How accessible is your bedroom? That may sound like a silly question but your bedroom is more than just a place to sleep. I consider myself lucky that my bedroom has an adjoining bath, but it was certainly not designed with any other accessibility features in mind. When our house was built the contractors were more interested in the number of bedrooms available than about size or the open areas.
The bedroom is your space. The bedroom is your sanctuary, and you want it to be a special place just for you. My bedroom is all wrong. To start with it is at the end of the hall and requires a sharp right angle turn to walk into the room (not much maneuvering space). The furniture takes up most of the room. There is less than 2 feet between the edges of the queen mattress and furniture and/or the walls. We are not thinking about knocking out any walls so most of the bedroom tweaking will have to involve furniture. The room is medium sized so I think a furniture makeover and some build-ins might work. The experts suggest a wider doorway if possible and enough open area to maneuver a walker or wheelchair. A smaller bed with built in reading lamps and nightstands could be conceivably tucked against one wall. The bed should be near seat height to make it easier to transfer or lever oneself in and out off. Chairs, if there is room for a chair (there might be if I get rid of the queen sized bed)…whose idea was that anyway? A chair should have firm cushions and arms to use for support when sitting and standing. I can do yoga chair pose but I know a lot of people who have trouble getting in and out of a chair. My vision is fine now but I like the idea of contrasting color for walls, floor and fabrics. Non-skid flooring is a must.
I can picture built in cabinets, sliding or pocket doors, and one of those closet makeovers where everything is on low rods, open spaces, adjustable shelving and drawers so that you can reach everything from a sitting position. We did a makeshift closet re-do with wire racks but it really isn’t sufficient. Of course it will help when I have more than a 1 ½ food clearance between the bed and the closet door. A closet space needs to be useful in a manner that makes everything accessible. This always sounds like such a cool idea when you read about it, but making all closet space useful isn’t as easy as you might think. Standard closets were not designed with a heck of a lot of foresight. Still, you can do more with the space than just installing a rod and a shelf. There are remarkable systems available these days. Spend a few dollars more and make it the closet of your dreams. Can this medium sized bedroom be saved?
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