How to Design a Living Space for Senior Citizens

Designing a safe space for your elderly loved one can make their daily activities easier. Taking measures such as installing extra railings and traction in potentially dangerous areas can prevent accidents. For those elderly that are confined to a wheelchair, additional improvements to the home are needed to ensure they can accomplish everyday tasks with ease. Here's how to design a living space for senior citizens.

Instructions

1. Keep everything on one level. If you live in a two-story home, keep everything your loved one needs on the main level. Convert an office or single-story room into their bedroom and ensure their daily items are easily accessible.

2. Consider lowering counter tops if your loved one is confined to a wheelchair. This will allow him to participate in normal activities such as cooking that will provide a greater sense of independence.

3. Eliminate curbs in bathrooms. Wet rooms, an open floor plan without shower curbs, are becoming more popular for senior citizens. This design allows a senior citizen to easily enter the shower in a wheelchair.

4. Install grab bars, which allow an individual to pull out of a wheelchair easily. These should be placed in showers, next to toilets and near furniture to allow an elderly person to independently move around the space.

5. Create low storage areas for items such as dishes and cooking items so they can be easily reached. Also, create low storage areas in bathrooms to store personal items.

6. Mount railings on stairs. Many elderly individuals don't need a wheelchair, but they need extra assistance while using stairs. Make sure all stairs in your home have a railing to assist with balance.

7. Use slip prevention mats in the shower. As we age, our coordination declines. Slip prevention mats help seniors keep their balance and help prevent accidents in the shower.

8. Add traction to outside stairs to prevent slips to assist in avoiding injury on rainy or snowy days when the steps can become slick.

Tips & Warnings

• Installing wheelchair ramps for entering and exiting the home will provide greater independence for seniors.

• Take a test run. If you want to anticipate challenges for your elderly loved ones, take a test run in their wheelchair. Try to accomplish normal activities as they would in the wheelchair. Every time you encounter a challenge, make a note to find a solution.