Safe Surfaces: Creating Safe and Healthy Living Spaces
Safety and well-being have never been more crucial in the spaces we call home. Designers possess the power to transform clients’ living environments into havens of safety, wellness, sustainability, and anti-microbial resilience.
In this enlightening session, Paula Kennedy, CMKBD, will categorize residential surfaces into four key design domains: Universal Design, Wellness Design, Sustainable Design, and Anti-Microbial Solutions. Our homes are our sanctuaries, and it’s essential to ensure that they meet not just aesthetic, but also functional and health-driven criteria.
Attendees will explore how to create seamless transitions from the outside world into our homes while considering surfaces that support universal accessibility for all household members and visitors. Wellness-centric design principles will guide viewers as they investigate surfaces that promote physical and mental well-being. Sustainable design practices will lead designers toward choices that lessen our environmental impact, and we will delve into innovative antimicrobial solutions that contribute to germ-free living. Join us in this seminar, where we will categorize and examine these four vital aspects of surface design to craft living spaces that prioritize safety, health, sustainability, and inclusivity.
Learning Objectives:
- Categorize Residential Surfaces: Gain a comprehensive understanding of the different categories of surfaces found within residential living spaces, ranging from floors and walls to countertops and more.
- Identify Surface Considerations: Obtain an overview of surfaces that fall within these categories, and recognize the unique properties and attributes that make certain surfaces safer and more conducive to overall wellness.
- Leverage Design for Safety and Wellness: Learn how to effectively utilize existing surfaces within a home to better support the health and safety of clients, considering factors such as germ resistance, glare reduction, and universal design principles.
Safe Surfaces: Creating Safe and Healthy Living Spaces
Paula Kennedy, CMKBD
Paula’s industry experience of 25 years and her boutique firm, Timeless Kitchen Design L.L.C., is focused out of a love of kitchen and bath design. NKBA Certified Master Kitchen & Bath Designer, Certified Architectural Color Consultant, Certified Living in Place Professional. Paula is an award-winning designer and serves as a K+BB Advisory Council member, honored as an NKBA Lifetime Ambassador and is recognized as an NKBA Subject Matter Expert. She contributes to the Industry by speaking, teaching, curriculum creation, mentoring, and writing, most recently embracing topics of creativity, innovation, technology, wellness, and inclusive design. Inspiring others feeds her passion for design, mentorship, and teaching.
Safe Surfaces: Creating Safe and Healthy Living Spaces
Blum
The Blum name stands for quality, innovation and great customer service. We manufacture hardware that makes working in the kitchen easier. Each of our products has been designed carefully, with the customer experience in mind, and research to back them. We specialize in engineering and manufacturing concealed hinges, drawer systems and systems for lift-up doors. From our touch-to-open technology, to the soft-closing door or drawer, our hardware helps modernize the kitchen experience.
