By Stephani L. Miller
AARP recently announced the winners of its "Recession Remodel" contest, which was launched to show how good design can improve health and longevity. The winners, Jamie Hammill of Richfield, N.C., and Mary Waggoner of Snohomish, Wash., will receive a universal kitchen or bath remodel designed to support family members of all ages and abilities.
Working with the program's national spokesperson, Cynthia Leibrock, ASID, Hon. IIDA, local members of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) will volunteer their services to design the spaces. Leibrock is an award-winning author, a universal designer, and a lecturer at Harvard, and has more than 30 years of interior design experience. (For more information on Leibrock, visit www.agingbeautifully.org.)
Hammill, winner of the "Recession Remodel" kitchen, recently moved back into her mother's farmhouse near Charlotte, N.C., and soon discovered the challenges presented and limitations imposed by the home's kitchen. ASID members Mary Curley, ASID, and Michelle Molloy, ASID, LEED AP, will help design a kitchen that is accessible and comfortable for both Hammill and her mother.
"Recession Remodel" bathroom winner Waggoner often hosts her aging parents in her home. The bathroom in the home is unsafe for them and inaccessible to a wheelchair, so they frequently are forced to cut their visits short. ASID members have yet to be selected for this project.
AARP will feature videos and photos of each remodel on its website when the projects are completed.
