When we’re making plans to move into a senior retirement community, it is important that we consider the floor plans. What we mean by floor plans is how the house is designed, a factor that influences how one room leads to another and so on. For example, how accessible are the washrooms and are doorways wide enough to allow wheelchair movement. Even if your loved one is not using a wheelchair, it is good to anticipate any eventualities, so that they don’t have to undergo a costly changeover when such a need arises. Top quality Collier County, FL senior living requires careful planning and thinking ahead about floor plans can make a difference to the quality of life that your loved one enjoys.
Anticipating Future Needs
One of the realities of life is that our needs change as the years progress. For example, as our sense of balance suffers, we may require additional fittings in our homes (such as grip handles or non-slip mats) to ensure that we stay safe. The same applies to floor plans. For example, we may want to ensure that the house is laid-out in such a way that all essential rooms are accessible. Elevated areas may require ramps rather than steps in order to access them, as this may be safer.
Getting the right floor plan for your senior living community apartment is a key step when selecting the right community to live in. One of the factors that you need to keep in mind is that this is a long term decision and changing might be very costly.
Factor To Consider
There are a number of factors to consider when you are thinking about your senior living community floor plans. Here are some of them.
Layout Of Apartment Relative To Shared Amenities
Some assisted living communities offer a variety of shared amenities such as dining areas, gyms and so on. One of the elements that you need to keep in mind is the location of these facilities relative to the living quarters. If you have to cover a long distance just to get to the dining area, you may end up ordering meals to be brought to your apartment and thus miss out on the communist aspects of these meal times. This also goes for other amenities. Many assisted living communities lay out their communities in such a way that these shared amenities are centrally located and thus within reach of most of the community. For example, a radial layout makes this very possible.
Room Plans
Having gotten the overall layout right, the next thing to consider is the actual room plans. Here, you need to consider mobility issues. For example, how easy is it to move from the living room to the kitchen?
What kind of floor material is used on bathroom floors and so on. You may also need to consider the size of windows (which is going to affect how much light you get into the room) and so on.
If pets are allowed into the assisted living community, is there enough space in the apartment for the pet? Any properly designed assisted living community floor plan needs to remind you of home rather than a hospital. This way, you are likely to be more comfortable and have peace of mind.
