STIR UP YOUR
HOME FOR BETTER AGING
By Marie Bradby
Y
ou’ve been in your home for 25 plus years and want to age in your place. You might have arthritic hands or vision problems, but you are still kicking it. You’re still active and engaged in the community.
In order to continue to stay put, you will need some updating to improve the safety and function of your home. While it will be fun picking out new fixtures and decor, your priority should be on improving your home’s safety. “The goal is to create an environment that will foster a sense of safety and well being,” says Joan Waddell, certified interior designer and principal of her firm, J. Waddell Interiors. “It’s important to address the whole person, not just their physical health — their capabilities and limitations — but their mental health as well.” A designer who is familiar with design codes can perform a safety scan of your home. You may have doorways that are too narrow for a walker, counters that are too low, lighting that is too dim, or flooring that is slippery. “Your limitations might be more pronounced as you get older,” Joan says. “So you want to retro fit so that you are taking care of problems that may crop up 10 years from now. That will determine if you can stay in your home for 5 or 10 or 20 more years.” There are a number of basic design changes that you can tackle, such as changing out kitchen cabinet knobs for D-shaped handles, which are easier on arthritic hands, or replacing flick light switches with paddle switches. But with the bathroom potentially containing the most hazards, Joan says, “I would address the bathroom first, and in doing so I would be prepared to totally renovate it,” Joan says. “If it requires tearing it out to create a safer zone, it’s important to do that.” By the time you tear out the slippery tile floors, put in a comfort-height toilet, install a higher-height vanity, replace the tub with a curbless shower, add safety bars, widen the doorway for wheelchair access, change lighting fixtures, and switch out faucet knobs for faucet levers, you’ve done a full renovation, she says. “This is a huge topic in my industry,” Joan says. "We take continuing education classes on this all the time.”
Adaptations for your Home as You Age Here are some changes that can make your home safer and more stylish and have a significant impact on your quality of life. These suggestions can be applied throughout all the rooms of your home: • Lighting — Especially in the kitchen, lighting adjustments will make a world of difference. Add under-cabinet task lighting to make it easier to see as you prepare meals. Add recessed lighting for overall lighting and to eliminate shadows. Remove your old overhead light and replace it with an attractive new fixture that puts out more light. Throughout the house, change bulbs from incandescent to LED for brighter light. For your reading corner and your crafting nook, add stylish table and floor lamps. • Hardware — Round pull knobs on cabinets and drawers throughout the house can be difficult for arthritic hands to handle. Replace them with wide D-shaped drawer pulls. Switch out faucets with knobs and install faucets that have levers. • Non-slip flooring — Wood floors and vinyl floors have a certain amount of grip and are easier to push a walker over and easier to clean. Low pile, flat carpet has grip, too, is easier on the joints, and provides some cushion if you do fall. You can push a walker or wheelchair over flat carpet. • Doors — Round door knobs require that you tightly grasp and twist in order to open a door. Replace them with levers, which require only that you push down to open a door. You can even use your elbow to push down the lever. You can put door knob grips on round door knobs for more traction, as a temporary fix. • Narrow Doorways — In older homes, doorways often are too narrow to provide access for a walker or wheelchair. You have a few options: • ‘Swing clear' hinges allow the door to swing completely out of the door opening. In some cases, this can add a couple inches of badly needed clearance. • You can remove interior doors entirely. You can even remove the hinges and trim and put up drywall. • If you have enough room, you can make the opening larger and install a new, wider door with a pre-hung jam. • Take a good look at your sliding door, too. Sliding doors sometimes don’t work properly on their tracks, and the tracks also accumulate dirt and can be a tripping hazard. Consider removing your sliding doors and replacing them with a pair of French doors. Today’s Woman / November 2020
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