I am watching the same episodes of This Old House. It has indeed been a fascinating season.
The problem with finding peer-reviewed articles is mostly related to nomenclature, or finding the best search terms. In this case, it is not all all obvious.
Architects and the construction trades use the phrase "universal design" to designate approaches that make life easier for the the aged and disabled. That phrase, however, is also used in a number of entirely unrelated contexts, so it inevitably retrieves some irrelevant results. The phrase "aging in place" is also pertinent, but its meaning is broader, extending from specific concerns about design to public policy that promotes the cause of helping the elderly remain at home as long as possible.
Here is how I found reasonably good, but not great, search results:
1. Connect to the Academic Search Premier database.
2. Enter a search similar to the following, also clicking on the filters "Full Text" and "Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals" a little further down the search screen:
This will retrieve a number of relevant articles, and their references may give you leads to others if these prove insufficient.
James Shaw, Government Documents Librarian, Criss Library, UNO; jshaw@unomaha.edu