Clever Ways to Make Your Home Elderly-Friendly – Domestic Lifts

The grandparents are getting older and you need to think of some clever ways to make your home elderly-friendly. Even though my parents are not that old, I have been thinking about ways to make my home more elderly-friendly. Our family all have terraced properties which means some modifications might be needed although not essential. Simple things like adding stair rail, creating space in your home, and installing handrails for the bathroom can be made.

Home interior updates more often than not are costly adventures, thinking about *installing domestic lifts or stairlift, that will definitely cost you a pretty penny but if its something that you actually need then its an investment for the future and for your family. If you want to make some changes to your home to make it elderly-friendly but can’t afford to at the moment, I thought these affordable but clever ways to make your home elderly-friendly might be helpful.

*This is a collaborative post*

Clever Ways to Make Your Home Elderly-Friendly

The festive season is almost upon us and most of us will be welcoming our elderly family members into our homes. Although mum and dad are not that elderly, I have been adapting my home to make it more suitable for them especially as my mum has a dodgy knee so stairs are a problem sometimes for her but I have stair rail she can hold onto when trekking up and down. There are so many things you can do to make your home more elderly-friendly without breaking the bank.

Back when I was working for at a care home (way back when) we always performed risk assessments on the entire building to ensure it was more friendly for the residents and most times it make removing some furniture from specific rooms or installing lifts in certain rooms or popular areas. Whilst most of us will not be updating our homes with lifts and mobility equipments, we will at some point have to at some point but in the meantime, try this clever ways (that) make your home more elderly-friendly.

Create Space

One that the you will find you need to make your home more elderly-friendly is by creating space around your home. This can be as simple as getting rid of the living room table, removing some furniture in the bedroom or turning your conservatory into a lounge area with a lot of space for the family. Even though I have a large house, I am always looking for ways to create more space in my home, I hurt bumping into things.

Elevate your Furniture

As we get grow older, things closer to the ground became more and more difficult to use. I spend a lot of time complaining about chairs that are too low to the ground as they are a struggle to get out of and I am only a young adult. Imagine how much more difficult it must be for the elderly, I, therefore, recommend elevating your furniture to make it higher up so that the elderly family members to easily get in and out of them.

Furnish your Home with Anti-slip materials

This is something I learned working in a care home and supporting those in assisted living that it goes a long way installing anti-slip floors in the bathroom or even the kitchen. Especially for homes with a lot of tile flooring, it makes sense when older people are visiting to install something for them that will prevent falling and this could even be something as simple as buying them anti-slip slippers so they can move around your home without fear of falling.

Install Hand Grab Rails

Another clever way to make your home more elderly-friendly is to install grab rails especially in the bathroom and entrance of your home. For most, the bathroom is probably the most important room to install the hand grab in to make it accesible. It might even make sense to add a chair in the bathroom, somewhere they can rest after using the bathroom.

Light up your Home

When I bought my home, I was happy to learn I have lighting under the cupboards, this is something that is essential for the elderly. One thing I want to change and absolutely recommend is the lighting on my landing as well as the hallway. I don’t know why but I never better lighting and even better chandeliers as someone are great for obscuring the light but others make the room brighter. I still have a lot of work to do when it comes to lighting in my home.

What are some of the changes you will be making to your home to make it more elderly-friendly?