How To Create More Accessible Rooms At Home

Your home is meant to be the place where you can live comfortably. But often you may find yourself grappling with various challenges in its design or layout that disrupt your sense of comfort and make it hard to truly relax. Whether you're tripping over uneven floors, struggling to turn handles, or struggling to reach high shelves, it can be surprising how inaccessible rooms in your home can be, even if they appear to be perfectly functional at first glance. 

Luckily, there are ways you can design more accessible rooms to create a living space that promotes both your physical and mental well-being. The Wheaton handyman experts at Mr. Handyman of Wheaton-Hinsdale have shared some of the common upgrades you can make to create more accessible bedrooms, bathrooms, and other living spaces in your home.

What Is an Accessible Room?

Simply put, an accessible room is a room that people with disabilities can use safely and comfortably.

When you hear the words “accessible rooms” or “accessible bedrooms,” you likely think about Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) rooms when traveling. These hotel rooms are specifically designed to meet the needs of individuals with disabilities, ensuring they have a comfortable and accessible stay. Typically, ADA rooms are wheelchair accessible, and include features such as wider doorways, grab bars in the bathroom, and lower countertops. These accommodations aim to provide individuals with disabilities with the necessary amenities to navigate their living space with ease and independence while traveling.

However, accessible rooms are for more than just guests with disabilities. According to the CDC, about 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. lives with some type of disability. This means it is crucial for modern design to incorporate accessibility features into living spaces.

Unfortunately, a lot of homes were not originally built with accessibility in mind. Homes in the Wheaton, IL, area built more than a few decades ago often have narrow staircases and hallways, and may not have features like ramps or widened doorways, making them inaccessible to those with limited mobility. This can present a significant challenge for individuals with disabilities or aging adults who wish to remain in their homes. However, whether you have an older home or a new build, there are options available to retrofit the rooms in your home to create a more accessible room or living space.

Accessible Bedrooms

For a bedroom to be accessible, it needs to have ample space for a person to move around comfortably without worrying about bumping or tripping over something. This means—depending on the contents of your room—having a clear path of travel to your bed, desk, or closet, while also ensuring you can easily open and close drawers or entry doors, grab things from closet rods, and get into chairs or beds safely and comfortably. This kind of layout and smart furniture choices allows for smooth and safe navigation within the bedroom. Lowered bed heights and having natural light and accessible light switches also make for a more accessible room.

Wider entry doors are also a crucial aspect of an accessible suite, as they allow for easy access for individuals using mobility aids such as wheelchairs or walkers. Even simple changes such as door handles instead of door knobs can greatly enhance ease-of-access and create a more accessible bedroom space.

Accessible Bathrooms

Your bathrooms are one of the more challenging rooms in your home, especially if you have a mobility disability. Designed to be largely waterproof, bathrooms often have slippery surfaces and limited floor space, making it difficult for wheelchair users or those with mobility aids to maneuver safely.

That’s not to say that you can’t make your bathrooms into a more accessible room. Some simple changes include installing grab bars, or switching out faucet handles or plumbing fixtures to something you can grab more easily. And if you really want to create a more accessible room with a more extensive bathroom remodel, installing a new floor tile that’s not slippery, or changing your shower enclosure to a roll-in shower can make a big difference in making your bathrooms a more accessible room in your home.

Accessible Kitchen

Your kitchen is easily one of the most used rooms in your home, but it can easily become the most dangerous if it’s not set up properly and you have issues with mobility, visual impairment, or balance. This can make simple tasks like reaching for items on high shelves or using sharp utensils much more hazardous. Luckily, there are ways you can remodel your kitchen to create a more accessible room to cook in.

SImple changes such as switching out cabinet pulls or installing better lighting can make your kitchen space more user-friendly. Additionally, more dramatic changes such as adjustable heights for your countertop, installing a pull-down shelf system to get things into an accessible reach range, or improving sight lines by changing the floor plan can make a significant difference in creating a kitchen space that is more user-friendly and safer to use.

Other Types Of Accessible Features

When designing an accessible room, the key thing to keep in mind is how can you ensure people have enough room to move around safely. Depending on your home, this can take shape in different ways. An easy way to improve mobility around your home is to keep your floor space clear of tripping hazards, and ensure large items such as sofas or tables have extra space for people with mobility aids to navigate around easily. Additionally, opting for lever-style door handles and faucets can make it easier for individuals with limited hand mobility to open doors and use water fixtures.  

Other more extensive ways you can create more accessible rooms in your home include replacing multiple flooring types on one level on your home to the same type, to eliminate tripping hazards, installing ramps or chair lifts where you have stairs, having visual alarms or automatic door openers, or removing walls to create a more open floor plan can all go a long way in creating more accessible rooms within your home. Even the outside of your home can be made more accessible, such as leveling out your deck or patio space or installing handrails along pathways and walkways for added stability and support.

If you wish your home has more accessible rooms, just ask our team of Wheaton handyman service professionals what you can do to create a more functional and accessible living environment.