Paralympic Swimmer Mallory Weggemann Opens Her Accessible Minnesota Home to AD

Kelly Dawson
·5 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Mallory Weggemann can get her own coffee in the morning. She can shower alone. She can sit with her husband, Jay Snyder, and their dog, Sam, on their porch in the afternoon, watching the sun fade from the sky before cooking dinner in a kitchen where every detail is within reach. “There isn’t one corner that I can’t access, or something where I have to ask Jay, ‘Can you come help me?’” she says. “It’s possible for me to be my full self in the place we call home.”

It might seem like a three-time Paralympic swimmer with a gold medal and an invitation to compete in the upcoming Tokyo Paralympic Games doesn’t mind a challenge. And while that’s true, there’s a difference between setting public career goals and competing against private spaces. As a wheelchair user who’s paralyzed from the waist down, Weggemann is like millions of Americans who’ve struggled to find an accessible home. She wanted to be able to leave or enter a room on a whim with the same confidence she has jumping into a pool.

“Nothing about our kitchen says that it’s accessible,” she says. “It’s a beautiful kitchen, and I can use it comfortably, but there’s nothing about it that screams, ‘This is how we make space for Mallory.’ My husband and I can both enjoy it, and that’s really important.”

“When we were looking for a home, it was a very long process,” says the author of Limitless, an autobiography published earlier this year. “We lived with my parents for years to save money, knowing that creating accessibility often comes at a cost.” As they toured houses around Eagan, Minnesota, each one presented familiar traps for her wheelchair: Islands were too close to kitchen counters, doorframes were too tight, and floors lacked smooth transitions.

“I remember feeling so defeated by the number of barriers we encountered,” Weggemann says. “Some homes were brand-new and had never been lived in, but they couldn’t accommodate the turn radius of my chair.”

Weggemann describes her style as a “crossover” between traditional and modern. “There are also some Craftsman-like details in this house,” she says. “Even though this home is essentially a new build, it has a lot of character.”
Weggemann describes her style as a “crossover” between traditional and modern. “There are also some Craftsman-like details in this house,” she says. “Even though this home is essentially a new build, it has a lot of character.”
Courtesy of Jeremy Snyder

Weggemann was ready to quit the search and build from scratch when they discovered this four-bedroom modern farmhouse, which was constructed by former owners to accommodate a wheelchair user. “I wheeled into the front door and the threshold was flush with the porch. All of the flooring is easy to cross, and the bathroom is wide and feels like a spa. Most of the kitchen storage is made up of lower cabinets. They even remembered to place the electrical panel closer to the floor,” she says. “I saw a home where my husband and I could just be, where we could grow our life together and I wouldn’t feel like I was constantly fighting the environment.”

In the three years since they moved in, Weggemann and Snyder have cultivated a style that feels timelessly cozy, relying on a mostly neutral palette with leather accents that would make Studio McGee proud (“I love Dream Home Makeover,” she says). Weggemann’s office is distinguished by bright red paint, energizing her to pursue pool-free projects like her book and the couple’s production company. “The office is probably my favorite room in the house, besides the porch,” she says. They’ve hosted Thanksgivings and Christmases, summer barbecues and birthday parties, and Weggemann is proud to make her address a place where guests are welcome.

“The office is where I can tap into my creativity. I can sit and work for hours and hours, or really, for months and months,” she says. “It’s where I wrote Limitless.”

A006_C005_0113VQ

“The office is where I can tap into my creativity. I can sit and work for hours and hours, or really, for months and months,” she says. “It’s where I wrote Limitless.”
Courtesy of Jeremy Snyder

She has plans to install a fireplace in the living room—joking that it’s mysteriously missing in this Minnesota home—and hopes to turn a bedroom into a nursery soon enough. For the moment, she’s relishing the hideaway she calls the recovery room, which is adorned with her Team USA gear and an American flag. “It’s where I have my uniform and all of my recovery tools, like a massager and foam roller. There’s also a daybed and television in there, so I can rest,” she says. “Making time to relax my mind and body is just as important as the more grueling aspects of training.”

One of Weggemann’s favorite areas of the home is the wide porch, where she and her husband spend time with their dog, Sam. “I hope to sit here and watch our kids play in the yard one day,” she adds.
One of Weggemann’s favorite areas of the home is the wide porch, where she and her husband spend time with their dog, Sam. “I hope to sit here and watch our kids play in the yard one day,” she adds.
Courtesy of Jeremy Snyder
See the video.

As she looks ahead to the Paralympic Games, which take place August 24 through September 5, Weggemann has every intention of bringing happy photos, good-luck letters, and a handmade blanket a friend stitched together to Tokyo. But for now, she’s happy to have accomplished the goal set out by every homeowner.

“To me, home is a place that’s warm and inviting, but also a place that brings out the best version of you,” she says. “There’s so much love in this house, it’s such a safe space to land, and it empowers me to go out and try to conquer the world.”

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest