Nestled near the end of a driveway, the two-story clapboard-and-stone colonial in Glastonbury, Conn., makes a subtle but firm first impression: Gracious living practiced here.
Outside the home where Greg Hughes lives with his yellow Labrador, Lincoln, retaining walls and terraced ramps tame the property's slopes and invite visitors to stroll the landscaped grounds.
Inside, polished red-oak floors, oriental rugs, elegantly upholstered walls and doorways artfully encased by carved moldings reflect the owner's style and success long before he greets visitors in his motorized wheelchair.
Hughes, 39, lost the use of his arms and legs in a car crash when he was 17. While his disability obviously has affected the course of his life, it does not define him.
Like Hughes, the house design accepts the realities of life with a wheelchair, but without compromising on comfort or style.
Experts say this is a new model for home design that everyone should embrace, even if they are young and active.
An increasingly popular concept known as universal design is based on the notion that any building should be attractive and usable by all people, regardless of age or physical ability. The idea has caught on as the population ages and people seek to remain in their homes instead of moving to retirement communities.
"It's difficult to swallow that we're all going to need these things," said Mary Jo Peterson, an interior designer from Brookfield, Conn., who specializes in creating accessible kitchens and bathrooms.
But whether from old age, a skiing accident or a hip replacement, it's a fair bet that most people will have to live with a mobility problem during at least some portion of their lives.
So some designers say any home renovation or new construction should include accessibility features such as no-step entrances, extra-wide doorways, lever door handles, no-lip showers and at least some lower counters and under-sink leg room in the kitchens and baths.
And nobody should be able to notice.
"We don't want it to look institutional," said Carol Peredo Lopez, national architecture director for the Paralyzed Veterans of America. Lopez is completing a book on accessible design. "Most of the images in our book do not look like a wheelchair user lives there," she said.
When he bought his rear lot off Chestnut Hill Road four years ago, Hughes wanted a home where he could live independently and where his two brothers, two sisters, and 12 nieces and nephews could congregate on weekends to play pool or watch the Red Sox or the Giants on the big-screen TV set.
He modified the builder's house plan to add a caretaker's apartment above the garage, move the master bedroom to the first floor and add space for an elevator.
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