Aging-in-Place Remodeling

What is aging in place?

Aging-in-place means continuing to live in your chosen home as you grow old. Aging-in-place remodeling supports that goal by adapting your home's layout and everyday features to your changing needs. Helping you feel comfortable, safe, and independent.

The focus is having the freedom to remain in the home you love as your needs evolve, with the support and resources to live comfortably as years go by. Beyond staying in familiar surroundings, it's preserving your independence and enjoying a fulfilling everyday life.

Planning ahead helps make that possible with the goal of not simply to modify your home, but to create an environment that supports changes in mobility, vision, or strength. This can be done by incorporating universal design principles from the start, we can create spaces that work for you today and anticipate your needs for tomorrow. Thoughtful choices in layout, accessibility, and features that help make your home feel  safer, easier to navigate, and comfortable for years to come.

Inspiring homeowners to design for a lifetime

Your home holds the routines, memories, and connections that make it yours. Designing for a lifetime means looking ahead so you can continue enjoying those things as your needs change.

Thoughtful aging-in-place remodeling anticipates changing needs from the beginning, which can include changes in eyesight, grip strength, balance, and mobility that make everyday tasks more challenging. Elements such as better lighting, easy to use lever handles, grab bars, wider doorways, and accessible showers can make your home more comfortable today while preparing it for the years ahead.

Sometimes, the need for change arrives unexpectedly. An injury, illness, or sudden change in mobility may leave you wondering how to make your home accessible. Whether you're planning ahead for yourself, your parents or in-laws, or responding to an immediate need, Murphy Bros. can help you explore universal design and home accessibility solutions that fit your life and complement your home's style to create a better functioning space and routine to homeowners throughout the Greater Twin Cities.

How can I prepare my home for aging in place?

Start with the spaces you use every day: kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, laundry room, or entrances. How do you move through these areas currently? Now think of these spaces with limited mobility, reduced vision, less hand strength, and unstable balance. By thinking about it now, you can incorporate accessibility into the planning process of your remodel and help create an opportunity to address future needs alongside improving the ones you already want.

What home features should I be considering?

Layered lighting, from under-cabinet lights, sconces, motion sensors, reduced glare, and clear contrast between surfaces can make spaces easier to navigate. Lever-style door handles, easy-to-grasp cabinet pulls, solid surface flooring, zero or low threshold walkways from showers to entrances, helping make walking or stepping safer, and thoughtfully selected fixtures can make everyday tasks more manageable as hand strength and dexterity change.

What remodeling changes can improve mobility at home?

Depending on your needs, or someone within the household, improvements may include step-free entrances, wider doorways, clear paths between rooms with minimal turns, a curbless shower, solid surfaces, or a main-level bedroom, bathroom, and laundry room. An accessible home design considers how these features work together while complementing your home's style and design that feel welcoming without sacrificing personality.

When should I look into universal design?

A kitchen, bathroom, or whole-home or main-level remodel is an ideal opportunity to plan long-term comfort. Designing with future needs in mind can help accommodate visiting family, friends, temporary injuries, and people with different abilities of all ages.