Aging in place remodeling is not your typical kitchen and bath remodel. Yes, these two areas are often an integral part of an aging in place remodeling plan, but more than upgrading an area of your home or increasing its property value, you need a years- or decade-long remodeling plan. While you need to embrace the remodels, additions, and home improvements that make it possible to age in place, the best transformations are often gradual ones. Spacing out your aging in place remodels will help you pay for the projects and carefully monitor and evaluate your progress. You or your loved oneýs physical and mental health will also help determine the remodeling pace. You donýt want to feel like your home is constantly trying to catch help to the needs of your household, but you donýt want still vigorous members to feel anybody is putting them out to pasture prematurely. Admittedly, balancing oneýs individual pride and prolonging the need for institutionalized care is difficult, but the right aging in place remodels have amazing and often unrealized potential.

Aging in Place Remodeling Projects

1. Stepless Homes
Few home renovations are simpler, and make more of an impact, than making sure at least one entryway to your home is stepless. Steps become serious obstacles as we age, and nowhere is this more obvious than at your entryways. But donýt underestimate the value in eliminating other steps. Indoor steps can be just as much of an obstacle as outdoor ones. As a rule, it's best to design your home so you can live your life on the ground floor. Concentrate major additions or remodels to a single story, and make sure that there is, at the very least, a bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen on the ground floor.

2. Aging in Place Bathroom Remodels
No matter how old we get, everybody still has to use the bathroom. Toilet seat covers and extensions that make it easier to get in and out of is one easy and inexpensive step. Shower chairs and benches can extend someoneýs ability to shower on their own for several years. More advanced solutions may involve large bathtubs and cranes that can move people back and forth between wheelchairs and bathtubs. And just like everyone else in your home, you should evaluate your bathroom floor and install a non-slip surface if necessary.

3. Aging in Place Kitchen Remodels
One of the most innovative areas when it comes to aging-in-place home remodeling is the kitchen. A traditional kitchen can present quite a few obstacles from an aging standpoint: low ovens, slippery floors, high countertops, and hard to reach cabinet space, just to name a few. A kitchen remodel that takes aging-in-place into account is designed to remove those obstacles as much as possible.

• Wall ovens and mounted microwaves make for easy access.
  
• Varied countertop heights, from table height on up to standard, make it possible to do kitchen tasks seated or standing up.
  
• Lazy Susans and pull out cabinet drawers make digging through cabinets easy for anyone.
  
• Add to all this lighting improvements and slip-proof flooring, like cork or tumbled stone tile, and your kitchen is sure to be aging-in-place approved.

4. Improved Lighting
As we grow older, our senses dull. It's just a fact of life. Fighting that with home remodeling countermeasures is a big part of the aging-in-place movement. As far as accommodating the senses, improved lighting is the best place to start. For starters, you should think about increasing the general lighting in your home. More ambient light, in the form of overhead and recessed lighting, makes it easier to move around your home safely. Just as important is installing task lighting in high use areas, such as kitchens, offices, and dining areas. Some task lighting over the dining room table, for example, doesn't just make dinnertime more enjoyable, but makes everything from doing bills to hosting your weekly card game easier in the long run. Other popular places for task lighting are office desks, kitchen countertops, sewing rooms, and reading areas.

5. More Aging in Place Remodeling Ideas

• Widen doorways and hallways to at least 36" to accommodate wheelchairs and handrails.
  
• For small items, like light-switches and outlets, try to raise everything at least 18" off the floor, but no higher than 40". Also, think about easy improvements like replacing standard light switches with illuminated rocker switches and switching doorknobs with levers.
  
• For two-story homes, evaluate the possibility of installing a residential elevator, as mobility continues to decrease and stair lifts are no longer adequate.

Hire an Aging-In-Place Specialist
If you're looking for home remodels and home improvements that you, or a loved one, can get rolling in order to keep you at home, talk to an aging-in-place specialist. These experts will be able to fill you in on the newest ideas, most innovative solutions, and have references for contractors that can get the work done for you if they don't do it themselves. Whether you're 35 or 85, if you're looking to stay in your home as long as possible, aging-in-place is a home improvement trend you should definitely get to know.