How to Arrange a Bedroom for an Elderly Person

How to Arrange a Bedroom for an Elderly Person

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When designing and decorating our homes many of us are focused on the now. Rarely any of us stop and think whether a certain place will be appropriate for us as we get older. Thankfully, in the world of interior design, nothing is set in stone, which means you can rearrange and adjust almost any room in your home as you age.

The bedroom is a particularly important room that, arguably, should experience the biggest change as we grow older. So, no matter if you’re just thinking ahead or you have an elderly person living with you and you want to make sure they are completely comfortable, here are some useful tips that will help you organize a bedroom so that it meets the needs of someone who’s youth is long behind them.

1. Choose the Right Location

If you’re living in an apartment, you can skip this step. However, if you’re living in a house, make sure that you locate the bedroom on the ground floor. More often than not, elderlies have difficulties walking and moving around in general, so making them climb a flight of stairs every time they feel like they need to rest a bit is definitely not the best idea.

2. Make It Safe

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First off, make sure that the bedroom, as well as all the furniture in it, is safe. As people get older, even the simple tasks as moving around or getting in and out of bed can become quite difficult. Therefore, aside from installing the safety handles on the side of the bed to make accessing it easier and safer, you need to make sure that the bed frame is sturdy and handles well-joint to avoid any potential accidents. Furthermore, make sure that the bed is not too tall or too low to make getting in and out of it as comfortable as possible.

3. Add the Right Equipment

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Elderlies generally have more free time which they like to spend reading, watching TV or simply entertaining themselves some other way. Therefore, add a TV unit to their room – wall-mounted is the best option to prevent accidents caused by tripping on cables, a radio, make sure it’s well-lit and don’t forget to install a phone there as well. Additionally, if your elderly person is having serious difficulties moving around, you may even install a baby monitor they can use to summon you whenever they need to.

4. Make the Room Beautiful

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No matter how young or old we are, we all love to spend time in a well-decorated space. That’s why you need to make sure that the design and décor of the room are on point. If the elderly person living with you had to move there from their own home, allow them to move in their favourite pieces of room décor, as well. For example, this dementia home care program encourages people to bring in their favourite belongings and furniture to make them feel at home as much as possible. Moving home at any age can be really stressful, so if you allow your elderly person to take a piece of their home with them, it can significantly reduce the stress.

5. Keep It Clean

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Finally, do know that the more clutter in the room, the higher the chances of potential accidents. So, keep your elderly person’s room as clean and as tidy as possible to avoid any mishaps. Additionally, make sure they have ample storage and wardrobe space as well so that they have a place to store their belongings to when they are not using them.

In theory, arranging a bedroom for an elderly person is just like arranging any other bedroom with the only difference being that you have to make sure everything is safely secured in place and there are no tripping hazards.