When you are designing your home, it may be a good idea to think about adding some accessibility features to your plan. If you or a family member have a medical condition or disability that makes it difficult to live independently in a house with no adaptations, some changes need to be made. Making changes while you are remodelling your home is perfect because you can make it easy to live independently, while preventing any significant disruptions in the future.
Benefits of making your home more accessible
Adapting your home can make it easier for people with disabilities or medical conditions to live safely and independently. Independence is something that a lot of us take for granted, so when something takes it away, you will want to try and gain as much back as possible. Making small changes to the design of your house while remodelling can help to make it into a home that reduces the amount of risk of injury and increases ease of living for those who need it so that they are happy and more confident in doing things.
Increase the width of doorways
Increasing the width of doorways will enable anybody in a wheelchair, or who use devices to aid them in walking to enter all rooms. When you have spent so much time planning a remodel, you do not want there to be rooms in your home that you or your family member cannot enter. You will want every room to be enjoyed.
Stairlifts
Installing a stairlift in your home will give a person who finds it difficult to get up the stairs access to the whole house. If you do not have one, they could end up being limited to one floor of the house. If the bathroom is upstairs, that means they will not be able to get upstairs to use the bathroom independently, or if they decide to stay upstairs, they will not be able to get downstairs to go outside or use the kitchen freely. Not having the option to do either of these things can be very disheartening and frustrating.
If your stairlift breaks down, it is easy to get a stairlift repair company to come out and fix any problems that you may have with your stairlift.
Walk-in shower
A walk-in shower makes it easier for people to be able to wash themselves independently, as they won’t have to climb into a bath. If you have enough room, you could still have a bath and a walk-in shower as many people enjoy having access to a bath. There is also the option to have a shower room. This means that there is no need to step up into a shower or to struggle with shower doors or curtains. The whole room would be tiled so it can drain easily and dry quickly. Even if you want to keep your bath, and turn it into a walk-in shower, there is an option that will allow you to do that too.
Think about the fixtures you use
The fixtures in your home can be stylish, but they also have to be practical. Choosing to put doorknobs on your doors instead of door handles could make them more challenging to open for people with dexterity issues, so instead pick some stylish, practical door handles.
Some taps can be hard to open, especially if they are hard to hold onto, try to pick something that will work better, like a tap that you can push back to turn on and pull forwards to turn off. You should also think about the handles on your kitchen cupboards and your wardrobes. These are all things that we take for granted every day, but if you try to make practical decisions while keeping it in line with your design idea, you will be able to make your home more accessible.
Decor
Just because you are making your home more accessible, doesn’t mean that it has to look medical. It can still fit in with the theme of your design, as there are many different options you can now choose from. Think about the problems that you need to solve and try and come up with the best way to do it. Don’t give up on your decor dreams; your house can look good and still be adapted for ease of use.
Your home should be somewhere where you are comfortable and can get on with things as smoothly as possible. You do not want to be having to struggle through the day when there are changes that you can make, to make your life easier and increase your independence.
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