Every move presents its challenges, but in the case of a move to a 55+ Living community, independent living community, or other senior living arrangement, the transition can prove challenging. One of the ways that we encourage families to walk through this season of life is to carefully invest in personalizing the home, condo, apartment, or room.
Here are a few ways that we advise families to personalize their living spaces:
GO FOR THE QUICK DECORATING WINS
Look for curtains, towels, throw rugs, pictures, and lamps that can add color and warmth to the room. These are affordable ways to add a personal touch to a new living space without cracking open a can of paint.
While it’s always ideal to bring over pictures, furniture, and any other personal items from a former home, the transition to a new senior living space can also become an opportunity for a clean start. Whether that means picking up a new easy chair or dining room table, this is a chance to customize your living space with updated furniture.
TAILOR YOUR LIVING SPACE TO YOUR ACTIVITIES
Even if space may be limited in some 55+ Living or Continuing Care Retire Community (CCRC) homes, there are ways to effectively use your space to support your favorite activities. Retirement is an opportunity to focus on what you love to do, while also taking up new pursuits.
How you decorate and set up your space will depend on whether you want to focus on baking and entertaining or more artistic pursuits such as painting or knitting. If you’re going to focus on socializing or exercising, set up your space so that you either have room for a yoga mat or a circle of chairs.
MAXIMIZE STORAGE AND SHELVING
A few well-placed shelves and closet organizing systems can make the most of your space, minimize clutter, and make it easier to display the pictures, books, and keepsakes that mean the most. We see it time and time again that families who may have struggled to simplify at first have come to enjoy the simpler lifestyle of a retirement community or 55+ living neighborhood once they embrace the trade offs of the lifestyle. Yes, you’ll have a little less space, but that also means less to maintain and more time to spend with family and neighbors.
GIVE FAMILY TIME TO ADJUST TO RETIREMENT
Senior living is a different kind of lifestyle that can take some adjusting at first. Perhaps family members can ease the transition by offering to store a few containers in the midst of the transition or help cover the costs of some new furniture.
Whatever your ability to help in concrete ways, the most important help to anyone transitioning into retirement is patience. Every new season of life requires some adjusting, and helping a relative move into a 55+ living community or continuing care retirement community can prove to be fulfilling and positive if everyone works together to make the new living space feel like home.
WHAT ARE YOUR RETIREMENT LIVING OPTIONS?
We work with families week in, week out making retirement living plans and finding the best arrangement possible. Contact us today, and we’ll walk you through the process of finding the right community in your area. Call 833.405.0263.
