Accessible Bathroom Round Up || Part 1

Hello! I am so excited to share these accessible bathrooms with you all. There are so many well designed, thoughtful, beautiful and accessible bathrooms showcased here to meet a variety of needs. I have 10–TEN!–accessible bathrooms to feature. Thus, I thought it best to break it down into two separate posts. I will then do a more in depth look at my family’s bathrooms in a separate post. Here we go!

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Victoria, North Carolina

Tell us about your accessible bathroom space! What specifically makes your bathroom accessible for you or your child’s needs?

I love that the sink is just right for her and the grab bars make her feel secure. The faucet style and automatic soap dispenser let her learn hand washing age appropriately. Also a hinges to get in and out

Any tips about your renovation that you care to share? For example, cost, finding the right contractor/architect, were you able to utilize grants or a non-profit, anything you wish you would have done differently?

We did ours on the cheap, $500 budget just so we could work on potty training and hand washing after school. A big bathroom remodel will be down the road with waiver funding.

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Maridith, Arizona

Tell us about your accessible bathroom space! What specifically makes your bathroom accessible for you or your child’s needs?

Hi there, I’m Maridith. You may never guess I need accommodations when meeting me. My disabilities are invisible and variable which means I often use different mobility aids on different days/weeks/months. I can look fine walking into a store from the closest handicap parking spot, or putting my own walker into the back of the car, or I may need assistance getting out of my wheelchair depending on the interaction between the cluster of diseases I manage. It can be difficult for others to see the effort it takes for daily tasks and what recuperation is required.

Every decision during our bathroom renovation was driven by my specific disabilities and a desire to be able to age in place. We tried to balance these choices with someone without my needs wanting to use the space. The ADA standards for accessible design helped decide dimensions. In addition to the actual space, having a zero entry shower was important. Having the shower area so open allows the heat and steam to quickly escape. Heat intolerance and the inability to regulate body temperature due to damaged sensory nerves leads to fainting. As a result of this dysregulation I hadn’t been able to shower without supervision for years. Being able to sit in a shower chair and having the hand held shower head adjustable, I can keep the water on my body instead of the head. A ceiling mounted rail allows a curtain to be drawn, though we find it isn’t necessary.

The tile choice was very thoughtful as well. Proprioception is impaired and progressive in Small Fiber Autonomic Neuropathy. Giving the feet plenty of texture provides more feedback to the brain as to where the feet are in space. The texture increases traction as well to hopefully stop slipping. Even a small slip can result in a subluxation of any joint that can take months to heal due to Ehlers Danlos. It makes having grab bars absolutely essential as well.

I had a very specific idea for the grab bars. I wanted them to disappear as grab bars and act as a design element. I wanted to avoid the clinical look with an eye to unexpected resale so white tiles and metal grab bars didn’t fit the warmth and zen spa feel I wanted to create. While I was clear in my vision, explaining to the contractor proved difficult. When I said “grab bars” he could imagine only those found in hospitals. My explanations weren’t effective. Eventually, I taught myself SketchUp and modeled the concept down to the existing studs, the internal wall reinforcements for the grab bars and long stepped niches so they could build it. They were very concerned about putting wood in a bath and highly confused as to how they were going to attach the railing to the wall. Both of us never having done this, I turned to researching. I learned Ipe wood was often used for decking material in Washington State. If it could withstand daily rain, a shower or two a day in the low humidity of Arizona wouldn’t hurt it. It’s holding up very well 18 months in. As for attaching the grab bars, it was a matter of finding who had already solved the problem. I was very excited to find https://railock.com/ They work very well and are ADA compliant.

While lighting the niches could be purely decorative it too serves an important service. On nights an Epsom salt bath is needed to calm upset muscles, this ambient lighting isn’t harsh enough to bother someone sleeping in the main bedroom. Factory installed grab bars in the tub, lever door knobs, bidet on the commode, full length mirrors and a light shade that covers the light bulb to avoid triggering migraines are a few more items.

Numbers for the bathroom were part of a larger project so it would be difficult to determine exact cost. Repurposing the space under the existing roof line saved a lot. Having the resources to renovate is clearly a huge privilege. I recently read only 9% of Americans with a physical disability live in an accessible home. We looked at the resources for aid but found it confusing and very difficult to navigate the requirements for each program. Ultimately, we saved for 10 years for the changes we made.

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Jill, Ohio

Tell us about your accessible bathroom space! What specifically makes your bathroom accessible for you or your child’s needs?

My son was born with a rare birth defect of his abdomen and spine. He is paralyzed from the waist down, a huge jokester, sometimes too smart for his own good, and always irresistible. He uses a manual wheelchair and for the most part is very independent with it, despite the occasional tired arms or needing transferred. He’s the second of our five kids. We moved into a ranch home with a loft when we had three kids, but soon we had two more. We needed to accommodate not only his accessibility needs, but also our growing family. We have made quite a few accommodations including an accessible bathroom for him and his brothers (which is also our main bathroom for guests).

Our home had a den, bedroom and small bathroom on one side with the master bedroom and master bathroom on the other side. So the boys–3 of them–all shared that wing of the house. We needed the bathroom to be large enough to handle the kids and nice enough to handle guests. We also knew we would need to turn our den into a small bedroom for the baby.

The bedroom became very small (8X11) but it allowed for our bathroom to be a 9X9 space with double accessible sinks–0ne wheelchair height and one typical height. Our bathroom also has a wheel in shower and space for a cupboard (to be built soon) for his supplies. We added a tile accent wall to make it a little nicer and are so happy we did. The shower has a shower head that lowers and raises. We also used a pocket door for our design so that we would not compromise space. This was a great idea, however, I recommend a non solid door. Ours is solid wood and it is heavy for my son to open. Overall, we love the design and it functions very well for our boys!

Sometimes I forget that the world does not see accessibility through the lens of a wheelchair user or the parent of a wheelchair user. There is so much I would say I take for granted in the sense of “what needs to be accessible”. We hired a company that does accessible remodels so I took for granted small things that I thought would be common sense. For example, there are a couple outlets and the light switch that are higher than I would like and feel is accessible for my son and wheelchair users. Once they were in, I knew changes would mess up an already behind timeline. Using an architect to think about the complete design would have been helpful as well so that we would have had detailed plans in advance about these things that I know were important.

Two big things we wish would have changed are 1) the toilet is in a space where my son can not reach the flusher with his chair. This is something that slipped my mind in the design. 2) I also wish we would have reversed it, so from the dining room across the way the sinks would have been visible vs. the shower and toilet. I think an architect would have been helpful in noticing these differences.

We used funds from my son’s wavier so we did have to use a contractor from a specific provider list. Overall, the company was very attentive to our needs and did a good job of making those accommodations (I think for small things, it is imperative that you as the homeowner are constantly checking on even though they have done other accessible things). Everyone’s needs are very specific and only you truly know what those are.

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Leah, South Dakota

Tell us about your accessible bathroom space! What specifically makes your bathroom accessible for you or your child’s needs?

I designed my bathroom for my wheelchair. I have the toilet opposite the open shower so I can go straight from my bowel program into the shower. I have a roll under sink, situated between two repurposed oak office storage units. I have another cabinet for towels and other medical supplies. The cabinet directly next to the toilet has a drawer for my bowel program supplies, and a drawer for my medicine. There are two barn doors that go into the bathroom which has been handy for my husband to help if I need.

Wow. Well if you want to hear a shit-show of a story, we could chat about it sometime. ALWAYS GET A COPY OF THE CONTRACT WITH PRICES UPFRONT.

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Lisa, New York

Tell us about your accessible bathroom space! What specifically makes your bathroom accessible for you or your child’s needs?

I have degenerative spinal arthritis and am an ambulatory wheelchair user. At home I use a walker and canes to get around.

Our house is nearly 100 years old, Colonial Revival 2-story. The upstairs bathroom had never been updated, with a cast-iron bathtub and shower combo. I could no longer safely climb into the tub to shower, so we gutted the whole room and designed the new bathroom to my specific needs. There is a 2” ledge at the entrance, but that works for me. We decided against a door, and went with a simple shower curtain for easier access. There are 2 grab bars, a removable seat, and hand-held shower for me, overhead shower for my family. The controls are easily reachable. There’s space for my walker in the bathroom, plus a bench where I can sit and do my hair. It doesn’t have full wheelchair access because I won’t be able to function in this house when I need the chair full time, but it works beautifully for me right now.

We went with an excellent contractor with extensive experience with older homes, so he was prepared for any weirdness. It was quite expensive, but all of the cabinetry, shower stall, etc. were hand built to our specs. We are in a life stage where we didn’t need financial assistance to do this (had been saving up for years!) We also had a great relationship with the contractor and felt comfortable throughout the whole process, which was important. It took 3 months (!) so they were practically family–ha! The same contractor has made other minor adaptations to the house so I can move around more easily.

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HUGE thanks to Victoria, Maridith, Jill, Leah and Lisa. I love that there are so many different takes on these accessible bathrooms, many with very creative solutions. While they’re all very different you’ll notices some common themes–I noticed grab bars in all of these bathrooms (love the wooden grab bar that’s integrated into the design a little more) as well as every single bathroom with a shower (so all but the first one) has a hand-held shower head mounted to an adjustable bar.

Comments? Questions? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
And remember, we still have 5 more bathrooms, plus the two accessible bathrooms in our home.