People who are ageing or live with elderly parents or grandparents may need a home setup that is suitable for senior citizens. It’s a fact that when people grow older, they get weaker and more dependent on younger family members. Simple chores around the house like reaching out to fetch things kept on high shelves, opening door knobs, climbing stairs or even getting up from the sofa or chair with ease can turn into a daunting task for them. In this blog, we are going to give you some useful tips to make your home elderly-friendly so that the senior family members can feel more comfortable and safer while being home.
Ways To Make Your Home Elderly-Friendly
Below are some useful ideas that help you in making a living space suitable for an older resident.
- Simple and Less Crowded Layout
- Choose Higher and More Comfortable Beds
- Install Grab Bars
- Keep Your Floors Slip-Resistant
- Keep Your Home Well-Lit
- Lever Style Hardware and Rocker Switches
Simple and Less Crowded Layout
Redesign your living room to make space for the elderly members to move around easily without bumping into furniture or knocking over. Choose clean, clutter-free layouts that ensure comfortable and spacious passage. For an elderly-friendly home, you can opt for an L-shaped sofa along with a round centre-table to allow free passage while maintaining an elegant living room layout. A smaller table stands, which can be easily moved, placed close to the sofa wouldn’t become a hindrance in the traffic flow in your home.
Pro Tip: Smaller furnishings, such as puffy sofas, can also come in handy and occupy less place if someone wants to put their feet up while lounging at home.
Choose Higher Furniture
Low height furniture, most of the time, makes it hard for the elderly family members to get up or sit down without any support. So, it would be ideal for them to have higher furniture items in their bedrooms and even in living rooms or common areas where they usually sit or spend their time lounging. Try going for furniture pieces that are of a standard height, which means it’s a definite no to low-seating dining tables or on-the-floor diwans.
Install Grab Bars
With no support installed, a bathroom can be a hazardous place, especially for older people as there always remain chances of slip or fall accidents that can be life-threatening for them. The rate of Injuries in getting on and off the toilet seat is quite high in people belonging to the age group of 65 and older. Grab bars should necessarily be installed as they act as additional support, helping elderly people in safely sitting down or getting up.
Pro Tip: A grab bar can also be used as a towel rail to desirably increase the functionality of a bathroom
Keep Your Floors Slip-Resistant
Like we discussed, fall incidents can be life-threatening for aged people, the best way to set up an elderly-friendly home is to have a slip-resistant floor. Wet areas, especially in the bathroom and kitchen area are dangerous zones for the elderly. Installing an anti-slip floor is the best thing you can do to minimise the risk of accidents and make these areas safer. You can choose from a wide range of home floorings in Pakistan and go with the most appropriate option in this regard.
Pro Tip: If changing or installing flooring is not an option for you, then consider covering the floor with anti-slip rubber mats, which are easily available in the market.
Keep Your Home Well-Lit
With so many options available for home lighting in Pakistan, you can easily come up with a home setup having adequate lighting arrangements to make it easier for the family elders to move around. Make sure all parts of your living space are well-lit, especially in the living room where you have the most furniture as shown in the picture above. This effectively minimises the risk of fall incidents and injuries. Moreover, having large windows around your house will fill up your living space with natural light during the daytime, helping elderly members to easily navigate their way.
Pro Tip: Keeping your home well-lit is also one of the most effective ways to make your home look bigger.
Level-Style Hardware and Rocker Switches
Younger people don’t have to put in much effort in turning a doorknob, but for elderly people, it can actually be quite a chore, even painful experience, especially if they have arthritis or other health conditions hampering their physical activities. If that’s the case, try replacing doorknobs with lever-style hardware, which can make life easier for the elderly residents of a home.
Pro Tip: You can also install lever on faucets fitted on wash basins and kitchen sinks. Moreover, rocker switches with a lever-style layout can also be a part of an elderly-friendly home. They are easily available in the market and are better than the conventionally used toggle light switches.
These were some useful tips to make your home elderly-friendly. If you want to add something here based on your personal experience that can make this blog more helpful, don’t hesitate in sharing it with us at blog@zameen.com. Your valuable feedback means a lot to us and helps us come up with even more informative pieces.
Meanwhile, you can check out our blogs about ways to choose the right colour palette for your bedroom and discussed ideas for kid’s friendly decor. Also, don’t forget to read about how to prepare your home for a remodelling project and get a home suitably designed for senior citizens.
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