When decorating our home, most of us like to match the flooring to the window coverings and dress the rooms with cushions, throws and other ornamental items. But one couple from Gloucestershire have taken it a step further by blending a rather different and unusual product into their pink-coloured living room and master bedroom.
Jane Randall, 59, and her husband Peter, 70, have lived in the four-bedroom detached house they share in Stroud since 2000, and they have it decorated just the way they like it. But a little over a year ago Jane began to experience trouble with her legs and climbing the stairs started to become a chore.
“I used to get everything I needed for the day from upstairs and bring it downstairs as I couldn’t face having to go back up again such was the discomfort in my legs,” says Jane.
“In the end, it was clear we had to do something about it but there was no way we were moving house or downsizing to a bungalow. A stairlift certainly did not appeal. They are so old-fashioned and, quite frankly, an eyesore as it is usually something you see as soon as you enter somebody’s house. A friend of mine saw an article in a magazine about these compact home lifts so we investigated and ended up buying a Stiltz Lift.”
Until recently, home lifts were either almost completely unheard of or considered an exclusive, luxury purchase. However domestic lifts have become much more affordable and risen in popularity as customers demand a more attractive solution to helping them move around their home. Typically, they are favoured by older home owners or those looking to ‘future proof’ their properties before mobility issues even arise.
After an initial site survey by the Stiltz home lift team, the Randall’s decided the living room would be the ideal place for their lift with it travelling up into the master bedroom above. Only minor structural alterations needed to be made and as the lift is installed in modular sections, it took just one day for it to be installed.
Unlike most traditional home lifts, Stiltz lifts are powered by the very quiet self-contained drive system which is housed out of sight at the top of the lift. The whole lift plugs into a standard domestic 13amp power socket – just like any other household appliance.
Keen for it not to disrupt the bright and beautiful pink colours of the living room and master bedroom, the couple chose the optional colour matching service and requested that the lift be powdered-coated in a matching shade of pink.
The results – as you can see – are fantastic. It proves you really can blend anything into the colour theme of a room.
“The lift blends into the décor of both rooms quite magnificently,” said Jane. “You wouldn’t even know the lift was there, it’s so unobtrusive. You can’t really see it and now all I do is step into the lift, push a button and upstairs I go.”
Visit Website: www.stiltz.co.uk
