Not Ready For Retirement -- They Made The `Final Move' While They Had The Energy To Do It Right

IT'S A PROBLEM ALMOST everyone has to face at one point or another: the final move. Even those who think that their first home will be their last end up realizing as age creeps forward that it is more and more difficult to cook, clean, garden and manage a place. Nevertheless, retirement living carries with it the stigma of giving control to others and paring down priceless possessions to live in a small apartment without privacy and without the familiar neighborhood surroundings.

It doesn't have to be that way.

Norm Johnston, 77, and Jane Hastings, 67, have taken charge of their final move at a time when they are still vital contributors to the community, active world travelers and fully capable of staying put in their 2,400-square-foot Laurelhurst home. They opted for a move to one of Seattle's best-known continuing-care retirement communities, Horizon House, because the timing seemed right.

Horizon House is a private, nonprofit condominium complex on First Hill that has grown four times over three decades. The Baldwin Apartments, built in 1954, is the core of the project. It was purchased in 1961 by United Church of Christ and converted to retirement living. In 1963, the north wing, a six-story extension that houses health services, was completed. The east wing was opened in 1983; the west wing, which ambles down the hill adjoining Freeway Park, was completed a year later.

Johnston and Hastings thought retirement living was still years down the road. Johnston recalls, "We figured we would be on a waiting list or move in temporarily and then move again when the right unit opened up." But the perfect two-bedroom, two-bath unit in the complex's newest wing became available immediately, one that had a view of Freeway Park and the Washington State Convention & Trade Center from its hillside perch.

Well, it wasn't perfect. But the lack of storage, the small kitchen, the boring cabinetry, and the wall-to-wall carpeting over concrete floors were not daunting obstacles for Hastings, a fellow of the American Institute of Architects with years of experience in residential design, nor for Norm Johnston, also a fellow of the AIA, professor emeritus in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Washington, and the author of a new book, "The Fountain and the Mountain: the University of Washington Campus, 1895-1995."

Residents at Horizon House buy their units, and they are allowed to do almost anything that doesn't require structural changes. According to Joan Carufel, director of marketing, what Johnston and Hastings have done is the norm for new buyers. "People take out walls, put walls up, build bookshelves. Some have bought two, even three apartments in a row and combined them."

Renowned artists Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence have just done the latter to give each of them a studio as well as living space. They join a distinguished group of tenants that include another well-respected artist, Doris Chase, and retired University of Washington president Charles Odegaard.

With contractor Walter Toth of Toth Construction, the kitchen and bathrooms of the Johnston/Hastings unit were gutted. Hastings described the original kitchen as "a hole in the wall," especially after giving up a huge greenhouse of a kitchen in Laurelhurst. She had the false ceiling raised to permit taller cabinets, and widened the opening between the kitchen and dining room. She considered shoji screens to separate the two, but when she found out the cost of these, she opted for a less expensive solution: two standard louvered doors on rolling tracks that slip into a pocket.

The kitchen has custom oak-faced cabinets by Riverton Heights, granite counters, and upgraded white appliances and steel sink. Hastings also had oak cabinetry built adjoining the kitchen, filling an entire wall of the living room to store china and glassware. Their old house had 2,400 square feet on four levels; moving into 975 square feet meant paring down considerably, but wherever they could, they increased storage.

The apartment has benefited from new lighting, hardwood flooring, and additional height in the hallway. One bedroom has become a study for both of them, as well as guest space.

Cost of the renewal was about $70,000. That included $10,000 for floors, $22,000 for cabinets, $3,000 for granite counters, and the rest for carpentry, painting, appliances, rewiring and fixtures. They kept most of their old furniture, doing only minor reupholstery of dining- and living-room chairs and purchasing a new hideaway bed.

The couple have no regrets. Moving didn't even mean sacrificing a garden. Hastings points out the window to a row of flowers and shrubs on the terrace edge below, where a chevron pattern of evergreens, azaleas and heather forms what Johnston calls, "our linear parterre."

The home is chock full of textiles, icons, musical instruments, ceramics, statuary, building parts and art work gathered from their extensive travels to nearly every part of the world. It is very much a "his, her and our collection."

Of their new home, Hastings is adamant. "This is our last move. Someone said you're much too young to go. And I said, `We're much too old to do something like this again.' "

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Horizon House is a continuing-care retirement community that provides care for seniors with whatever health needs they may have; it's what the industry refers to as "aging in place." This means that as residents become less able to live independently, the services are on premises to enable them to stay in their apartments. Meals can be taken in the communal dining room. Assisted living is provided in small studio units. For the very ill, a skilled nursing staff meets residential needs in the same way as a nursing home. Similar facilities in Seattle include Parkshore, the Hearthstone, Bayview Manor and many more. There are also retirement communities available through rental rather than condominium arrangements. For a brochure listing options for senior living, contact the Washington Association of Homes for the Aging, 16000 Christensen Road, Suite 303, Seattle, 98188; (206) 248-7434.