Your home is a place where you should feel comfortable and safe. Unfortunately, as you get older, it can feel increasingly difficult to get around smoothly. This is totally natural but can be hard to accept, especially if you’ve lived in your home for a long time.
Of course, some people find it easier to move to a new home. But many seniors can’t afford to or don’t want to do this as they love their home, and are settled in the area. Luckily, there are plenty of things you can do to make your current space easier to live in. Read on to discover our top tips, and keep enjoying your home for years to come.
An Accessible Kitchen
Your kitchen is often the heart of the home and is certainly one of the most frequently used spaces. Having an easily accessible kitchen is important as without one, you may eventually become reluctant to cook for yourself.
You can make things easier by asking family or friends to help you re-organise the kitchen so that you can easily reach everything you need. This could include adding daily living aids to help make life safer and easier. Daily living aids such as:
You could also have your work surfaces and appliances lowered, so that you can use them sitting down, or from a wheelchair. With these changes might feel drastic now, but they can really help in the future.
An Accessible Bathroom
Many houses are designed with all the bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs. This layout can be extremely challenging for those with limited mobility. It can even be dangerous if your elderly loved one were to fall while trying to go up or down the stairs.
A downstairs bathroom can help to reduce these risks. It provides them with a convenient and accessible place to take care of their needs. A downstairs bathroom can be an essential tool for maintaining independence and safety.
If you already have a downstairs bathroom, then make sure it has a duplicate of everything you’d use in an upstairs bathroom, such as soap and any personal toiletries. If you don’t have one, you may want to consider if you could have one put in, in an existing space. Although this is a significant expense, it can make a daily difference to your comfort.
For those who may not have the space, time or even the funds to install a downstairs bathroom, another good alternative is a stair lift. This will help eliminate any pain and dangers involved in going up and down the stairs.
A number of good and easy to install daily living aids for the bathroom are:
Accessibility Around the Home
Setting up your home to ensure your needs are met is a big step in maintaining your independence. Here are a number of suitable measures you may want to take, to help make your home more accessible.
Widened doorframes:
This is particularly good to help make the home more accessible for wheelchair users. Widening the doorframes will help to make it easier to enter and exit with minimal issues.
Flat saddle boards:
Whether you are a wheelchair user, use a walker or aren’t as sure footed as you would like to be, sanding your saddle boards will help make life easier. They reduce the risk of falls and the amount of effort and strength needed to get over them. Luckily not all houses have raised saddle boards and if you do, it is a very quick fix.
Lever taps and doorknobs:
For those living with arthritis or have weakened grip in their hands or wrists, rounded door knobs and taps can be a nightmare. By swapping them out for lever arms, it will life much easier and cause you less pain. Great news, this too is a quick fix for an accessible home.
Access ramps:
Ramps can make life easier for everyone, not just those in wheelchairs or with walking aids. Even if you don’t need a ramp just yet, it can help make your home more accessible for visitors with mobility issues. They will help reduce the likelihood of tripping and they are less physically demanding then stairs.
Inside the home, buying a ramp ‘off the shelf’ that you can have installed in your existing space is often preferable. Not only is this quicker and easier, but it means you can often avoid ripping up any flooring. You should however make sure that the ramp is covered with a non-slip material.
Outside the home, you might want yo consider removing your steps and permanently installing a concrete slope. Especially if you love to be in the garden, this can be key to ensuring you’re easily able to get outside.
For more information, please feel free to click here.
Leave a Comment