How to Prepare Your Home for an Older Relative Who Is Becoming Less Independent

Your elderly parents want independence, but like any concerned son or daughter, you want them to be safe.

The good news is that these two goals don’t have to conflict. 

By paying closer attention to home safety for older adults, you can make their everyday activities easier while reducing avoidable risks.

So, where should you begin when preparing a home for an elderly parent? Here are some practical changes worth considering.

Take a look around your loved one’s home and put yourself in their shoes.

How easy (or difficult) is it to move from one room to another?

Having too many things around can make that harder, especially if boxes and furniture or other belongings start getting in the way of their usual routes through the house. 

That’s why decluttering is an important aspect of making a home safer for elderly relatives.

To start the process, offer to help them sort through things they no longer need.

Be sure to involve them in deciding what stays and what goes so that they don’t resent the changes you’re making. The last thing you want to do is to make them feel like decisions are being made for them.

After decluttering, have a look at where your loved one keeps the things they use every day. Are their mugs and plates tucked away in a cupboard they have to stretch to reach?

If so, relocate those items down to a shelf that’s easier to get to, so there’s no need to reach overhead or use a step stool. In the bathroom, you can set up a simple shelf or shower caddy so your parents can easily reach for their toiletries while bathing. 

These may be small changes, but they go a long way in making everyday routines easier for your loved ones, even if they’re not asking for help.

Falls can happen anywhere, including in the home your parents have lived in for years. As their balance and eyesight change and their strength becomes less reliable, things that never caused a problem before can gradually become more difficult to manage safely.

So when planning improvements to help an elderly parent living at home, walk through their spaces with them so you can see each area from their perspective. This can help you see things you may not have noticed before, such as narrow spaces between furniture, or your relative stepping around things just to get around. Try to do this at different times of day so you can see which areas of the house may be poorly lit. Some of the simplest changes can make the home easier to move around. You can:

• Rearrange furniture to create wider, clearer walkways
• Remove loose rugs or secure them with suitable anti-slip backing
• Improve lighting in darker areas of the home
• Add contrasting strips to the edges of stairs to make individual steps easier to see
• Install grab rails in the bathroom or anywhere your parents need extra stability
• Ensure that the staircase has sturdier handrails

A big part of preparing a home for an elderly parent is to reduce risk in the places where they tend to move around at night, such as the bedroom. You want this area to still feel like their own private retreat, so don’t change anything unnecessary.

Pay particular attention to making three things safer: getting into bed and getting up during the night (such as when walking to the bathroom). 

Take a look at how easily your parents can get in and out of bed. Can they sit down comfortably and get back up without struggling?

If you notice they’re having to make a real effort, it might be worth speaking to a healthcare professional about adjusting the bed or getting extra support. 

Bed rails may be useful in certain situations, but you should still get professional advice before including them in any home adaptations for elderly family members.

To make sure that those middle-of-the-night trips to the bathroom are safe, make sure there’s nothing between the bed and bathroom that your parents could easily trip over, such as a loose rug, clutter or furniture that’s difficult to spot in the dark.

A night light can make the route easier to see. And if falls are a particular concern, you could place a fall mat beside the bed.

You don’t necessarily need a complete kitchen renovation to make this space safer.

Sometimes, all it takes to help elderly parents stay independent is to make sure that they have everything they use regularly within reach. You can:

• Keep their most-used pans and utensils somewhere easy to reach, ideally around waist height
• Install pull-out shelves or lower storage 
• Replace regular taps with lever-style ones 
• Install anti-scald devices to control water temperature

A few small changes to the fixtures can help, too. If your parents find taps harder to grip or turn, lever-style taps may be easier for them to use.

You could also look at anti-scald devices to help control the water temperature and reduce the chance of accidental burns.

Appliances with automatic shut-off features can add an extra layer of safety, especially if your parents sometimes forget to turn things off. 

And don’t forget the lighting. Make sure your parent can clearly see the hob and other areas where they prepare food.

With better lighting, your parent can use the kitchen more safely while chopping ingredients and cooking meals.