A woman from Suffolk who has lived at the same house for more than 50 years is staying put after installing a Stiltz homelift in the kitchen larder to help her get upstairs.
Jane Seppings, 80, has arthritis in both knees and had a pacemaker fitted earlier this year, so using the stairs was becoming more and more challenging.
But moving from the 17th century four-bedroom farmhouse she has lived in since 1965 was not an option as Jane says the home in Weston near Beecles is ‘the perfect house’.
So the decision to adapt her home with a Stiltz Homelift – a unique domestic lift which requires no hydraulics or supporting walls and is powered by a self-contained motor that plugs straight into a standard 13amp wall socket with the lift travelling on self-supporting dual rails – was an easy one.
“I’ve lived in this house for 52 years and I cannot imagine living anywhere else,” said Jane. “It’s the perfect house and I love it. The house has had lots of building work done to it over the years and every room is a good size.
“The stairs were becoming more difficult because of my arthritis and I certainly had no intention of moving house or downsizing to a bungalow, so I thought it would be a good idea to get something in place which would make life easier.
“I wasn’t confident about getting on and off a stairlift which sits on the stairwell, so I thought why not go for one of these futuristic Stiltz homelifts instead? It’s a very clever idea and incredibly simple as it plugs straight into the wall. I didn’t want it on display though so decided to conceal it in the larder!
“It meant I had to move all the food out but it is three-foot wide and it could be hidden from view in there behind the door. You wouldn’t even know it was there. Stiltz said no problem and installed it in the larder as requested and it has made it much easier for me to move around my home. The lift travels up to a spare room which I use as a utility room for clothes so it is also extremely useful for carrying up baskets of washing!”
