I'm resurfacing an article from 2018 in which The Wall Street Journal featured home remodels that both look great and support family members of all ages and abilities.
We're helping someone remodel a bathroom, so I wanted to look at this really beautiful and inspiring bathroom.
It's not just a bathroom for aging a place; it's a great bathroom that anyone could love.
Even if you are not planning a full remodel, this photo is a reminder that there are attractive fixtures you can add to your bathroom that don't look institutional, though they provide safety and comfort.
If you're in your 40's or 50's and want to make your remodeling investment payoff for the long run, it pays to think about what you or a loved one may need in the future.
For our project, we're considering this grab bar, which is easily accessible from Amazon and comes in this beautiful brushed nickel and also in a chrome finish.
And this combination grab bar and towel rack provides safety and utility at the same time.
Why Grab Bars?
In case you are wondering why your existing towel racks enough are not good enough for safety, consider two things:
1. You can not assume your towel racks are securely anchored to the wall in a way to support more than 20 pounds of weight. If someone between 100 and 300 pounds grabs onto your existing towel rack, will their body weight pull the towel rack out of the wall causing an even worse type of fall?
Grab bars or safety bars are designed to anchor securely to the wall. (Be sure to have them installed correctly!)
2. If you have a towel on your existing towel rack (and of course you do), the towel could slip off just as someone tries to grab the bar for stability, again possibly causing a fall.
If you have a combination towel bar plus safety bar, the top bar is free to grab onto, with the towel hanging below.
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