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Sarah is a staff writer at Apartment Therapy. She completed her MA in journalism at the University of Missouri and has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Belmont University. Past writing and editing stops include HGTV Magazine, Nashville Arts Magazine, and several outlets local to her hometown, Columbia, Missouri.
Merlisa Lawrence Corbett is a journalist and author who writes about tennis, sports in society, home and garden, and small business. She is the author of the book “Serena Williams: Tennis Champion, Sports Legend, and Cultural Heroine.” Lawrence Corbett is also a former tennis columnist for Bleacher Report and a reporter for Sports Illustrated. She wrote the foreword for “A Hard Road To Glory: A History Of The African American Athlete: Track and Field,” by legendary tennis star Arthur Ashe Jr.
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My grandparents have been youthful for as long as I can remember. They were party people at one stage in life. In another, they traveled the world, climbing waterfalls and drinking with strangers. Throughout it all, they owned a store, which they religiously kept open seven days a week.
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But stubbornly, age has set in. As they’ve had to give up many of the activities that once epitomized their fierce independence, aging in place modifications have been a way to protect and extend their independence at home.
For them — and for millions of others in their demographic — aging is an emotional, disillusive thing. While you can’t take emotion out of the equation, adding universal design elements to a home is a practical, investable step you can take on behalf of your aging loved ones, or to make any home more accessible regardless of physical ability. Here are eight products that help make aging in place possible.
The Invisia™ Grab Bar Collection from The Wright Stuff is a stylish grab bar system that can be seamlessly integrated into existing bathroom design. Unlike standard grab bars, which make two points of contact with the wall, Invisia’s grab bar products fasten to the wall at four different points to ensure reliable, enduring structural support.
“Every home should have grab bars in the shower and bathtub,” says Joya Fields, a residential transition specialist with Shamrock Hill Design. “Invisia also carries glow-in-dark knob covers that help children and adults find doorways safely.”
With the DesignGlide hardware from Jeld-Wen, any standard-size door can be transformed into a sliding barn door — a simple renovation that will save space and make it easier for those who use mobility aids to open and close the door. Doors from Jeld-Wen are also equipped with soft-close hinges, offering better safety to users compared to traditional entry doors.
The Renew Wellness Retreat bed system from Ergomotion is designed with sleep safety for seniors in mind. The bed height can easily be adjusted to allow users to get in and out of bed safely, easily, and independently. The bed also comes with leg and feet warming capabilities to promote circulation, a sleep tracker, and a preset circulation cycle feature that can help to soothe muscle pain.
Bruno’s line of stair lifts are made to suit any staircase and any budget. The Elan Straight Stair Lift is the most popular lift the company has on the market — it features a narrow vertical rail design so that the lift doesn’t obstruct the entire stairway.
“The stair lift is immensely important for seniors living in multi-floor homes,” says Thomas Rando, owner and president of Clearview Home & Property Inspections. “Seniors that are having difficulty getting up and down the stairs or are at risk for falling can benefit from this item. Stair lifts can be fitted for straight, curved, or outdoor staircases.”
Rev-A-Shelf’s Pull-Down Closet Rod can make any closet accessible, regardless of the user’s stature. The system comes in three different widths to accommodate a variety of closets, while the rod itself can be adjusted from 34 to 50 inches. Hanging items can be accessed by pulling the rod down, where it can then be locked into place.
Grass’s Tipmatic and Sensomatic touch-to-open systems are perfect for seniors — especially those who are mobility impaired or find traditional cabinet handles difficult and painful to maneuver. With the Tipmatic system, a kitchen, bathroom, or bedroom drawer or door can be opened at the touch of a panel. With the Sensomatic system, the drawer or door is activated by a touch anywhere on the surface of the drawer front.
A walk-in tub from Universal Tubs comes equipped with standard safety features, including a low-entry threshold, a built-in safe-reach grab bar, slip-resistant textured flooring, and ADA compliant seating. On top of that, tubs include whirlpool, aero-therapy, and fast-draining capabilities for added comfort and convenience.
“The walk-in bathtub is not only easy to get into, but reduces the risk of falls,” Rando says. “Furthermore, many of the new models out there also have a number of luxury features such as heated surfaces and water jets that seniors really enjoy.”
Graber’s motorized window treatments are developed with convenience and ease-of-use in mind. All systems have multiple control options to suit techy users and I-miss-my-flip-phone-types alike. Users can control window treatments and set them to a personalized schedule using a remote or the Graber Motorization App. Alternatively, the window treatments can be connected to an in-home voice assistant, such as Google Home or Amazon Alexa, to enable voice command.
Jennifer Prince’s work is featured on several national travel sites, such as Travel + Leisure, National Geographic, AFAR, Lonely Planet, and Conde Nast Traveler. She thrives on off-the-beaten-path itineraries and is passionate about finding microstories to bring destinations to life. Jennifer currently lives in Virginia with her husband, and other than travel and writing, she enjoys ’80s music, vintage things, fostering kittens, time with her family, and dreaming about her next Airbnb venture.
When you’re young, you may not be thinking about what life at home might look like when you’re older — until necessity strikes. Maybe that’s an injury or onset of a chronic condition, an aging family member moving in, or your own years continuing their inevitable climb.
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Though we’re only 48 and 50 years old, respectively, my (half) joke with my husband is that we’ll stay in our three-story Victorian until we physically can’t any longer. But thanks to a growing awareness of the need to make our homes a place we can safely and comfortably live during later stages of life, it’s becoming more realistic to stay right where we want to be: at home.
Preparing your home for aging in place — whether for yourself or a loved one — isn’t an overnight project, of course. And rarely can you take on a renovation that addresses everything all at once. Implementing universal design features that are beautiful and functional can be done over several years, so that by the time they’re needed, everything is in place.
To get some tips on how to prioritize renovation projects for aging at home, I spoke with a couple of leading experts across the U.S. Here are their top three recommendations for renovating your home to prepare for aging in place.
Enabling people to use facilities independently and with privacy is key, says Shannon Guzman, the director of housing and livable communities for AARP’s Public Policy Institute. A bathroom that allows people at all stages of life (and with a variety of abilities) to use it doesn’t have to look like a clinical setting, she adds.
There are several aspects to a bathroom renovation that will equip it for universal use, according to Bellport. A zero-threshold shower accounts for any eventuality you may have with your health, Bellport says, by eliminating a step or curb and including an appropriate footprint for a wheelchair to turn around in. The shower should also include seating, ideally built in. A grab bar is a necessity, but that can be as simple as a towel bar (that’s reinforced!) in the right place, according to Guzman.
The toilet, meanwhile, should be “comfort height” with an elongated seat, to make it easier to sit and stand. A reinforced grab bar here can also double as a toilet paper holder. A vanity can be modified to be open underneath, allowing a wheelchair to roll in. With that in mind, adding storage and easily accessible shelving elsewhere would be beneficial. A widened doorway that accommodates a wheelchair or other mobility aids is also key.
And because eliminating fall risks is a top concern, installing non-slip flooring is important. Having a bidet also offers a means to stay clean and hygienic without the need for a full-on bath or shower, Guzman adds.
Next up is how you get in and out of the house and between living spaces. To, again, remove the chance of falls, the second priority for renovation projects is to look at the entrance to the house and any stairs inside.
Outside, the decidedly non-curb-appeal-friendly metal ramp may come to mind when you think about accessibility, but that’s not the only option, according to the experts. A sloping walkway that integrates with the landscaping and complements the colors and materials of the house can be built. (Take a look at this ramp on a Victorian, for example!)
Indoors, one approach is to transition to single-floor living with a bath and bedroom downstairs, or even reconstruct a banister to allow for a stair lift or elevator.
Finally, a well thought-out kitchen renovation can make for a space welcoming to all. Several components contribute to creating a space where people of all ages and abilities can spend time cooking and hanging out. (And honestly, many — if not all — of these adaptations would make life easier for anyone regardless of physical challenges or lack thereof.)
Base cabinets should offer pull-out drawers that make it easy to grab things, rather than having to bend over and dig around for them. Upper cabinets, too, can be swapped for open shelves, or pull-down drawers.
The sink should be open below (or at minimum have sliding pocket-style doors) to allow for a wheelchair or other equipment. At least one counter should be between 28 and 32 inches tall to allow someone to sit as they work.
To minimize burn risk, an induction cooktop is the way to go, and the microwave is best placed on the counter, not above the stove or in a drawer. A French door refrigerator with a pull-out freezer is the most accessible option, and a drawer dishwasher keeps a big dishwasher door from obstructing walkways.
The key to successfully creating a home where you can spend many more years comes down to planning. We’re all going to get older, if we’re lucky. Rather than waiting for an event that changes your world to be your wake-up call, as Bellport describes, doing the work before there’s a need could make the difference in having to move — and staying in your own home sweet home.