Help For the Handicapped - Choosing Home Furnishings For the Physically-Mentally Challenged

Home furnishing ideas can be found everywhere to fit every taste, budget and need. This includes designing rooms for the physically or mentally challenged. Rooms to fit the physical or mental limitations of those people with unique needs can be both functional as well as pleasing to the senses. Interior decorating is making a space fit a person, in design, needs, and style. Whether the style is bold purple or the needs require grab bars is irrelevant; the right design can make any room functional and attractive. If you keep the needs of the person you are designing for in mind, you will find there are many options you can choose from.

First, when you are considering home furnishing for a person with special needs, it would be smart to to check with other people. It might not be obvious that a grab bar needs to placed in a particular place to you but it could mean a world of difference to someone with balance issues. Hospital and rehab centers are experts in making spaces safe and easy to navigate for those with special needs. Check with some of those places or with specialists who treat and care for people who are physically or mentally challenged.

The bathroom and kitchen are the site of most at-home accidents, regardless of the residents of the home. Pay special attention to these areas. Make certain everything is easily and safely accessible. Do not expect a person who cannot move as easily as you do to be able to reach the lavatory handles or to adjust the shower settings as you would. Make certain everything is either built specifically for someone in a wheelchair, for example, or is modified to accommodate any physical restrictions. Wheelchair ramps should be sturdy, grab bars securely fastened and accessories should fit the needs of the person the space is intended for.

However, never lose sight of the fact that the person the room or spaces are designed for deserves to have an attractive space as well as a safe and usable one. The overall design should be attractive; the color scheme should take into consideration the preferences of the one who will live in the area. In some areas, style may be limited because of function but overall, a space can still have an attractive style that is warm and welcoming to the one who lives there as well as any guests who may come by.