The Importance of Interior Design in Care Homes
- Open and Communal Design: Interior design greatly impacts residents’ well-being, comfort, and confidence. Embracing an open, communal, and inclusive design philosophy encourages independence and creates a healthy lifestyle for residents.
- Furniture Positioning: Strategic placement of furniture encourages sociability and supports conversation. Communal focal points like artwork or games promote a varied and collaborative way of life in care homes.
- Color Selection: Color plays a crucial role in care home design, affecting residents’ mood and quality of life. Strategic use of color can improve navigation and create a positive, warm atmosphere. Avoiding harsh contrasts and elaborate patterns is essential to prevent confusion and disorientation among residents.
Communal design for care homes
Interior design in a care home has a significant impact on the wellbeing, happiness, comfort and confidence of residents.
By embracing an open, communal and inclusive design philosophy, residents are encouraged to be independent, creating a healthy lifestyle for all.
Residents should be engaged with their surroundings. Placement of furniture in communal areas has a big influence here, and so do the colours, which bring structure and recognisability to a space.
More open spaces, which minimise the need for winding, corridors, allows residents to see more of their surroundings at a glance. This, combined with clear navigational signage — or colour coding — reduces the need for constant guidance.
It will also help residents feel less restricted and less claustrophobic, making day-to-day life easier, particularly for those with dementia.
Best furniture positioning solutions for care homes
How furniture is positioned is a subtle, yet powerful consideration.
To encourage sociability, think about placing furniture around things which support conversation, rather than distract from it.
Using communal focal points — artwork, an aquarium, puzzles, board/card games etc. — can open the home up to a more varied, collaborative way of life.
Choosing the best colors for care home design
Colour is perhaps the most important interior decor consideration in a care home.
Colour has multiple functions, and has the power to help residents and improve their quality of life.
However, when not used strategically, colour can confuse and disorient residents. Adjoining walls and floors should avoid harsh contrast — ease residents into rooms and around the space.
Elaborate patterns can also trigger negative reactions.
When approaching colour schemes, it’s all about creating a positive, warm atmosphere which works in conjunction with how residents navigate their surroundings.
Care home design advice
Every interior design aspect of a care home will serve multiple purposes, so it’s essential to seek professional advice so that there are no conflicts between beautiful design and functionality or safety.
Old design habits are hard to break, and by stepping away from a ‘one size fits all’ approach, making interior design more community-focused and more open, residents can come into a care home and ease through the initial transition period more comfortably.
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Our range of services includes project management, chartered building surveys, CDM and quantity surveying among others.
At Aedifice Partnership, we manage new care home construction as well as refurbishment projects throughout the UK. Contact us for quote!