Interior Design Tips for Moving Into a Retirement Village
Everyone deserves a home that they can proudly call their own. This includes our senior and aged friends. It doesn’t matter whether you’re moving to a small studio unit or a spacious house—moving into a retirement village is a major lifestyle change.
Most retirees already know the basic principles of moving into these retirement units, such as downsizing.
That said, executing your ideas into fruition can be quite a challenge, especially when your physical body can no longer handle the strain of moving around furniture.
If you’re looking to infuse your personal style into your apartment, take notes! We’ll lay down the groundwork and give you some interior design tips to help turn your barren retirement studio unit into a place that feels like home.
In this article, you will learn
Be Selective of Your Colour Choices
As a retiree, you’re no longer stuck in the corporate grind in an enclosed office cubicle. However, it can be just as soul-sucking to stay in a bedroom that boasts the familiar, monotonous colouration of the traditional office environment.
If the walls in your new retirement village home feature oppressive colours like dark grey, muddy brown, and olive green, then consider getting a paint job done to wash away the dullness.
Some good wallpaper colour choices include light palettes like sky blue, soft yellow, and powder pink. You don’t have to go all plain with these; you can employ more sophisticated designs like striped and floral patterns. These colours help promote feelings of tranquillity and calmness—which play a crucial role in uplifting the occupant’s mood.
That said, it’s critical not to go too overboard with the colours. Avoid bold variants of the light colour schemes we recommend. This can make the room feel a tad too overwhelming and stimulating for seniors.
Furthermore, ensure that your wallpaper and flooring colours also complement your furniture. You don’t want to accidentally stumble on a piece of furniture that is camouflaged with your flooring. Employ the perfect balance of practicality and stylishness.
Use Functional and Comfortable Furniture
As a senior, your body is naturally more sensitive when you maintain uncomfortable positions. If you apply too much pressure on certain areas of your body, you could end up developing pain and posture problems over time.
Given this, it’s important to minimise sitting in uncomfortable positions as much as possible. One good way to help maintain your stature is by utilising furniture that supports good posture.
Ergonomic chairs are an exceptional furniture type that helps people maintain good posture during extended periods of sitting. These chairs are engineered to support the back, neck, and arms, reducing the risk of back and body pain.
Besides that, your bed is also a key furniture item you have to consider. A divan bed is a good choice as it helps with getting out of bed because of its height.
One interior design tip is to put your bed in a corner to avoid accidentally rolling over and off your bed during sleep. But besides that, it’s also important to choose a memory foam, pillow set, and linen that is comfortable for you. As a start, pick a mattress that supports the spine and has your preferred firmness.
While interior designers abide by aesthetics and good layouts, they won’t ever recommend that you skip the fundamentals! Having comfortable and functional furniture is key to a satisfying home environment.
Less Clutter, More Enhanced Safety
It can be tempting to bring every sentimental object you have from back home to your new place. However, as you’re likely downsizing and moving hundreds of miles away, this can backfire horribly.
Bringing too much clutter in your new home isn’t only a hassle to unload, but it can also heighten the risk of hazards.
It can also make it difficult to navigate and get around your new home due to less space, making it even harder for seniors with mobility issues to move from place to place.
As the famous adage goes, less is more—and this philosophy cannot be more true when it comes to designing a retirement home. Bring only essential items with you on your trip to your retirement village.
Furthermore, buy furniture and fixtures that can help reduce unsightly clutter from taking over your new home. Wall shelves, ottomans, built-in cabinets, and shoe racks are a huge help in organising your space and keeping it clutter-free.
Be sure that these organisers are easily accessible and placed in medium height too.
Put Up Sentimental Items
While we don’t recommend dedicating an entire box or two of random, sentimental trinkets to bring to your new home, we do believe that some pieces are treasured enough to keep in a Living Choice retirement village.
Incorporating a few sentimental pieces can help your new place feel like home by promoting a strong sense of familiarity.
These items can be anything that you deem worthy to cherish—framed photographs, family heirlooms, and accolades are just a few items that you can showcase in your new room.
As alluded to earlier, avoid bringing too many items to the point that your place gets cluttered. Ideally, bringing two to five medium-sized trinkets with sentimental value is fine for a studio unit.
By having these sentimental pieces around, you can infuse your retirement village with your unique flair. This can help you feel more connected and grounded to yourself, while also acting as a potential conversation starter to anyone who wanders into your room.
Infuse Nature with Plants and Greenery
Life after retirement can be full of days of staying in your room all day. And, let’s face it, it can be mentally exhausting staying in a room for extended periods—especially if that place is the very location where you eat and sleep.
While retirement villages are often equipped with trimmed gardens and are situated in lush environments, bringing some greenery into your room is still something we’d highly recommend.
Plants, as simple as they are, can bring out feelings of positive emotion when we get exposed to them, even for just a short time.
Many studies have even shown that plants help boost self-esteem and life satisfaction, which is always a pleasant feeling for our elderly friends.
If you want to jumpstart your green thumb era, start with low-maintenance plants like snake plants and spider plants. Be sure that they get adequate amounts of sunlight and water every week.
Once you’ve gotten used to caring for plants, you’re free to incorporate more of these green buds in your room bit by bit. They’re great for promoting a calming and relaxed environment. Don’t get too overboard and drown your room with pots of these things, though!
Take Advantage of Natural Light Sources
Lighting is an influential factor when it comes to dictating the mood of a room.
While there are artificial light sources like ambient lighting and accent lighting that can brighten up a room, having natural sunshine streaming through the windows is an unmatched feature.
Natural lighting is a key proponent in maintaining a healthy sleep-wake cycle. This makes it great for seniors who have trouble falling asleep and getting up on time. It also helps boost mood and feelings of calmness.
To maximise your exposure to natural lighting, it’s a good idea to position your bed in front of the window to let sunshine in. You can alternatively put a mirror directly in front of a window, as this can help increase sunlight flowing into your room.
Jenny Kakoudakis likes to blog about interiors. She launched award-winning Seasons in Colour in 2014. When she is not chasing criminals out of the financial system (her day job), she gets creative by redecorating her own home.
Download her free bathroom renovation guide here.
