Finding your forever home is a beautiful experience. You see a home that you not only buy, but love so much you never want to live anywhere else ever again. Finding a forever home is a dream every person should strive for, but a home you plan to live in for the rest of your life will have to change with you as you grow older. It is a bittersweet fact of life that a long life can bring wisdom and happiness but also makes us less mobile and independent than we were in the past. This means certain features in your home may no longer be realistic, or you may need to add new features to help make living in your home easier. Aging in place can be a wonderful experience for a homeowner, but it requires you to rethink how you remodel your home. As a Sun City home remodeler I have worked with many homeowners looking for home remodels geared toward aging in place. Here are a few tips to remodel your forever home with your golden years in mind.
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Accessible kitchen
Cooking in a beautiful kitchen is one of the many joys of homeownership, which is why you want to design a kitchen that allows you to easily cook throughout your older adult years. Ease of access is everything when you are designing a kitchen that works for seniors.
Accessible kitchens for older adults means installing lower countertops. Anything between 28 and 30 inches is perfect for seniors since they allow you to use your countertops from a seated position. You can also do multilevel countertops meaning your countertops sit at different heights to accommodate everyone. The edges of your countertops should be rounded for safety reasons. Kitchen falls are common and you don’t want to hit your head on a pointed edge.
I recommend low maintenance countertop materials such as quartz or granite. These materials are easy to clean and are durable. The less maintenance the better in an accessible kitchen.
Drawers and pull out shelves are a big plus in an accessible kitchen. They are easy to open and don’t require you to deal with blind corners or bend down and reach into a deep cabinet. You shouldn’t dig around inside your cabinets when you are older. You should simply open a drawer or pull out a shelf, see exactly what you need, and grab it.
Upper cabinets should be 3 inches lower than conventional height. You want to avoid having to stand on anything in order to reach for something in your cabinet.
Lastly you want to install a shallow kitchen sink. Deep basin sinks are very popular right now but they are not always ideal for aging in place since it is harder to clean and take things out of a deep sink.
Make your kitchen easy to access as you age. Cooking is one of life’s great joys and you don’t want your kitchen to age you out of cooking.
Install accessible bathrooms
The bathroom is the most important area of the home to remodel while aging in place. It is simply a safety issue. The bathroom is one of the most common areas for older adult falls. Everyone knows the all-too-common story of someone slipping in the shower and breaking their hip. As your mobility decreases and the consequences of falling become greater, you need to remodel your home with fall prevention in mind.
Remodeling for fall prevention means installing safety features such as Knurled grab bars with an anti-slip grip, curb-less shower entrances, shower seats, wide doorways, and anti-slip flooring.
Grab bars should be placed near the shower seats, in the center wall of the shower, and near the toilet. This will ensure you have something to hold onto in every area of your bathroom. A wide and curb-less shower means you can avoid potentially tripping over the ledge of the shower. It will also give you ample room to enter the shower with a wheelchair or walker if you need it. A shower seat helps prevent slipping because you can’t slip if you are sitting down.
It is essential that when you remodel the floor of your shower use unslick surfaces such as matte porcelain , or pebble tiles. Tiles that are 2 x 2 inch about means more grout and the grout makes it a safer non slippery shower floor.
Lastly your bathroom should have lots of lighting, including lighting in the shower. As you get older and your eyesight gets worse you will want to make sure you have lights that are bright enough to accommodate that loss of vision.
Install lots of lighting
As your vision goes you are going to need ample lighting to combat it. You don’t want to fall because you can’t see what is in front of you. Install bright and even LED lighting throughout your house so you can ensure every room is properly illuminated. Install dimmer switches for adjustable lighting levels. Most importantly, ensure you have light switches on each end of every room so you are not fumbling around in the dark looking for a light switch. Install motion-activated lights in hallways and bathrooms. It is easy to fall when you can’t see so make sure your home is properly lighted.
Open floor plans
An open floor plan is the perfect home layout for aging in place. Remove walls and create an open layout to improve mobility and reduce tripping hazards. Open concepts create clear pathways for wheelchairs and walkers if you need one.
Finding your forever home is a dream for homebuyers, but when you find your forever home you have to remodel with the idea of aging in place. Remodel your entire home with access in mind. As you get older you will need an accessible bathroom, kitchen, and living room. Design with these things in mind and you will have a home you can enjoy for the rest of your life.
Author: Mike Gillis is the Owner of Renewed Life Properties, a Sun City remodeling contractor specializing in bathroom and kitchen remodels for the retirement community.
