Sooner or later we have to think of renovating our houses to accommodate for a wider age range.

With an increasing number of elderly parents coming back to live with their children, many of us need to question how to maintain the comfort for everyone in the home. Accommodating for a wide age spectrum in a house is becoming more of an issue for many. You don’t want to leave yourself unprepared and most importantly don't want to leave yourself thinking it was a mistake.This is why it is critical to ask these questions when you are planing for the comfortable residence with different generations:

• How does your partner and children feel about the move?
• Are all the family members prepared to adjust their lifestyle?
• Do you have time to take this on?

Although these questions may seem quite off-putting and raise many concerns, there are ways in which you can make your home “elderly-friendly”, without compromising the comfort of other family members. You have to think about practicality and inclusiveness for everyone, and it is vital you consider several factors:

• Privacy- It is vital to maintain the privacy of everyone and to avoid possibility of a conflict between the elderly and younger generations. This is why considering expanding or manipulating living space is vital, so that everyone can keep living by their rules.
• Accessibility- Making sure that every necessary part of the house is easily accessible by the elderly members. However locating them on the first floor, may not always be convenient, and therefore requires further thought and planning.
• Adjustments- Along with that adjustments may be required to cater for disabilities. For example is your bathroom big enough to accommodate a parent in a wheelchair? For a wheelchair, the doorway needs to be at least 32 inches wide, and preferably 36 inches.

Balancing all these factors when planning for co-habitation can be very daunting and stressful. Here at ARC Design Services, we have extensive expertise in renovating a house to make it a perfect home for all generations. When it comes to making a home “elderly-friendly”, we adapt our design procedures and focus on considerations for the elderly parents. These renovations often lead to implementing innovating design techniques for example one of the houses at Park Drive Hale, where we fitted a passenger lift, to allow easy roaming around the whole house tackling the accessibility issue.

So don't leave yourselves asking questions and contact our award winning team for professional advice on 01606 928 4433