Living rooms can be one of the hubs of the family home, a place to relax at the end of a long day or enjoy spending time with friends and family. But sometimes living rooms aren’t as accessible as we’d like, making it difficult to get around the room and truly relax.
As part of our series on home adaptations, we’re looking at ways different rooms around the home can be improved to make them more accessible. Whether this means a small change or a larger scale adaptation, we’ve put together some suggestions with help from our Occupational Therapist, Sharon, to help you make your living room more accessible.
Modern TV remotes can be quite overwhelming with an endless array of buttons on them and, on some, the buttons are so small that it makes them difficult to use if you have any issues with dexterity. If this feels familiar, you may wish to get a simplified universal TV remote control. These remote controls are much, much easier to use with big, clear buttons.
Getting up from your favourite chair or the sofa can sometimes be a challenge, especially if it's quite low to the ground. Furniture raisers help to raise your chair up, making it easier for you to get up from a seated position and lower yourself into the seat. Make sure the seat height is comfortable for you.
To ensure you get the right size of chair raisers for you, sit on a chair, with your feet flat on the floor. Measure from the ground to the back of the knee – this is the seat height you require. If any chair you use is lower than this, consider using chair raisers to get a suitable height.
If you’re finding it increasingly difficult to hear the TV and your family are starting to comment on the loud volume, you may want to consider investing in a hearing amplifier. Hearing amplifiers connect with your TV and, as the name suggests, amplify the sound for you, so you can hear what’s going on without having the volume up too loud for everyone else.
Is there any better feeling than putting your feet up at the end of a long day? Raising your legs up on a footstool could help to reduce pain and swelling in your lower legs. You can get footstools in a variety of different heights and sizes, so it’s important to make sure you find one that’s the right height for the chair you plan to use it with.
If you spend a lot of time sat down in one position, you may be at risk of developing pressure sores. Pressure relief cushions are designed to work with your existing chairs to help spread your weight more evenly, avoiding all the pressure being on certain points of the body.
You can get pressure cushions just for the seat or ones that cover the entire chair for more all-round protection. They’re also available in different types whether you’re at low risk, medium risk, or high risk for developing pressure sores.
Finding it increasingly difficult to stand up from or sit down on your sofa? It might be time to consider a rise and recline chair instead. A rise and recline chair – sometimes known as a riser recliner – is a chair with either a single or a dual motor that’s designed to help you rise up from a reclined or seated position and help you sit down again once you’re ready.
These comfortable chairs come in a variety of styles and designs, so you can find one that matches your style and taste. They can also be a really useful investment if you spend a lot of time sitting down as the ability to use the motor to help change your position can relieve pressure on specific points of your body. Some models even have inbuilt pressure care cushions to help protect areas of concern and help reduce your chance of developing a pressure sore.
Really examine the current layout of your living room. Can you get around it easily? Are there points you can’t get through when you’re using a mobility aid like a wheelchair or walking frame? Rather than a coffee table in the centre of the room, using an overbed table as a side table may leave you with more space, so you can get around with greater ease.
Consider if there’s another way that your furniture could be arranged to make life easier for you.
If you need to use a wheelchair, trolley, indoor rollator or any wheeled equipment round your home, then you may find it’s time to reconsider carpeted flooring. While it may feel initially more comfortable and cosier to have a carpeted living room floor, it can make it much, much harder to push anything wheeled on it. Wooden or laminate flooring may be a better option as it’s much easier to push around a wheelchair or an indoor rollator without their wheels sinking into carpet. It may also be a little easier for you to keep clean.
Looking for more tips and advice on adaptations you can make to the rest of your home? You can download our full guide here or choose the room you need help with below:
Alternatively, if you’re not sure where to start with adapting your home to meet your needs, see our Home Living Consultation Service where a registered Occupational Therapist will assess your needs and offer recommendations for changes you can make.
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