Renovating a home is a huge project to undertake and can present you with a different set of challenges depending on your life stage. If you’re a senior citizen renovating their home or an adult planning for your future, understanding certain strategies to approach this project can be helpful. Homes can easily be made elder-friendly by properly planning and implementing a few simple strategies. This blog offers you a complete toolkit for home renovation tips for the elderly.
Make Your Home Easily Accessible
While proceeding with a renovation, it can be helpful to relook at your internal layout and see if any changes can be made to make your home more accessible in terms of moving around the space. Consult your architect or interior designer and plan the rooms of your house such that they minimise unnecessary back and forth movement and create a good flow along with all the rooms and make it workable.
Minimise Level Differences in Your Home
To make a home elder-friendly and easy to move around in, it is also important to look at the different levels in your home. Is your kitchen on a higher platform than your dining room? Are the bathrooms at a higher level than the rest of the room? Levels can make it difficult to use these spaces, especially when they are so frequently needed. Try and minimise the level differences while renovating your home to create an even-levelled floor across the house, making it easier to walk around.
Add More Functionality to Your Bathrooms
Bathrooms are spaces that require special attention while designing or renovating a home because it is such a primary requirement and, therefore, can be challenging to get the design right. While redoing the senior-citizen-friendly bathroom, some helpful tips are adding extra seating near the tub or shower, adding easy-to-grab handrails for better comfort, and using non-slippery materials for flooring.
Opt for Durable and Long-Lasting Furniture
If you are a senior citizen looking to redo your house, a good approach is to make decisions for the long term that can be made just once and forgotten about. One such decision is opting for durable and long-lasting furniture. This might involve some thorough research during the selection process but will ensure that you don’t have to worry about these pieces again.
Choose furniture that is easy to clean, requires very less maintenance, and will age well. Furniture pieces such as dining tables, bed frames, and closets are generally fixed pieces that don’t need to be moved around. These can be chosen in good quality wood, metal, and durable glass. It is best to go for lightweight pieces that can be easily moved or dragged around without hassle for movable furniture. These pieces can also be made more convenient by adding wheels underneath them or making them in a lighter but long-lasting material.
Lower Your Kitchen Shelves
The kitchen is the heart of any home and has daily frequent use. Due to this, it becomes one of the most important spaces to plan well during a renovation. Ensure that the layout of your kitchen works well for you to use it and move around freely in it.
Don’t opt for storage that requires a lot of physical labour. Consider lowering your kitchen shelves so that they are reachable from a standard upright position and don’t need any extra effort like climbing up on a stool or bending down a lot. This will suit your needs for a longer duration and make the kitchen safe to use. Also, consider opting for easy, push-pull trolleys and cabinets that don’t take a lot of effort to operate.
Brighten up the Space with Better Lighting
Lighting can make or break a space. One of the easiest and most budget-friendly ways to renovate your house for your retirement years is to invest in good lighting. It will serve its purpose of brightening up the space and letting you see everything clearly, but it will also help create a cosy ambience in your space and make it more comfortable to live in.
Choosing appropriate light fixtures in the kitchen and the living room is necessary so that the entire space can be well-lit and easily accessible. The bedrooms and the recreational areas can have more ambient lighting, which helps set a relaxing mood. Also, make sure that these lighting systems are easy to operate and involve minimum switches and movement around the room.
Invest in a Smart Home and Helpful Technology
Technology is fast becoming a helpful assistant to our everyday needs, and a lot of things are now available at the click of a button. It is convenient for us to delegate or automate tasks. Also, it is a good choice in terms of ensuring security.
Installing a video door phone or an intercom system that lets you know about the movement outside your house is a good way to take preventive security measures. Automating lights and appliances on timers, getting lockable windows and balcony doors, and installing other smart home features can help you lead a much smoother everyday life.
Home renovation can seem daunting when thinking about your senior years, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be. By adopting the above strategies, it is easily possible to design an elder-friendly home for the long term. HomeLane helps make your choices easier through its easy 3-step process that lets you discover, design, and move into your space without any hassle.
