Preparing our Home for Care Giving

Three months before Gladys had her stroke, Fred and I had just downsized from a 3500 square foot home to a 2200 square foot townhouse.  Even though we downsized we still had a lot of “things” and our townhouse was not elder friendly.

We bought a three story townhouse with fairly high ceilings.  Needless to say we have lots of steps.  On the first level, Fred and I had an office.  Our bedrooms are on the third level.  Fortunately, we anticipated that we might move Gladys to Georgia so last summer we had a handicapped bathroom constructed on the first level.

Our office was not outfitted to be pretty; it was functional with wood blinds but no curtains or sheers.  The task was to make the space warm and homey for Gladys. 

The plan:

1. dismantle Fred’s exercise room on the third floor and move our office into that room
2. move the bedroom furniture (but not the mattress) from the guest room down to the first level
3. move the book cases into the guest room
4. buy a frame for the mattresses in the guest room and purchase a small chest of drawers for the guest room
5. buy new mattresses for Gladys
6. purchase a portable wardrobe for Gladys
7. purchase extra linens and towels for Gladys’ suite
8. rearrange the garage to accommodate clearance for a wheel chair and walker
9. sell, give away or throw away things we don’t use or need

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