Interior Design for Dementia Care Homes

When it comes to our loved ones who are living with dementia, finding the right care home is one of the most important decisions we can face. Not only do we need those who run and work in the home to be the very best caregivers for our loved one, but we also want the home to be a safe place where the individual can feel comfortable in their surroundings, even with dementia.
This means that when you are in charge of a home that cares for those living with dementia, the interior design is more important than many people realise.

Caring for those with dementia

As the general world population is increasingly living longer thanks to better health care, education and nutritional knowledge, we find that we have an increased demand for care facilities. With this increase we find that there is less requirement for a one-size-fits-all facility, but more those dedicated to the specific needs of the individuals that will be living there. Such as those living with dementia. Due to the nature of the condition, it is best for those who are caring in these homes to have a good strong knowledge of how it can affect individuals and how their needs will need to be met. That will include how their surrounding will affect the individuals.

Why is the interior design so important?

After many years of research and studying the impact of different types of homes and environments on those living with dementia, it has been found that the interior design of the space that they are living in can greatly help in reducing the stresses that they may face on a daily basis.
Some care homes have been designed to help make the life of the staff there easier, such as the positioning of furniture etc. However, when the design changes to make the life of the residents easier, the work too becomes easier, whilst enhancing the lives of the residents.

How can we improve the interior of our home?

While there are a number of steps that can be taken in order to make a difference in the care home, there are a simple few, that can have the biggest impact:

Create smaller spaces
Here we do not mean boxing the residents in. We mean to reduce the number of those that they interact with. Dementia patients are found to be significantly happier when surrounded by a small number of familiar faces, rather than large vast crowds of people that are sometimes found in larger homes. If you are a larger home, look at dividing up the larger spaces to make it more comfortable for those who are living with dementia, this can help them to feel more relaxed and not worried about the noise and strangers around them. The use of soft furnishings can help with this, such as fabrics over hard surfaces, cushions and where appropriate carpets.

Give every room a clear purpose
When an individual living with dementia is moved out of their family home it can become disorientating enough for them, so ensuring that they can understand the use of each room they are moving into can help to ease this. Rather than offering them a clinical or hotel-like feeling.
Standard household rooms should be furnished as stereotypical as possible, or where they can be, filled with items from the individuals own home. This includes the bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen and lounge, although this might be easier when they are in more assisted living.
Where your home has the space, we recommend creating dedicated rooms, rather than mixed use rooms, such as when the dining room in a care home is also used as a games room, as this can lead to confusion.

It pays to jog memories
Reminding your residents of things that have happened in their past can be a form of comfort for them. This can be made easier by having items from their life displayed safely around their room (which is their own personal space too), as these can help to trigger happy memories.
These personal memories can not only help to trigger memories, it can also help the residents to remain calm, and even recognise a room as their own space.

Use contrasting hues
We have all seen in a range of care homes that the colours are kept as neutral as possible, while this helps the cleanliness and clinical approach it can be particularly unhelpful to those who are living with dementia.
The use of contrasting colours throughout the home can help to reduce the confusion that those with dementia might be feeling in the environment.
Contrasting hues are important in all aspects of interior design for care homes. From curtains to seating, the importance should not be underestimated. Every use of bold and contrasting colours makes life easier for the dementia resident.

Make it homely
As mentioned above with the use of memories in the individual space, making the space as homely as possible with the interior design can help to make the space comfortable.
Creating the homely feeling can help to offer comfortable surroundings that help the dementia residents to relax. These residents can find themselves sitting in the same chair or lying in bed for long periods of time, meaning that comfort is key, and making it homely adds to that comfort.
Where possible, allowing the residents to include features of their own personal furniture can help with this, and can be something as small as a chair in their bedroom.

Care Home Furnishings With Hill & Hill

Here at Hill & Hill, we have a wide range of dementia-friendly furniture including Hockley Bedroom Furniture and Reminiscence Furniture. Our range of care home chairs are also available in a range of bright and bold colours that would be beneficial to those living with dementia, along with offering the comfort and support that they require. For more information please call a member of our team who will be more than happy to help you.