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I Turned a Ranch into a WSJ‑Featured Accessible Dream — Upsizing Done Right · Around the House with Eric G®: Home Improvement Remodeling & DIY

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  From coast to coast, it's the nation's number one home improvement radio show and podcast with certified kitchen designer Eric G.
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  And co host John Dudley, a former contractor and online technology expert.
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  Delivering real fixes, smart tech and trusted advice.
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  Remodels, repairs, energy savings, smart home diy.
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  We've got your answers.
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  It's around the house.
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  Dive in and get inspired.
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  Welcome to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything about your home.
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  Thanks for joining us today.
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  I'm Eric G.
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  And we got another barn burner episode for you today.
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  We have got Wendy Glaster back in the studio for Wendy Glister Interiors.
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  Thanks for coming on the show today, my friend.
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  Thank you for having me back.
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  It's so much fun to see you at least once a month and talk about all things design.
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  I really appreciate it and I've been having a ball, so thank you.
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  Oh, we have so much fun and I love geeking out on design because that's what I've done forever and you have as well.
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  And so it's always fun.
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  And I love our topic today with empty nesters and the trends that have switched sides, shall we say a little bit.
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  Isn't that wild?
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  I know the Wall Street Journal ran a major article about it and actually talked about.
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  Yeah, it was fun.
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  They talked about some clients of mine who decided they just, they don't want to go out quietly.
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  They want to live their lives to the fullest for as long as humanly possible.
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  And so I'm seeing that honestly more and more.
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  It started probably four years ago that I started to see a real uptick in that.
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  I don't know if you saw that with your clients too, but it's just, I think people are just tired of being told what to do and told to follow all the rules and do the things you're supposed to
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  do that you should do.
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  I think should is becoming a dirty word and people want a lot more agency and so they're really rebelling against that in a major way.
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  Well, heck yeah.
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  I mean, great example, my home that I sold last year, that was only 1500 square feet.
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  The people that bought it, empty nesters and they would lived and raised their kids in a 750 square foot condo.
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  Oh wow.
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  Upsizing to the 1500 and they thought it was great.
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  So it's happening everywhere out there.
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  And you're right, those social norms that okay, you're going to retire, so you're going to get rid of the big house, get down to something small, maybe a small ranch house, and that's where you're going to spend the
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  rest of your life.
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  It's kind of out the window, I think.
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  Yeah, I just.
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  Well, one of the quotes from the client that they interviewed was just like, I'll downsize when I'm six feet under, thank you very much.
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  It's like, you go, victor, good for you.
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  But that is true.
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  I feel as parents, at least in my generation as a mother, everything.
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  All my resources, everything that I had went to raising Jake, and I did not.
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  I don't regret that on any level at all.
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  I think, though, I noticed my husband, as he started to get older, really missed space.
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  And he grew up in the country, and so his big dream was to return back to the country.
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  And now that we've made the move, it's amazing, the change in him.
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  He's so much happier and he loves to be home.
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  He makes more of an effort to come home and just be out there and be on the tractor and be on the bobcat, whatever, playing with the dog.
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  It's just.
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  It's so nice to see, because I think.
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  And I don't know if this is a part of it, honestly.
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  I mean, we could get into the sociology of all of it, but I essentially.
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  And a lot of parents kind of put their lives on hold to make sure their children get whatever it is they need once their children.
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  Yeah.
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  Are like, out of the nest, even though mine isn't completely.
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  It's like, oh, now I get to rediscover who I am, who we are as a couple, what our interests are, what our priorities are, and it's kind of an exciting new chapter instead of, oh, well, now it's time
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  to downsize and get rid of all the things we care about and leave our community behind and everyone we love and all of our routines.
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  People just aren't buying into that anymore.
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  No.
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  And I love it because as you said, everybody.
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  I mean, I sacrificed with my kids.
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  I think it's just something that naturally happens.
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  And then I think that mixed in with the pandemic and everything else of people wanting to have their space and live well in it.
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  I think that really made people reevaluate those trends that have happened.
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  And I think you mix that in maybe with how we can do aging in place that doesn't look like a ADA hotel room or a hospital room.
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  Yeah.
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  You don't even notice.
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  Yeah.
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  In fact, it actually, on a lot of levels, makes it more pretty, more attractive, more high style, more high design.
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  You have a zero threshold shower.
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  You Have a fancy bidet toilet.
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  You have fantastic lighting.
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  All these things that actually really help to age in place.
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  But you'd never know they're just good looking.
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  So that's terrific and it's fun because we're doing that with all of our projects now.
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  It's not even, I mean it's a, it's a quick conversation about how long do you want to stay in this home?
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  What's, what is your priority?
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  And then that's that.
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  And we just go forward under that assumption that they're going to want to stay.
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  So we're going to build in all these things in advance.
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  So it's easy.
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  Yeah.
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  And there's so many things you can do as you're remodeling.
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  Maybe that bathroom, that kitchen that are now just what I would call standard luxury feel items.
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  Like you said that 10 years ago were very clinical looking cooktop up and down.
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  So there's a lot of different things out there.
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  That is great because when I designed my parents kitchen I would have used that when they downsized for a good reason because they had four boys and I was the oldest and they had a 41 square 4100 square
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  foot house with seven levels.
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  And they went.
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  I don't want that many stairs.
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  I guess a lot of stairs here.
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  For the 70s houses where you got the half sunken room here and four steps down to the family room and that whole kind of late 70s feel, they went to a big one that was just A1 level but
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  they added the luxury stuff they wanted to.
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  Well, even things like you wouldn't immediately consider this aging in place.
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  But a lot of my clients are asking for heated floors because the cold affects you differently as you age.
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  Yeah.
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  And it's more jarring, it's more uncomfortable.
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  It's affects your system in a different way.
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  So we're even putting in those heated floors and just little things like.
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  Well, when you mentioned the kitchen, the first thing that came to my mind was like the wolf induction cooktop that's only 18 inches wide.
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  So if you love cooking with gas you can.
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  But if later induction makes more sense because it's not like you're going to get burned like you could with gas.
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  The pot can't fall over the way it can on a gas cooktop.
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  All these different things that are just so helpful in terms of safety but you're not sacrificing in terms of your ability to really put together a beautiful meal.
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  You can still get a great sear all those things.
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  It's just you're not going to risk having a pot of boiling water fall on top of you the way you do on a gas cooktop.
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  No question.
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  I mean, you designed your client's place that you and I were talking about.
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  That sounded like a.
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  Just a beautiful project.
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  Let's talk about that a little bit because I think that is just a great case study of people saying, no, I'm going to live my way without spending a ton of money, but just doing it right and doing
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  it so they can live their best life.
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  And as an empty nester.
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  Yeah, I think, I mean, we've done kind of both ends of the spectrum.
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  So the one that was in the Wall Street Journal was a gut job remodel of a ranch style house.
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  We raised all the levels of the floo like what you were talking about and just made it really easy for them in the long term.
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  Blocking behind shower walls, doing all these things so that if and when they needed it, it was easy.
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  They wouldn't have to do anything twice.
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  I hate asking people to spend money twice.
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  But the dentist that I had helped and his wife, we built their commercial building together first.
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  And it was really great because we were really able to establish a level of trust.
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  And I got to know them on a level that is unusual for residential just getting going.
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  Right.
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  Because I wasn't just walking in fresh with uneducated eyes as to what the priority of the couple was.
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  And once the dental office was done, they were ready to turn their attention to their private life.
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  And they'd been saving for a long time for a retreat of some sort and they just never found it.
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  So I went over and I looked at their home and I asked them a lot of questions about how they wanted to live and entertain and what this next chapter was going to look like for them and what
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  their goals were.
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  And their house just, it wasn't going to allow the things they wanted.
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  They wanted to expand their life.
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  They're very intentional about a growth mindset and they constantly push themselves and stretch themselves to the next big thing.
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  So it was funny because I was trying to kind of take it in and figure out, how am I going to have this conversation?
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  And Dr.
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  Came home from lunch, during his lunch break and took a look at my face and he said, you're going to tell us to buy another house, aren't you?
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  There you go.
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  I thought, oh, you know me so well.
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  Oh my goodness.
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  But they started looking and all of a sudden this beautiful house came up that had been built by another local designer.
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  And it really is perfect for their family and for all the community events that they just.
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  There's just one change that I'd like to make.
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  In one of the bathrooms, I'd like to add a shower so it's on the first floor because there's no shower on the first floor currently.
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  I get that.
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  But that's it.
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  And it's so much fun because now they have this giant living room where they can host Bible studies or community meetings or anything at all that they would like.
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  They have more than enough seating.
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  They have a huge dining room.
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  They have beautiful outdoor spaces, this whole outdoor living room out past their.
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  They call it their carriage house.
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  And as an outdoor kitchen, they have a beautiful Olympic sized pool, a huge lawn area.
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  They've had multiple events for their children and grandchildren, baby showers, everything.
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  And it's a place now where everyone loves to come.
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  And it's really become the center of so much of what's important to them in their lives.
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  And I'm just so happy that it turned out like that for them.
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  I mean, the job of a gut job remodel on their former home was obviously a good sized job, but it really wouldn't have served them and it didn't make sense for them to spend that money if it really
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  wasn't going to get them to where they wanted to be.
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  So it was a treat.
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  Just as they invited me to come on the walkthrough, so I'm noticing this too.
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  I don't know if you're seeing this too, Eric, but as our clients age a little bit and they try and make more strategic decisions, I'm being asked to come on property hunts with them, which is really sweet and
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  it means a lot to me to be involved on that level.
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  But that way we go in with a designer's eye.
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  We know them already really well from our former experience with them and projects that we've done with them.
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  So we know what their priorities are and what ultimately will make them happy.
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  So being involved in the house hunts, pretty fun too.
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  And this is probably the fifth time I've been invited on a house hunt with returning clients.
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  And it's just great.
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  I'm going to start another one in San Diego this weekend that's like that.
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  And it's just fun.
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  It's so fun that we have that trust and I'm sure you have it with your clients too, and that you get to see them happier and thrive more and more with each new decision.
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  Well, I think here's the thing.
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  When you're talking with people that are thinking about going to the next house.
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  And great example, I was watching kind of one of the property hunter type shows last night that was on TV as I was winding down.
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  And there's this couple looking at this bathroom that was horrific.
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  And the realtor goes, oh, yeah, we could redo this.
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  It's $5,000.
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  And they walk to the next room and now I'm screaming at the television going, other than having someone come in and paint the bathroom and maybe throw some click together flooring down, you can't do that for $5,000.
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  Not even as a DIY project.
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  You can even get started on that for $5,000.
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  So I think there's some.
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  When you've got the client's trust and they want to know, hey, what is this going to take to make this what we need to be for our lifestyle, Whatever that is, I think that's huge because sometimes bad information
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  can really lead them down the wrong road.
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  Yeah.
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  I think it's kind of a common joke among clients of mine.
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  And they have never visited together on this at all.
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  But they know.
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  They're like, oh, her smile just got bigger.
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  She's trying not to say something critical or.
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  Because, I mean, it is true.
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  People will say things on a tour of a home that are just not true.
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  And being thankfully educated the way you and I are and working in the business for so long, we know right away if that's legitimate or not.
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  Yeah.
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  Especially when they forget a zero on.
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  The end or four.
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  Exactly.
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  It's one of those things that I try not to yell at the TV anymore.
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  I'm.
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  I've grown from those experiences, but it's one of those things and it's just, okay, that's not gonna happen.
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  And.
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  But that just shows you how people don't know what they don't know.
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  And I'm not blaming them for trying to.
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  I'm gonna put words in their mouth or their intentions, but when you look at it, they don't know.
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  But unfortunately, the 20,000 people that watch that show thought, oh, I can do that for $5,000.
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  And so that becomes an education point that drives me wild.
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  But I think it's really smart to do that.
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  And I think that's a great new trend of bringing in professionals that you trust to, hey, wait a minute, am I headed down the right road?
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  Or is this going to cost me even more money?
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  Or is this an even worse decision than sticking with the house that I had?
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  Yeah.
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  I think when you said people don't know what they don't know.
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  I think as I've gotten older, I realize more and more how much.
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  How little I actually know and how much I don't know.
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  And so even.
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  I mean, sometimes I'll ask for a return trip with a trusted contractor, too, because I can be pretty sure that what I'm seeing is what I'm seeing.
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  But I don't want to make assumptions and then trap a client into spending thousands of dollars more than we thought they might have to spend.
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  So I think being able to say I'm not quite sure and I want to double check, this is perfectly fine.
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  And, you know, more power to you if you do that, because then you don't stick people with things that they don't necessarily want.
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  You don't want the remodeling contractor being the designer, and you don't want the designer being the remodeling contractor.
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  There's nothing wrong with that.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  It's good to have friends in all the different aspects of that.
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  Yeah.
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  So how did the doctor and everything turn out?
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  Are they.
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  Were they just absolutely happy getting into that place?
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  It's so cute.
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  They're.
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  I mean, they'll send me pictures of events that they've thrown.
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  Oh, Wendy, we had so much fun doing this or that.
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  Oh, Wendy, this is so fun.
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  Oh, it was cute because they had their very first Thanksgiving there last year.
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  We moved them in and bam, it was Thanksgiving.
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  And their two sons in law love to cook.
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  And so they put together their whole Thanksgiving meal menu and did it all together.
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  But the kitchen is gigantic.
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  It's gigantic.
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  And so it's fun because they can do all these things together.
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  Nobody's in anybody else's way.
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  And there's a lot of character in that kitchen, too.
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  So it feels cozy and beautiful.
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  Huge windows looking out to the backyard.
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  So they had the best time and it was so fun.
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  And they'll do that.
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  Oh, yeah, this baby shower.
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  Oh, we had this team event at our home.
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  You know, the whole dental office will come out.
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  They have 35 people that work for them now.
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  And so they have these beautiful parties out there.
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  And it's just.
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  It's fun to see them so happy.
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  Honestly, it's a treat.
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  And with kids, by the way, you got to be able to con them into coming out there.
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  So that's the thing.
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  As they get older and adult kids, you got to make it worth their while to come out there.
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  And especially if you've got grandchildren and things like that.
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  So you want to make it comfortable.
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  So having that Space to have a.
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  A guest room or guest rooms for.
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  For people to stay over.
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  To have the space to have the holiday is.
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  Whatever that means in your world, I think is super important.
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  Yeah, it's really cute because when we started the house hunt, they had two little granddaughters.
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  Now they have two little granddaughters and two little grandsons.
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  But it's cute because each little person's kind of staked out their claim.
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  And there's a special hideaway fort in one of the closets.
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  That's where Eloise goes.
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  And then, I mean, they're just the most darling little kids.
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  And they really believe that where Grandma and grandpa live, it's like a fairy house.
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  Nice, because it kind of looks like an English tutor.
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  And they're.
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  They have all these grounds and big redwoods and ferns, and so it's just this magical place where they get to grow up with Grandma and Grandpa and enjoy their time.
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  And you really couldn't ask for more.
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  And that certainly wouldn't have happened if they had downsized into a 55 and older community with Bridge.
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  I'm sorry, it's a 55.
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  I look at that and go, nope, not for me.
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  Not for me.
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  I do have a friend who moved into one of those communities recently in Arizona.
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  They do a really good job in Arizona.
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  And they have.
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  Well, they do.
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  Yeah.
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  How has the couples working together been interesting?
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  Because I know you and your husband have different needs.
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  Those two probably had different needs.
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  What are you seeing with the trends out there?
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  Because everybody's dream home, if you were to put it down on paper, is usually different in many ways.
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  That's got to be the fun compromise to try to figure out where that middle ground is.
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  That's absolutely true.
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  I would say both of them agreed that they needed a gym.
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  Okay.
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  Because they want to be strong and healthy for the long run.
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  I really admire that.
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  So that was one of the first things we located on the property.
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  Both of them wanted a really big kitchen for family to enjoy.
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  He needs an office, and she needs an office, and they need to be separate, and this house affords them that.
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  So his office is on the first floor, and it faces the front of the house and this beautiful circular driveway with the redwood trees.
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  And her office is quite upstairs and looks out over the backyard and the pool and the lawn.
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  And so they can really dig in and do their work uninterrupted.
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  And they don't feel.
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  Just because they have so much space, they don't feel obligated to share an office.
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  And I think Sometimes when you decide to downsize, you say, oh, well, I'll share an office.
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  I worked with this incredible architect who I really looked up to as a little girl growing up.
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  And he did some beautiful things in our town.
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  And I was friends with his daughters, twin daughters, and they decided that they wanted to downsize and move to the 55 and older community.
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  And they decided they wanted to share an office.
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  That's tough.
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  He's an architect and he's of the old school.
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  He draws by hand and she was models.
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  And he's got art projects where he's building three dimensional cardboard models.
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  So that's his teacher biology team.
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  And so lots of reading and research and to share one giant desk.
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  It was hard, and I think it was hard too, for them to condense a lifetime of collecting and beautiful things and art into a house half the size was very tricky to decide, well, what's ultimately the very most
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  important thing that we cherish or care about.
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  And so I kind of set a rule, Wendy, there.
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  I have never seen in my career a shared office work.
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  Well, I never have.
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  Because somebody's got to jump on a zoom meeting.
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  Yeah.
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  Somebody has to have some quiet time.
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  Somebody has to have something.
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  And it's.
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  Unless they're doing the same business and they're business partners and there's a way for them to work that out where there's a secondary office somebody can sneak out to.
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  That's a route for failure in my mind.
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  Yeah, it's interesting, Eric, because I don't think people talk about that enough.
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  I think again, there's an expectation that you should be able to make that work, but I don't think shoulds are helpful at all because everybody is different.
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  I mean, so when you say my husband and I have different needs.
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  That's absolutely true.
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  So Mark.
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  And I'm sure he'll never see this episode.
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  So it's fine.
• 21:35
  We need to bring him on sometime.
• 21:37
  We gotta.
• 21:37
  We need to do a Designing the Space episode of the Outdoor Space and let's bring him on as a guest and then we can do this live.
• 21:45
  Oh, my God.
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  He's been in the show enough with tractors that we could do that.
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  I know.
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  Yeah.
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  We could put him out in the field and place him.
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  But he talks on the phone into the.
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  On speaker.
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  Like he is going to make that his voice carry through the air to wherever the people are that are on the other end.
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  And I have a slightly different style in terms of communication.
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  We could never share an office because there's just no way.
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  I mean, I would never be able to talk to any of my subs or contractors or clients because there'd be this booming voice in the background trying to talk to somebody in name.
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  And we have different organizational styles, too.
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  I think that's the big one.
• 22:30
  Same.
• 22:31
  Same in my world, like, completely different.
• 22:34
  Dr.
• 22:34
  And Karen, they have very different organizational styles and they have very different interests that they want to pursue.
• 22:40
  And they're going to use their spaces very differently.
• 22:43
  And it would not work if they were in the same space.
• 22:46
  So there's that.
• 22:47
  If I was going to mess with Elisa, I would walk in if she had an office and she doesn't.
• 22:52
  But if she did, I could walk in and take her pen and just twist it 180 degrees.
• 22:57
  That is so.
• 22:58
  And walk off.
• 22:59
  And that would be an issue of what'd you do to my pen?
• 23:02
  Where I'm much more controlled.
• 23:04
  Chaos.
• 23:05
  Yeah.
• 23:05
  No, I want it very tidy.
• 23:07
  I'm the kind of person, too, like, I have to clean my desk before I start or I have to put all the dishes in the dishwasher before I can start to cook.
• 23:15
  I don't like a visual mess at all.
• 23:17
  I cannot take it.
• 23:18
  I get that.
• 23:19
  I get that.
• 23:19
  But that's a great illustration, though, of the things you need to have an honest conversation with yourself of how would this actually work versus so many people, and they're going through the process.
• 23:32
  The house is so exciting.
• 23:33
  We're looking at this new place.
• 23:34
  Oh, we'll make that work.
• 23:36
  No, you won't.
• 23:37
  No, you won't.
• 23:39
  I'll say that now.
• 23:40
  I mean, if you're used to having a healthy distance and then all of a sudden it's gone.
• 23:46
  I have clients, too, who did a big downsize and he had a whole wood workshop, beautiful extra, completely distinct structure that he built himself self.
• 23:57
  All these beautiful pieces of machinery and woodworking things.
• 24:01
  And they sold the house and downsized and he's retired and there's nowhere for him to go.
• 24:08
  There's nothing for him to do.
• 24:10
  And it's so sad because that was really something he enjoyed.
• 24:15
  So I just think that.
• 24:16
  I think should is our enemy.
• 24:18
  Yes.
• 24:18
  Should you call your parents and make sure they're okay?
• 24:21
  Yes.
• 24:21
  Okay.
• 24:22
  I'll give you all those kinds of shoulds, but you should follow the social norm.
• 24:26
  You should do this or that.
• 24:28
  I just.
• 24:29
  I don't believe it anymore.
• 24:30
  I think it's just a construct and it makes people miserable.
• 24:34
  Oh, yeah, Absolutely.
• 24:35
  So, Wendy, with your house, you've got the outdoor living space that is Kind of his world, I guess, if we were going to put a stick it note and call it what it is.
• 24:46
  What's your space inside?
• 24:49
  We haven't talked much about that because we've talked a lot about the tractor and the outdoor space and the barn and all that stuff.
• 24:56
  What's your side of things on your kind of upsizing?
• 24:59
  Yes, Mark is definitely in charge of the barn, and it's really cute, and he's really happy there.
• 25:04
  It's taken me a little while to get used to it because it's just.
• 25:09
  It's.
• 25:10
  It is really big.
• 25:12
  It is really beautiful.
• 25:13
  There's a huge, gorgeous garden I spend a ton of time in that I'm really happy about because I really did miss that.
• 25:19
  So, in part, I've made the garden my thing.
• 25:23
  Inside the house, it was nice because I have the space to have an office the way I'd like it to be nice.
• 25:33
  So there's really cozy seating and sofas and all my art that I love and my desk and all the practical parts of an office.
• 25:41
  And I can go up there and just kind of hide and get work done.
• 25:45
  And the insulation in the house is actually fantastic.
• 25:49
  So if my husband is downstairs watching Red Zone, which is seven hours of uninterrupted NFL football every Sunday, I can't hear it.
• 26:00
  I watch that Sunday, too.
• 26:02
  I can't hear it upstairs.
• 26:04
  And I can just plow through the work that I have to get done.
• 26:06
  And I'm surrounded by my design books and all the plants and things I have inside, so that's fun.
• 26:13
  And bathrooms.
• 26:14
  I threw Rockwool insulation in all the walls of offices and bathrooms.
• 26:18
  That's so smart.
• 26:19
  Insulate them every single time.
• 26:22
  Sometimes I won't even tell the client we're doing it because many times it's a.
• 26:26
  It's hundreds of dollars and it's just in the budget, and I.
• 26:30
  Huge difference.
• 26:31
  Yeah.
• 26:32
  Okay, so there's a 500 insulation line.
• 26:34
  Nobody goes, do I need insulation?
• 26:36
  No.
• 26:37
  Afterwards.
• 26:38
  Right.
• 26:38
  They don't.
• 26:39
  They don't question it.
• 26:40
  And I just.
• 26:40
  Again, if it's a place we have to cut down the road, it's a great, easy one.
• 26:43
  But if it can fit in the budget, if it's a decent project, I always slid it in there because no one ever complained about the bathroom or office or the other spaces with that sound not traveling through it.
• 26:56
  No one's ever complained and said, it's too quiet.
• 26:58
  No.
• 26:59
  Yeah.
• 26:59
  I don't think that would ever happen.
• 27:01
  I think that's great that you do that and I think yeah, when you talk about the bathroom too.
• 27:05
  This, this bathroom.
• 27:07
  So I loved our little house before, but it had a track home fiberglass tub.
• 27:12
  I hate them for the deck.
• 27:14
  I hate it.
• 27:15
  It's only that deep.
• 27:16
  Y.
• 27:17
  This has a real tub.
• 27:18
  And I'm embarrassed to tell you that I have not gotten in and tried it yet even though I've been here since May.
• 27:23
  What?
• 27:24
  Okay.
• 27:25
  Cuz I am ruled by shoulds to be honest.
• 27:27
  Yes.
• 27:27
  Okay, so Wendy, here is your assignment for this weekend.
• 27:30
  So you're going to take a bath in there and then the next time you're on next month, we're going to ask you.
• 27:35
  There you go.
• 27:36
  How that right now it's a platform for all the plants and growing in there.
• 27:40
  But it's fun.
• 27:41
  Cause like for the first time I've had enough.
• 27:43
  And this is embarrassing to admit too, but I've had enough room for all the skincare, hair care, makeup, all those things to be nicely displayed and organized where before it was all just crammed in.
• 27:57
  So this extra space is like.
• 27:59
  I wake up in the morning and I look around, I just think wow, God, thank you.
• 28:02
  This is pretty fun because you don't have to go scrounging for things.
• 28:06
  And it just, just, it feels so good.
• 28:08
  And I'm just really thankful for that too.
• 28:10
  I know that sounds kind of shallow, but.
• 28:12
  No, no.
• 28:13
  I don't know if it's that way down on where you're at, but those mid 70s to late 70s, even earlier 70s master bathrooms with the 36 inch vanity and the 32 by 32 shower drive me insane.
• 28:25
  And there's that.
• 28:26
  That was an era of bad bathrooms.
• 28:28
  I mean my parents had that.
• 28:29
  They had a 4,200 square foot house and the bathroom was nothing in the master bathroom.
• 28:35
  It drove me nuts.
• 28:36
  And it's.
• 28:37
  I don't know what the thought process was back there, but it just didn't work.
• 28:41
  My parents have the same thing and their home is absolutely gorgeous.
• 28:45
  And then they have the ittiest, bittiest little bathroom and their shower was like the little four sided cave thing with like the diagonal entrance and the threshold,.
• 28:57
  The two shower doors that come back.
• 28:59
  At the corner that's 8 inches tall that nobody can get over.
• 29:03
  You know, if you're, if you're injured, you can't hop over that.
• 29:06
  You'll injure yourself again.
• 29:07
  So that was one of the big things.
• 29:09
  When they were deciding to retire, it was very difficult to convince them that they needed to have a zero threshold shower and redo this space.
• 29:17
  Thank God they finally came around.
• 29:19
  So when my mom had a knee replacement, she could get in there and get nice and clean.
• 29:24
  And she loved it so much.
• 29:25
  And finally she said, oh, thank you, Wendy.
• 29:28
  This is the nicest thing.
• 29:29
  But she really fought me tooth and nailed it.
• 29:31
  Oh, yeah.
• 29:32
  I did the same thing for my mom's house as well.
• 29:34
  They were not really big fans of that.
• 29:35
  They were worried about flooding the place and everything else.
• 29:38
  And I'm like, no, we're gonna do a.
• 29:39
  We're gonna do a bathtub that you can get in and out of.
• 29:42
  And then we're gonna do a really nice 60 inch shower with zero threshold.
• 29:46
  And my mom's in a walker now, and she is very thankful for that.
• 29:52
  And that's important to me.
• 29:54
  The.
• 29:54
  The zero threshold shower is the industry standard now.
• 29:58
  It should be putting in a bidet toilet.
• 30:01
  Just put the outlet there because if you need it.
• 30:03
  And I just have this really sweet client and her mom loves to go up to Whidbey Island.
• 30:10
  She was there by herself.
• 30:11
  Oh, my God.
• 30:12
  My retirement house is Whidbey island, actually, because that's so beautiful place.
• 30:16
  Yeah.
• 30:16
  But she was up there by herself and she's a little bit older, but she was doing fine.
• 30:21
  And she got.
• 30:22
  She just didn't feel good.
• 30:23
  And a couple weeks went by and she ended up in the hospital with a uti.
• 30:27
  Yep.
• 30:28
  So I'm talking to the client now about even doing a bidet toilet.
• 30:32
  Even the Kohler veil, it's really pretty and it's a really good price point, but it's just.
• 30:39
  Yeah, you don't know what you know until you need it and then it's too late.
• 30:43
  So even if you just do a little bit of research about aging in place and what are the key things that you can do?
• 30:50
  I'm going to buy a bigger house and I'm going to do all these fun things, but I'm going to make sure I have a bidet toilet and a zero threshold shower somewhere on the property so that you can
• 30:59
  stay and enjoy it.
• 31:00
  And maybe, I mean, hope to God nothing catastrophic is going to happen.
• 31:04
  But maybe you twist your ankle or maybe you need a elbow surgery or then use a wand in your shower and have a B0 threshold so you can get in and out.
• 31:14
  It's not a ton.
• 31:15
  It's just smart.
• 31:17
  Well, and bidet toilet seats are not the $25,000 thing that it was for five to seven years ago.
• 31:23
  There are so many companies out there that are making nice stuff.
• 31:27
  You can buy the Whole toilet Now instead of 25 grand for three or four grand depending on who you're talking to.
• 31:33
  And I mean you can go space age and spend a nutty amount of money if you want to.
• 31:38
  But that would make me nervous though.
• 31:40
  It has so many things.
• 31:42
  Oh yeah,.
• 31:45
  I want it to work.
• 31:46
  But I tell you what, waking up in the middle of the night and having that little bit of light on it so you don't have to turn all the lights on to go to the bathroom is not a
• 31:53
  bad safety thing.
• 31:54
  True, very true.
• 31:56
  And you know where all the aging in place projects I've done have that and everybody is grateful because it's just, it makes a big difference.
• 32:04
  Less trips in and out of the hospital and things like that.
• 32:07
  So I just.
• 32:08
  Yeah, just little things that you can do to make your forever home truly your forever home so you can stay and enjoy it.
• 32:16
  And lighting is such a key thing too for people to pay attention to out there as well as you're getting older.
• 32:21
  And this isn't really an aging in place episode, but it's one of those things if you're searching for that upsize forever home.
• 32:27
  Take a look at the lighting because you need a lot more of it at 55 than you do at 25.
• 32:33
  They say up to 75% more.
• 32:35
  Yeah.
• 32:36
  Lighting.
• 32:37
  And then my dad is kind of going through.
• 32:40
  It's tough because he's, he was a jeweler in his professional career and he's an artist and he's always done very highly detailed work.
• 32:48
  But now he's experiencing macular degeneration and it's hard.
• 32:54
  And I mean we put in 5,500 like in his little office because he can't see.
• 33:00
  And then the, the really close up detail lighting just fixtures themselves on his desk so he can see.
• 33:09
  But.
• 33:10
  Well, it's crazy.
• 33:11
  You just don't anticipate you're going to need those things until you're there and then you can't.
• 33:17
  You're kind of stuck.
• 33:18
  Heck, in restaurants I need it.
• 33:20
  I'm grabbing my phone because many times I'm like, I can't read this.
• 33:24
  I need a thousand more lumens on this so I can see what's going on.
• 33:27
  A lot of them are doing those cute little rechargeable lights with those itty bitty and those are so cute.
• 33:34
  And they're kind of romantic too.
• 33:36
  And those are easy.
• 33:37
  You can put those all over your house or even outdoors in outdoor entertaining space.
• 33:42
  Space.
• 33:42
  And it makes it look kind of more magical.
• 33:44
  And yeah, we were out there and they put the nice little rope lighting underneath the bar top so I could just take a close look at it.
• 33:51
  I'm like, that was handy.
• 33:52
  That was cool.
• 33:53
  Doesn't have to be too bougie.
• 33:55
  I just need some light, Right?
• 33:56
  Yes, exactly.
• 33:57
  My husband's always saying, let there be light.
• 34:00
  He has brown eyes and I have blue eyes.
• 34:02
  And I've heard now there is science that say, says people with brown eyes are not as sensitive to light as people with blue eyes.
• 34:12
  So when he turns on every light in the kitchen at 5 o' clock in the morning, that's harder for me than it is for him, but that's okay.
• 34:20
  So Elisa's got blue eyes.
• 34:22
  Mine are hazel.
• 34:23
  I need four times the light.
• 34:24
  She does.
• 34:25
  Do you?
• 34:26
  Oh, yeah.
• 34:26
  It's not clothes.
• 34:28
  Yeah.
• 34:28
  I think that things like that are, ergo, the reason for two different offices for two different people.
• 34:36
  Exactly.
• 34:37
  I think it's smart.
• 34:38
  I know.
• 34:38
  And it's tough for people out right now because so many people out there, I know, had those 3% interest rates.
• 34:43
  Right.
• 34:44
  And maybe they've been in the house for seven, eight years and they're like, wow, I like that.
• 34:49
  Now with the new interest rates and stuff, people are like, ooh, it's a little.
• 34:53
  It's just raised again yesterday.
• 34:55
  So fun.
• 34:57
  Lots of good remodels coming up in the future, I think, Eric, I'm seeing.
• 35:01
  New builders in my area that are building new houses.
• 35:03
  They actually are running promotions right now that are pushing.
• 35:06
  They're buying down the interest rate 2 points to get people in.
• 35:11
  That's the hook.
• 35:12
  But that's what it takes sometimes to get it with new homes.
• 35:15
  And so, yeah, I think remodels are going to be big for the next year.
• 35:18
  And for the people wanting to upsize, they've got to play it right at the same point.
• 35:22
  It's a buyer's market in many places.
• 35:24
  Well, and too, if you're looking at your forever home and the quality of life that you want to live and you've lived a good life and you've planned in advance like Dr.
• 35:32
  And Karen did, it's not the same as just starting off.
• 35:37
  I mean, you can afford to do the things that you really want.
• 35:41
  And I think that's still in the house.
• 35:43
  Right.
• 35:43
  And you're gonna.
• 35:44
  You've probably mostly paid off.
• 35:45
  And so if you're flipping that money over, there's not really the big interest rate hit that the one that you maybe raised the kids in for 30 years.
• 35:54
  Agreed.
• 35:55
  Yeah, exactly.
• 35:56
  Exactly.
• 35:57
  Most of life is just trying to be prepared.
• 36:00
  And if you really have prepared and you've been intentional about it, then it's a little bit easier to get to where you want to go.
• 36:08
  Wendy, before we run out of time, I want to talk about your business here real quick and talk about that.
• 36:12
  Sounds like you're busy going down to San Diego.
• 36:14
  I like that.
• 36:15
  I'm so excited and grateful.
• 36:18
  Yeah.
• 36:19
  So this is a return client.
• 36:20
  This will be the third home I've done for them.
• 36:22
  Nice.
• 36:23
  Each one, they thought they'd age in place.
• 36:26
  Yeah, well, there's nothing wrong with upgrading.
• 36:29
  Yeah, exactly.
• 36:30
  They just bought a home with a beautiful view right at the street from their son so they don't have to fight traffic all the time.
• 36:36
  And I get to go down there and work with them on that.
• 36:38
  But yes, we have a lot of projects, a lot of new builds, things that have been in the works for a couple of years, and a lot of gut job remodels of customers who want to stay in their
• 36:50
  home long term.
• 36:51
  It's just fun to see people live out their dream and arrive at where they always wanted to arrive at and live out the hopes that they always had, that they would come to this place and really be able
• 37:03
  to enjoy it.
• 37:05
  So I'm very blessed and grateful to have so many clients who are thoughtful and preparing for things, and then they invite me along, which is really nice.
• 37:15
  Yeah.
• 37:15
  And the fun part too, Wendy, is that people that maybe have been in that home for 20 years or so that haven't done a lot of projects, I think it's fun to show them what's out there in new
• 37:23
  products and the new world of stuff out there, because what was done maybe 10 or 15 years ago has changed so much since then of what you can do in a.
• 37:32
  It's interesting that you bring that up because I'm working with a client now.
• 37:35
  They built their home 30 years ago and they're going to stay.
• 37:39
  And it is a beautiful place.
• 37:41
  And when they were building their home, they had Corian as an option.
• 37:47
  Granite was just kind of becoming a thing, and that was it.
• 37:52
  Now all of the marble, Borghini and Calacatta Oro and all of these beautiful things.
• 37:59
  And it's so new to the both of them.
• 38:02
  And she's become kind of like a marble expert.
• 38:05
  She could go to work for a showroom like da Vinci Marble in the Bay Area, and she's having so much fun just learning about the new materials and deciding how they're all going to come together.
• 38:17
  How's the pearl of Anati going to look with the Borghini and it's just so exciting just to see them.
• 38:24
  And then even the appliances, the Sub zero wolf and what they carry.
• 38:28
  And because everybody wants a fancy, pretty kitchen and they wanna make it easy, the steam oven, which is out of this world four minutes.
• 38:37
  Yeah.
• 38:38
  And you'll never burn anything ever again as long as you live.
• 38:41
  See, I mean, that's handy.
• 38:44
  So all of that is.
• 38:45
  And the seam ovens are great for those.
• 38:47
  Refreshing of last night's leftovers too.
• 38:50
  Yes.
• 38:51
  Because it doesn't cook the meat anymore.
• 38:52
  If you stick it in the microwave, you end up with leather.
• 38:55
  But if you put it in the steam oven, it comes to temperature and that's it.
• 38:58
  So it's really cool.
• 39:00
  So, yeah, we're having a lot of fun with all the new and exciting gadgets and things.
• 39:05
  Very cool.
• 39:05
  So, Wendy, how do people find you before we head out?
• 39:08
  You can find me at Wendy Glaister Interiors G L A I S T E R on the web and on Instagram.
• 39:16
  And I try to post often our little adventures, especially in stories not quite as curated, but at least you know what's going on.
• 39:22
  So thank you, Eric.
• 39:24
  I appreciate you giving me that minute to talk about my little spot in the world.
• 39:29
  No problem, Wendy.
• 39:30
  Thanks for coming on.
• 39:31
  And it's always a pleasure sitting here chatting with you about the trends that you're seeing because we get in our own little world so much.
• 39:38
  It's nice to hear what's going on in the rest of the United States.
• 39:41
  No, thank you so much.
• 39:42
  I really appreciate it.
• 39:44
  All right.
• 39:44
  I'm Eric Cheeb.
• 39:45
  You've been catching around the house.