: 00:27:38

And it's not expensive.

Eric: 00:27:40

No, it's not.

Eric: 00:27:41

They're just.

Eric: 00:27:41

They're just light fixtures.

Eric: 00:27:42

So it's the same that you would basically have as if you were putting them out in the middle of the room.

Eric: 00:27:46

That's cool.

Wendy: 00:27:46

Yeah.

Eric: 00:27:47

One of my biggest things, and we touched about it a minute ago, but you're building a house or you're remodeling a house, and it's like, hey, we're taking it back to the studs.

Eric: 00:27:55

Can't emphasize enough how important walking is in the right places.

Eric: 00:28:00

Now it's really obvious to go, okay, we're going to do it in the bathrooms where there are potentially grab bars needed, but over the top of a bed if someone needs a lift to help get them out.

Eric: 00:28:12

Over the top of a bathtub, that's meant.

Eric: 00:28:15

Or you could put a lift in or something like that where people will need to get help out of a tub.

Eric: 00:28:19

Or you could have somebody come in and assist with a bath or something like that.

Eric: 00:28:23

And of course, the curbless showers.

Eric: 00:28:25

These are all things that are so easy to put in.

Eric: 00:28:28

You're doing that remodel.

Eric: 00:28:30

Just take pictures with your phone of where they're at so you can go down later.

Eric: 00:28:35

You save them in a.

Eric: 00:28:36

On a.

Eric: 00:28:36

In a cloud someplace.

Eric: 00:28:37

Hey, these are the house picks during framing.

Eric: 00:28:40

And use them there.

Eric: 00:28:42

It's just a great place that later you go, where was that blocking?

Eric: 00:28:45

Oh, exactly where it is.

Eric: 00:28:47

It's right here.

Eric: 00:28:48

You get a picture of it.

Eric: 00:28:49

Such a great thing to do when you don't have the sheetrock up yet is just to take some notes of that, put it away, file it away.

Eric: 00:28:56

Even if you have to print it off, put it in a filing cabinet someplace in the house folder.

Eric: 00:29:00

So great to know where those things are so you can do it.

Wendy: 00:29:03

Yeah.

Wendy: 00:29:03

That was something I learned when I was working on that project for my friend.

Wendy: 00:29:06

I didn't.

Wendy: 00:29:07

She asked for a grab bar above the bed so that she could do, like, special exercises that she needed to do for part of the rehab process.

Wendy: 00:29:16

And I had never thought of that before.

Wendy: 00:29:19

Again, you don't know what you don't know.

Wendy: 00:29:21

So that was really interesting.

Wendy: 00:29:24

And even at the side, too, to help turn over.

Wendy: 00:29:28

Because if you have a back injury, it would help you to turn.

Wendy: 00:29:32

And sometimes those hospital beds, they have those rails, but they're not very strong.

Wendy: 00:29:38

They're flimsy.

Wendy: 00:29:39

So it's better.

Eric: 00:29:39

They're super flimsy wall.

Wendy: 00:29:41

But that's a great idea to take those photos and like, keep them in your notes, in your phone or something.

Eric: 00:29:46

Exactly.

Eric: 00:29:47

That way you've got it there.

Eric: 00:29:48

I was just working out the beach house where my brother and I are working on and went through and took pictures of every elevation right before drywall.

Eric: 00:29:55

So we knew it.

Eric: 00:29:56

And I was hanging some stuff and I'm like, hey, wait a minute.

Eric: 00:29:59

Grab the folder on the phone.

Eric: 00:30:01

What power and throw it.

Eric: 00:30:02

I'm like, oh, yeah, water lines here.

Eric: 00:30:04

Which I didn't want to get anywhere near.

Eric: 00:30:06

You know, it's just avoiding the things you don't want to hit.

Wendy: 00:30:08

I know.

Eric: 00:30:08

I have plates back there.

Eric: 00:30:10

Oh, did.

Eric: 00:30:11

I didn't want to get anywhere near having to do some re plumbing work on a.

Eric: 00:30:14

On a finished hardwood floor right there.

Eric: 00:30:15

But again, those are just really quick lifesavers and it takes you like 20 minutes to do it.

Eric: 00:30:21

And even if you walk through and in portrait mode on your phone, it just walks slowly through on video.

Eric: 00:30:28

You still have it.

Eric: 00:30:29

Stop, zoom it in.

Eric: 00:30:31

Do it on 4K on your phone if you have a good smartphone and it'll show you everything you want and you'll have reference points.

Wendy: 00:30:37

That's super smart.

Wendy: 00:30:38

Yeah, it's easy.

Wendy: 00:30:41

It'll save you thousands of dollars in lots of different ways.

Eric: 00:30:45

Now, one of the things I think is really cool going to the go to a lot of the same shows you do.

Eric: 00:30:50

But how elevators now are becoming so less expensive and easier to put into residential buildings now versus having to put in commercial ones.

Eric: 00:31:01

That took.

Eric: 00:31:02

All right, we're going to spend $180,000 to put an elevator in this house.

Eric: 00:31:07

So much easier to do it now with the technology and how good that's getting get access people up to a second floor or even a third.

Wendy: 00:31:15

Yeah, I worked in a house.

Wendy: 00:31:18

I don't think they did the inexpensive kind of.

Wendy: 00:31:20

They did have an elevator and it was beautiful.

Wendy: 00:31:24

But I.

Wendy: 00:31:25

I think too, to the point of feelings of agency and feeling good in your home, if you need an elevator or you need to get to the second floor, it's so much better for your psyche to get in an elevator than to get on a chair.

Wendy: 00:31:41

Go staircase.

Eric: 00:31:43

Who likes that chair?

Eric: 00:31:44

Look, anyway, Right.

Eric: 00:31:45

It's never good.

Wendy: 00:31:46

Wasn't it in the Sopranos?

Wendy: 00:31:47

Tony Sopranos mom had one of the.

Eric: 00:31:50

Exactly so horrible.

Wendy: 00:31:52

Nobody wants that.

Wendy: 00:31:53

Nobody wants that.

Wendy: 00:31:54

They just want to go on a nice up and down.

Wendy: 00:31:57

And I think it's about maintaining your sense of self and some pride in who you are and not giving up the ship because things have been built into your home so that you don't have to.

Wendy: 00:32:11

You maintain some independence and dignity.

Wendy: 00:32:15

Like your idea of what dignity is, whatever that may be.

Wendy: 00:32:18

Allowing that really important.

Eric: 00:32:21

It's cool.

Eric: 00:32:21

I was out last week doing a shoot for my television show and I didn't realize they did this for so long ago.

Eric: 00:32:27

I was up here in Portland Pinnock Mansion which is a big mansion here on the top of the hill that they saved in the 60s.

Eric: 00:32:34

I was going to get torn down.

Eric: 00:32:36

iece of architecture built in: 1914

Eric: 00:32:44

,: 1914

Eric: 00:32:50

So they put a commercial elevator inside the house.

Eric: 00:32:55

ing a residential elevator or: 1914

Eric: 00:32:59

I'm sure there's gotta be something out there.

Eric: 00:33:01

But it's just so unusual and it was cool to see because there were so many things like that that were.

Eric: 00:33:08

That were thought of way back then.

Eric: 00:33:11

75 years before.

Eric: 00:33:12

It was a commonplace someone's home to have accessible item like that in it.

Eric: 00:33:18

e that groundbreaking back in: 1940

Wendy: 00:33:21

That is really interesting.

Wendy: 00:33:23

How sweet to build a home where his wife could still really participate in the home.

Wendy: 00:33:30

Not be relegated to this one little room or really thought me yeah, it's.

Eric: 00:33:37

It's super thoughtful and that that house was very cool and so technology forward for the day.

Eric: 00:33:43

They have this.

Eric: 00:33:44

This intercom system because it's you know, three stories.

Eric: 00:33:48

So literally they're sitting there and they have.

Eric: 00:33:50

It's like an old.

Eric: 00:33:51

Like they'll trying to describe this to you.

Eric: 00:33:53

It's like the old wooden phone things that you would see from the turn of the century with the black thing you put to your.

Eric: 00:33:58

And you speak on it was like that.

Eric: 00:34:00

But it was a metal box with all the rooms and they were push button and a speaker that you talked into.

Eric: 00:34:06

But you would push like living room.

Eric: 00:34:08

You could put that up to your ear and talk and then you had a two way discussion.

Eric: 00:34:13

I'm like yeah.

Eric: 00:34:14

seen an intercom system from: 1914

Eric: 00:34:17

Again, she was.

Eric: 00:34:18

Had very limited abilities.

Eric: 00:34:20

ng somebody standing there in: 1914

Eric: 00:34:26

So it's so cool how technology now has gone so far beyond that, but again, really hasn't.

Eric: 00:34:31

You just have different ways of.

Wendy: 00:34:33

Now my son will text me, mom, are you.

Wendy: 00:34:37

Is dinner almost done?

Wendy: 00:34:39

So that he'll know to come downstairs so he doesn't have to get on the intercom.

Wendy: 00:34:43

I just.

Wendy: 00:34:43

We're very high tech here.

Eric: 00:34:45

I like it, I like it.

Eric: 00:34:46

So I wanted to do this.

Eric: 00:34:48

I thought what it would be great for us to give just some.

Eric: 00:34:50

For our listeners out there, some great tips.

Eric: 00:34:53

Just almost like a checklist of some items that you look for.

Eric: 00:34:57

We brought up the washlet or the Neo rest.

Eric: 00:34:59

I think that is important for everybody.

Eric: 00:35:01

I think it's such a great piece on home as well as people aging in place.

Eric: 00:35:08

I don't care if you're a sports person, you just hurt your shoulder or your hand or anything else like that.

Eric: 00:35:13

Anybody going in there that is not a hundred percent, it makes your life so much easier.

Eric: 00:35:18

And I thought you and I could just toss some things out and the conversation that way.

Eric: 00:35:23

Here are just some tips for people to think about to maybe spark the conversation on their next project remodel or the one they're working on now.

Wendy: 00:35:30

I think when you're shopping for a home that you don't necessarily think of right away, what is the access to the backyard?

Wendy: 00:35:39

Do you want to redo something?

Wendy: 00:35:40

If you.

Wendy: 00:35:41

If you want a more indoor, outdoor living kind of lifestyle and the footprint of the home works for you, but you need to make some changes in the backyard.

Wendy: 00:35:50

Can you get a little bobcat back there?

Wendy: 00:35:53

Do you have alley access or can you go through a side gate or.

Wendy: 00:35:56

And I know this sounds crazy, but you don't want to get hemmed in, not in your house and not outside.

Wendy: 00:36:03

So that's something important I think to think about is if I really want to maximize my opportunities in my backyard, can I even get people back there to do what they.

Wendy: 00:36:14

Or do they have to carry everything out in little buckets?

Eric: 00:36:17

Sad brother had to do that in his old house that had the garage built so close and they had a garden on the other side.

Eric: 00:36:23

He wanted to dig a pool.

Eric: 00:36:25

He got a bunch of the high school kids from the high school football team to come over.

Eric: 00:36:29

They used shovels, wheelbarrows, and dug the pool by hand.

Eric: 00:36:32

But I'm like crazy.

Eric: 00:36:34

I'd had a crane come in and lift a mini excavator back there.

Eric: 00:36:37

And had to do most of it.

Wendy: 00:36:38

But you must have went back and.

Eric: 00:36:40

Dug it out 20 years ago.

Eric: 00:36:41

That's not a good place to be.

Wendy: 00:36:43

So let's see what else.

Eric: 00:36:46

Oh, one of the ones I think for me is.

Eric: 00:36:48

One of the ones I think for me that is important out there as well is as you're going, you can add smart lighting stuff.

Eric: 00:36:54

We talked a little bit about that.

Eric: 00:36:56

But even if you're just keeping it simple with like some of the Lutron Caseta switches and stuff like that, you can run from your phone one, it's a great safe place to be in that you can turn it off and on.

Eric: 00:37:08

I've got my house set up now.

Eric: 00:37:10

As far as a smart home, I'm just using nothing spectacular.

Eric: 00:37:13

This is not some big system.

Eric: 00:37:14

This is just using like Samsung SmartThings app.

Eric: 00:37:17

And I hit good night and it locks my doors, turns the lights down to where I want it to be when I go to bed at night.

Eric: 00:37:23

In the morning I can hit good morning.

Eric: 00:37:25

And it turns them up to the right light that I need in those areas.

Eric: 00:37:28

In the kitchen, it'll bring the light up so it's fairly dim.

Eric: 00:37:31

I don't need to walk in with welding goggles on to go make coffee in the morning.

Eric: 00:37:35

But makes it nice when it's.

Eric: 00:37:38

Those are things that you can do now and 10, 15 years ago later if you need it or if you've got grandma coming to stay for a few weeks, it just makes it that much safer for everyone.

Wendy: 00:37:48

It's really.

Wendy: 00:39:49

And once you get started, I think a lot of times new things.

Wendy: 00:39:52

And I find that even with the trades here and me working on new AI stuff or learning more Folio Trace or all the new technology that we need to learn all the time.

Wendy: 00:40:03

It's intimidating when you first start out.

Wendy: 00:40:07

But once you really get into it, it gets easier.

Wendy: 00:40:11

It's not.

Wendy: 00:40:13

It's not a barrier that regular people can't overcome or learn about.

Wendy: 00:40:18

And I think sometimes there's a hesitation there just because you've not done it before.

Wendy: 00:40:24

But it's not.

Wendy: 00:40:25

It's not impossible for a layperson to figure that out.

Wendy: 00:40:30

Which is encouraging.

Eric: 00:40:32

Is.

Eric: 00:40:33

And the other piece of advice I'd love to get give out there is spend the money the right one the first time.

Eric: 00:40:41

Don't try to save 20, 100 bucks, 200 bucks.

Eric: 00:40:45

Buy it once you have that quality.

Eric: 00:40:48

Great example.

Eric: 00:40:49

I had a buddy that went over to his house.

Eric: 00:40:50

He bought the $99Amazon a toilet seat.

Eric: 00:40:55

Oh.

Eric: 00:40:56

And of course it didn't Use water off the toilet.

Eric: 00:40:59

It took a warm water line was premixed off a little like, I'm going to describe it probably wrong, but it's like that little plastic tube that you would see going to your ice maker, going across the wall, over to the toilet and there were knobs, no power to run this thing and might as well just put a garden there with a sprayer.

Eric: 00:41:20

Horrible.

Eric: 00:41:20

And I'm like, no one's going to use this.

Eric: 00:41:23

No one's going to use this.

Eric: 00:41:25

Do it right.

Eric: 00:41:26

Who wants buy something that's going to be reliable, especially when you're dealing with water and electricity.

Eric: 00:41:32

Now these are safety things that you should consider.

Eric: 00:41:35

Just spend the money, invest in something quality, forget about it and just do normal.

Wendy: 00:41:41

So this is a very sensitive area.

Wendy: 00:41:44

It's a sensitive topic.

Wendy: 00:41:46

It's a sensitive area.

Wendy: 00:41:47

I don't want anything near me that isn't very highly tested, approved safety.

Wendy: 00:41:56

Warm, but warm.

Wendy: 00:41:58

Not in a way where there could be mold in the line or something terrible that would make me even sicker and give me a staph infection.

Wendy: 00:42:06

I mean like, oh my gosh.

Eric: 00:42:08

And what was crazy was I don't know how, I don't know how long it had to run before you even got warm water because it was just, it had to be cold forever.

Eric: 00:42:15

So, you know, I'm like, okay, that had five feet to get to the vanity.

Eric: 00:42:19

So I'm like, All right, there's 10 seconds, maybe got some warm water.

Eric: 00:42:23

Assuming there was warm water at the faucet when you started.

Eric: 00:42:27

So it was.

Wendy: 00:42:28

This is.

Wendy: 00:42:29

Honestly, I have this conversation with clients a lot because you're a designer and a contractor and people get, they're so excited because now is the time and they are ready and they want this beautiful renovation and they can't wait.

Wendy: 00:42:42

And then they get the quote back and then they cry.

Wendy: 00:42:46

Even though I try really hard to prepare them in advance.

Wendy: 00:42:48

A kitchen cost this approximately.

Wendy: 00:42:50

Master bath cost this approximately.

Wendy: 00:42:53

And sometimes the really high end contractors, there's a wait list.

Wendy: 00:42:58

So maybe, maybe after we get the quote back, he or she can't start for another six months or something.

Wendy: 00:43:05

Client look disappointed.

Wendy: 00:43:07

They say, well, this way you have six more months to save and it won't be as painful and then you get what you really want.

Wendy: 00:43:15

So in the long run, maybe this is God's providence so that you get the project that you really want.

Eric: 00:43:20

Exactly.

Wendy: 00:43:21

Same with the toilet seat.

Wendy: 00:43:23

Like if you, if you really, you really want the watchlet put aside a little bit every month and ta da.

Wendy: 00:43:31

You'll be able to afford it and you won't have something terrifying coming at you from somewhere else.

Wendy: 00:43:37

Eric, that's a horrible story.

Wendy: 00:43:39

I can't.

Eric: 00:43:39

I like that, though.

Wendy: 00:43:40

It's.

Eric: 00:43:40

It's.

Eric: 00:43:41

But it's.

Eric: 00:43:41

It is what it is.

Wendy: 00:43:42

It's just.

Eric: 00:43:42

It's one of those things that I'm like, oh, there's so many places to.

Wendy: 00:43:46

Save and he's your friend, he should know.

Eric: 00:43:49

It's not one of them.

Eric: 00:43:50

It's not one of them.

Eric: 00:43:51

I was just like, oh, no, no.

Wendy: 00:43:55

It was just to help you.

Eric: 00:43:57

Yeah, I was looking at it, just going, oh, this.

Eric: 00:44:02

It was the hokiest thing I've ever seen.

Eric: 00:44:04

And I'm like, oh, I don't want anybody's first experience with technology to be that horrible.

Eric: 00:44:09

I was just like, oh, that looks.

Wendy: 00:44:11

That's a hard pass.

Eric: 00:44:12

Really bad.

Eric: 00:44:13

Really bad.

Eric: 00:44:14

There's so many things.

Eric: 00:44:15

We're gonna have to wrap up here in a second, Wendy.

Eric: 00:44:17

But there are so many things that we can do now inside the house to make it so when that time comes, when you need more accessibility.

Eric: 00:44:27

I think as we shift our thinking into, okay, we're remodeling, I want this to stay in style for 15 years.

Eric: 00:44:34

I think people really should think about, is this going to keep up with me in 15?

Wendy: 00:44:39

Definitely.

Wendy: 00:44:40

And you don't have to know, like, you don't have to see it all.

Wendy: 00:44:44

Most of honestly preparing for your future in all aspects of life, you rarely see.

Wendy: 00:44:50

It's not like a visible demonstration of you preparing for the future.

Wendy: 00:44:54

It's all things quietly decisions that you make to make your life better in the long run.

Wendy: 00:45:02

And it's the same in construction.

Wendy: 00:45:04

And you can, you can be cavalier about your money and stewardship and spend however much you're going to on a bathroom and then decide later, oh, well, this isn't really working.

Wendy: 00:45:16

And I want to spend this to destroy it doing all the work because I forgot to block her grandparents.

Wendy: 00:45:22

But I don't want to see somebody have that happen.

Wendy: 00:45:26

I had this.

Eric: 00:45:27

It's never cheaper the next time.

Wendy: 00:45:29

No.

Wendy: 00:45:30

And I had this sweet little lady ask me to come to her house to do her bathroom.

Wendy: 00:45:35

She was in her late 70s, beautiful home, very well cared for, and she refused to put in a zero threshold shower or blocking for grab bars.

Wendy: 00:45:47

And I had to write her a note and return her deposit and just say, in all good conscience, I can't do this project because I'd be.

Wendy: 00:45:54

I'd be a bad steward of your resources.

Wendy: 00:45:57

I like, this is just wrong.

Wendy: 00:45:59

So I never thought I'd be in a position like that.

Wendy: 00:46:02

But now that I understand especially working with my friend and seeing people and even my nurse manager client.

Wendy: 00:46:09

I just don't want to waste somebody's resources.

Wendy: 00:46:11

But yes, like think in advance, plan in advance and then keep the money that you'd have to keep to redo your shower and go on a fun trip.

Eric: 00:46:20

Absolutely.

Eric: 00:46:20

I'll tell you my little design secret I've been doing for the last 15 years.

Eric: 00:46:24

I sneak blocking in.

Eric: 00:46:26

I never tell them.

Wendy: 00:46:27

Yeah, well I do.

Eric: 00:46:28

I don't care what the bathroom is.

Eric: 00:46:30

I don't care if they're a 25 year old tech couple that's in there.

Eric: 00:46:34

I just my contractor.

Eric: 00:46:35

I knew that comes to them even hanging up owl bars later.

Eric: 00:46:40

Endless where they can put it.

Eric: 00:46:41

So they just would quietly block it out.

Eric: 00:46:43

Nobody would see it.

Eric: 00:46:45

They got the wall open anyway and we would just sneak it in every project and go.

Eric: 00:46:50

That is a gift for the people on the road to find.

Eric: 00:46:54

They need it.

Wendy: 00:46:54

That's great.

Eric: 00:46:55

They're going to have it.

Eric: 00:46:56

Just made up My new standard of like we will always block.

Eric: 00:47:00

Let's just do it.

Eric: 00:47:01

And life so much easier for everybody down there.

Wendy: 00:47:03

Oh that's great idea.

Eric: 00:47:06

It'd be sneaky.

Wendy: 00:47:06

That would be policy at Wendy Glaser Interiors.

Eric: 00:47:10

There you go.

Wendy: 00:47:11

And thank you so much.

Eric: 00:47:12

Thanks for taking the time today.

Eric: 00:47:14

I can't wait for next time because you know such fun conversations here.

Eric: 00:47:18

And of course if someone wants to bring you on their project how do they find you?

Wendy: 00:47:22

Oh my website is.

Wendy: 00:47:23

So you can tell it's hard for me to talk about me.

Eric: 00:47:26

That's why.

Eric: 00:47:27

That's why I dragged this in.

Wendy: 00:47:28

I know it's Wendy spelled the old fashioned way.

Wendy: 00:47:31

W E N D Y Glaser G L A I s t r interiors.com and I'm also on Instagram Wendy Glaser Interiors as well.

Wendy: 00:47:42

Reach out to me through the website or Instagram number even is listed and I'm based in central California.

Wendy: 00:47:49

Thanks for having me.

Wendy: 00:47:50

It's great to see you again and visit.

Eric: 00:47:52

Always fun.

Eric: 00:47:53

I'm Eric G.

Eric: 00:47:55

And you've been listening to around the House Somewhere.

Eric: 00:48:07

Unseen and undiscovered Anywhere out beyond the me Love is a love song let's be lovers we're all over the radio Take my hand out Nowhere to go all over the radio with.