Millersville remodeling firm's work included in book with ideas promoting independence for aging homeowners

A bathroom remodeling project by a Lancaster County contractor featuring a wheelchair-accessible shower will be included in the new book "Gracious Living: Home Design for Your Future," to be published next month.

The tome, targeted to homeowners and illustrated with more than 200 color photos, is a compilation of ideas and suggestions on how to design dwellings for greater independence as people age.

MBC Building & Remodeling LLC, a full-service remodeling company in Millersville, submitted the project for inclusion in the book. The owner of the business, Mike Blank, is a Certified Aging-In-Place Specialist.

What the designation means, he said, is "easier living in your house for a lifetime."

Blank is also president of the Remodelers Council of the Building Industry Association of Lancaster County.

Matt Blank, MBC's marketing director and the son of Mike Blank, said they decided to enter the bathroom project because it fit the criteria of what the book was trying to showcase.

The remodel, done several years ago, involved modernizing a master bath in a condominium and making better use of its space. At the time, the homeowners were in their late 50s or early 60s.

The original bathroom boasted a soaking tub "that nobody ever used" and a "small, tiny, little shower" measuring 30 inches wide, Mike Blank said.

"It was great for someone who took baths all the time" but not for someone who showered, he said.

Walls also divided parts of the bathroom.

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Millersville remodeling firm's work included in book with ideas promoting independence for aging homeowners