Fun fact, when I was 9 years old, I saw a beautiful winding staircase and all I could think about was how to build a home with the staircase in it.

My dad taught me how to draw house plans to scale and 9 years later I was marching into my first architecture class at The Ohio State University. That dream shifted when I realized that balsa wood was not my friend, but I still loved staircases and was quite certain my forever home would have one.

Life has a funny way of shifting your perspective and dreams. When our second son was born with a spinal defect that caused his paralysis, we knew we needed to live in a home that helped him be as independent as possible. I soon realized I was never meant to have the home with the winding staircase, rather I was meant to create a functional, family friendly accessible nest, fully equipped with a great glass elevator.

The idea of accessiblenest started when I knew we needed functional spaces for all of us, but I didn’t want to sacrifice our unique style.

If you or someone in your family has a disability perhaps some of our home projects may be useful for you in your accessible home journey. We have transformed our builder grade 1.5 story home into our accessible nest with the help of ideas from other families like ours. It’s not perfect, and we still have more projects to go, but we are getting there. It is my dream that my son can access every part of our home to reach his full independent potential. I believe as a disability community, the best ideas come from each other, and I wish for everyone that has accessibility needs that they can have a home that functions well for them.

My goal is to think inside the box but outside the norm.

(Meaning, use what we have, but think in ways that are both affordable, creative, functional and beautiful for us). Here’s a little tour of our home projects.