Customer Reviews

High Access Home: Design and Decoration for Barrier-Free Living

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This book is totally impractical and a big waste of money. It portrays "mansions for the disabled" by use of dramatic single and double-page pictures. The text is sparse and often uninformative. It has an almost total dearth of practical information which would be useful to anyone but a multi-millionaire. For example, one photo shows a beautifully decorated living space which includes, as its sole sop to the handicapped, a wheelchair with an attractive throw pillow on its seat. (How practical is that?) Another photo shows a kitchen with almost no cabinetry below the countertops, enabling a person in a wheelchair to work at any of the surfaces. But what tools, dishes or food would this person find for his or her use? Unfortunately, most of these items must then be stored out of reach in its overhead cabinets. The small amount of practical information available could be, and has been, successfully put in a pamphlet. While the jacket cover claims that the book contains "practical advice for converting your home for accessible living," what is actually depicted are new homes of amazing size and splendor, not accessible to 99.9% of all people, disabled or otherwise. I am still looking for a definitive text on planning for accessability. This is so much easier to build into a home than it is to add later. I personally feel that it would be desirable if all new homes could be built with accessibility in mind. Yet the topic is rarely mentioned in any book on home design.

This book is fabulous for the disabled multi-millionaire who can afford to build a very expensive user-friendly house. Unfortunately, it is useless for those of us with more modest incomes who want to modify our homes to put off moving to assisted living facilities. Time magazine gave a totally misleading brief review of this book. For us, AARP is a much better source of information, much of it free....

This book is beautifully laid out, the photography is well done and it would make a coffee table sparkle. But its usefulness is limited to new house construction, to people who like open floor plans, and for those who have the money to spend. I believe it will be of little help to anyone who is working with an older home and is remodeling rather than gutting it and starting over. Also I disagree with some of the layouts in kitchens, etc. as to how easy they are to access with a wheelchair or with a person whose disability prevents them from bending forward or side to side. There is inefficiency to have a person open two doors and then extend drawers. You can design drawers with a lower side to view contents. There were two photos that helped me to visualize concepts I had read about elsewhere. Is it worth your money? Depends on what you are looking for!

Okay, so this book doesn't contain much in the way of product identification or info on how to buy anything. Still, if -- like us -- you are in the process of designing a home in which you expect to live for the rest of your life, what this book does do, and do well, is prove that accessible design CAN be beautiful (and "no," it isn't necessary to spend a fortune to implement most of the ideas in this book). This book is like any other interior design book -- the ideas are illustrated with high-end products. But once you "get" what needs to be modified for an accessible home, most of the ideas can be incorporated into standard construction. We found this book both enjoyable and helpful.

I am a Aging In Place Specialist and have bought many books on the subject....this one by far has the most beautiful pictures with very upscale homes. However, this is not as practical as some of the others. Depending on what you are looking for this is a beautiful book.