How to Make Your Home More Accessible

Whether you want to make your own life easier or someone else’s, with these unobtrusive little changes you can create a more accessible and hassle-free home.

Relax on Friendly Furniture

The thought of sinking into an overly cushioned sofa is far better than the reality as they can be deceptively hard to climb out of. Pick a chair that’s cosy and flexible, perhaps a riser recliner chair that helps you to your feet at the touch of a button or a recliner chair which relieves the build-up of pressure or swelling in your feet and ankles. If a bad back or poor posture is your problem, a heat and massage chair can relieve tension in your back and joints.

Arrange it Properly

It’s a good idea to rethink your living space to make it as quick and easy as possible to move from room to room. Have a good look for trip hazards around your home, move any chairs blocking doorways and any coffee tables, for example, which would fit better somewhere else. It’s a simple way to make your home more accessible – for free.

Get a Grip

Add handrails along your steps or staircases and bathroom grab rails in the shower, next to your toilet, bath or anywhere you need it. These will make it easier to get up and sit down without borrowing someone’s arm. You can fold some flat when you don’t need to grab onto the foam grip.

And while getting out of bed is often hard for reasons other than your mobility, bed rails make it that bit easier – and some come complete with a handy pocket for storing books and other trinkets.

Fit a Shower Seat

You don’t have to stand in a slippery shower if you have a shower stool or bath seats, which come in all shapes and sizes, from wall-mounted ones which fold up when other people want a shower and rotating stools that manoeuvre you with ease, to models with back and arm rests.

Yours can be a permanent fixture in your bathroom or something you can use as and when. Opt for one with an anti-bacterial finish or even a bath lift if you’re not a shower person.

Raise the Throne

It’s far easier to sit down and get up from a higher toilet seat, even if it’s raised by 4 inches, as it will be when you fix a raised toilet seat with a lid to your existing one. For extra-support, consider a toilet frame surround which will once again help maintain your independence.

Ramp it Up

Our wheelchairs and mobility scooters are good, but they’re not quite good enough to navigate steps and doorways without an access ramp. Covering your steps will make your home so much more accessible, try folding wheelchair ramps or telescopic ramps which get your wheelchair safely out of the house and up into the boot of your car.

Sort Your Doors Out

Get rid of unnecessary doors and widen the doorways to at least 36-inches if you can, meaning if you or someone else uses a cane, walkers or wheelchairs it is easier to get in and out.

Lean on a Walking Frame

From folding zimmer frames and hi-riser walking frames to rollators, walking aids are a saving grace at home and out in the world.

Lighten Up

If your kitchen’s stocked with heavy pots and pans, or you have things around the house which take a bit of lifting, see if you can replace them with lighter alternatives to save straining your back and wasting time weightlifting.
So there you have it, small changes that could potentially make an enormous difference to you or a loved ones quality of life.

To make life even easier, delivery on all of our products is free and covered with a complimentary 12-month warranty.
If you’re ever stuck for ideas on making your home more accessible, chat about it with us and together we’ll come up with a solution.