Please help me out by designing your ideal home!

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Come on, this will be fun!

I work for a disability services agency and my particular program is a construction company specializing in home accessibility and safety. Primarily, we work with the elderly and younger persons with physical disabilities, renovating bathrooms for wheelchair accessibility and building ramps, etc.

As someone with Asperger's, though, I think persons on the Spectrum are very underserved as far as home modifications go and have wanted to start serving our population more. Unfortunately, there are not many companies doing this and there is little available in the way of concrete design guidelines. My boss recently expressed an interest in meeting with me to discuss moving towards creating some, though.

I have a number of ideas for possible modifications to help with safety and sensory needs, but there is so much diversity on the Spectrum that I would really like input from others, as well. Personally, my main issue is with acoustics and noise from neighbors driving me crazy, since many builders don't adequately insulate apartment buildings in order to save cost. I am also smell-sensitive and need to live in a place with adequate ventilation.

I know others are also effected by lighting, as well, and that the layout and colors of living spaces can have a bearing on someone's anxiety levels and behavior. Also, for children who have the tendency to wander from home, a door alarm system can be good for families.

(a) What types of modifications have you done to your living space?
(b) What types of modifications would you like to do, if you had the financial resources?
(c) Or, what sensory and behavioral issues do you experience that could potentially be helped through a home mod?

Thanks for your comments and suggestions. I am sure they will be helpful!

To complicate your problem, is this a shared living space?

I would like to toss the TV into the snow. But that particular modification would not go over so well with the family.

A sound proof room would be nice. Really.

Ah, I didn't see this thread before.

I can only answer for what I'd like; I've always lived in inadequate places.

More rooms without windows. And bigger. Like, bedrooms and stuff instead of just closets and bathrooms.

A design that had more than one way to get from any given point A to any given point B would be really cool.

Someplace quiet that can be made dark.

Sound proof. I'd kill for just one room that blocked out noise.

Low lighting.

Closed in. I hate open floor plans.

Dimmer switches and task lighting. Soundproofing around sleeping areas. An extremely large closet which could be turned into a bedroom as necessary. Quiet refrigerators. Hardwood floors cuz they're easier to keep clean and that reduces the smells. Good control on the hot water heater. Adequate ventilation around cooking and cleaning areas.

And I agree with the throwing the TV into the snow. God, I hate the continual MZMZMZMMZMZMZMZMZMZ!

The house is in the forests of Montana from from any human neighbors. Or if I must have neighbors, it's in the Mid West with only Amish neighbors, the nearest being 600-900 yards away.

It's set back very far away from the highway with lots of trees between the two. No one can see it from the street, and the trees act as a sound barrier. Soundproofing the walls wouldn't hurt. Nothing makes me want to go running around outside with a shotgun more than a loud car stereo and that annoying bass BOOM-BADA-BOOM-BADA-BOOM-BRAAAAAAP.

In addition to the master bedroom, an office for me and an office for my wife. NTs might call it my "man cave." It's where I spend most of my time. Lots of outlets for my computer equipment, stereo, and beer fridge.

In the country there are no street lights. Very dim night lights are good in the house, though that can be done with a trip to Wal-Mart, no need for an expensive home construction mod. But providing enough outlets for that plus normal use is nice. I prefer to do my morning routine and getting in the car for work in the dark. I strongly dislike adjusting my eyes to bright light in the morning by hitting a light switch. But that's not possible in total pitch dark of a rural township. In the cities the street lights usually provide enough light to see clearly in the house, even with the shades pulled. Not so in the country.

No built-in entertainment center. I don't watch TV.

I've always wanted a secret room that nobody else knew about

And at least a four car garage to be used as all workshop space.

Thanks for asking, blueroses. I'd like to second soundproofing, low lighting, small windows, nixing the open plan concept and de-emphasizing the media and entertainment center. I prefer carpeting for it's soundproofing qualities and I often sit and sleep on my carpeted floor.

If I were designing a space I would include a walled outdoor area. It could be very small, the important thing would be privacy. I find roof gardens and Spanish miradors very attractive.

As I spend most of my time at home, I would include a workshop/craft area. This could be incorporated with a laundry room, for instance.

My most appealing residence to date was an apartment with one small window and two translucent plastic skylights. It had the snugness of a basement apartment without the footsteps--or worse--from above.

I know that each room is required to have a window because of fire safety codes. Because of that, and because I want to be able to escape in case I need to I wouldn't design a home without a window in every room. Instead I would want windows with curtains that could be recessed into the walls, both because it would better insulate and because it would be better at keeping the light and sounds out.

If I was designing a house I would want more sound and temperature insulation between the rooms, not just in the outside walls. That way the temperature, sounds and smells could be isolated.

I would want indirect lighting. Rather than having the light directly in the middle of the room at the top of the ceiling I would design a ridge to go around the upper edge of rooms, with recessed lighting shining out from under that. Some movie theaters have lighting like this. The lights should have dimmer switches, so I can increase their brightness if necessary but keep them at a lower light level normally. I'd also like there to be dimmable skylights, because they could be darker than normal sunlight but could keep a room lit and could save a lot of money for electricity.

I would want individual temperature and humidity controls for each room.

I would design rooms so the light from one room would not be directly visible from reach another room. This could be done by making hallways curved.

I don't want any closets at all. That wastes space by putting it somewhere where it's not seen and not used. Instead, I want there to be lots and lots of shelves, so I want some kind of system built into the walls so that I can add my own custom shelves and reconfigure them to reorganize things the way I want, and change their organization if I want. There would need to be a way to build four walls for each shelf and for different shelves to share sides.

I'd like the garbage cans to be outside of the main living space, to isolate them from the rest of the house, to keep it cleaner and to keep smells outside. Maybe it would make sense for there to be some kind of windows or chutes in each room that could go out into a garbage can outside.

Soundproofing sounds wonderful!! ! Thick walls, yay!!

Kitchen/bathroom cabinets and closets that provide tools to create better organized spaces because organization can be a daunting task.

Light-blocking blinds for those who like light, but who also like to close it out when on sensory overload.

Very effective ventilation system in kitchen or other areas where scents may build up or be strong.

Beyond that, I think that modifications would depend on the individual themselves.

For me, it would be wonderful to have a room that can be organized according to constantly changing special interests
A spacious bathroom that provides a relaxing environment, as this tends to be one of my recharge areas.
Soft carpets if included
I love tactile sensations, so providing some area in the home that has different textures (nothing too rough or dry though) incorporated into it would be wonderful.

SOUNDPROOFING, SOUNDPROOFING, SOUNDPROOFING!! !! !

To me that is the most important need, anything else is simly icing on the cake, so to speak!!

I do actually like natural light and love large windows, BUT only if they have total block out curtains and blinds. I can't stand the sun coming in through them when I am trying to sleep, or if I need to be in a dark place during the day.

Carpet to me is essential, but I would love a noiseless vacuum. I simply cannot handle the noise of the vacuum and I am sure in this day and age there is some way to make them much quiter than they are.

Anything that can reduce the noise of other appliances is also good, including the fridge, washing machine, etc. Bland walls, without too much clutter. Lots of spaces to put things away!! No open plans, rooms need to be seperated, and have a purpose. Lots of space to just be me, no built in entertainment system, but lots of temperature control, light dimmers, etc. No hard corners to walk into and knock myself over on.

Lots of big trees to create privacy and natural spaces in the yard.

Oh, and easy to clean. I get so lost in the details of cleaning that sometimes I can't get done.

So things like pitted/deeply textured flooring that collects dirt are a no-no, as is unsealed grout on tiled floors or bathroom walls.
I don't know about others, but baseboards bother me. I like the look of them and understand their purpose, but the fact that they gather dust adds to my cleaning time, and thus my feelings of being overwhelmed by the task.
Flat top stoves (easier to clean)
Must have a dishwasher (quiet running though)
High quality filter system on the heating/air to reduce dust and allergens

I would like wood flooring first of all. The type of modern wood that's easy to clean. I would also like a flat top oven. I would like my bedroom to have corkboard walls, because I know that I'll want to pin up alot of print outs. I would also like a sound proof music room that has a vintage drum kit and corkboard walls to pin more stuff onto. I would also like a 50 inch TV that I can hook my Wii up to, so that I can post on WP on a screen that's a lot larger than my TV. I would also like a vintage TV underneath the large one to watch all my old shows on. I would also like a walk in closet that has an orginizer. The windows must also be double sided. I would also like a larger bathtub. I am a big girl.

Throwing the kid who lives above me out of his window. It may not be a building mod, but those swan dives off of his bed at midnight get really tiring. I wouldn't say I have noise sensitivities, but living in an apartment or in a house with kids, sound proofing or at least added insulation would be nice.