Making a Loved One’s Space Feel More Like Home
Understandably, the move to a care home or nursing home can be a difficult one. The change of surroundings can be disorientating and worrying, especially if you have lived in your own home for so long, collecting cherished memories along the way.
At a Randolph Hill Nursing Home, we want to make sure our residents continue to keep home comforts. With a room that has been personalised to become a sanctuary, and reminders of happy memories, it’s easier to settle in and feel better about the change.
If you are helping a loved one move into a care home room, you may be wondering how you can ease the transition. Here are a few relaxing room ideas and examples of things you might want to bring with you to help decorate.
Personal Touches
Putting up pictures of family, friends and pets is an easy way to put your stamp on a room. Familiar faces are a great way to reminisce, keeping some of your favourite memories alive. Pictures also act as a talking point with carers and visitors.
If your loved one has any items of sentimental value, they can be great decoration too. Maybe they have favourite paintings, ornaments, trinkets, or a vase. Whatever holds emotional value to them, make sure to make a special place for it.
Soft Furnishings
Another great way to personalise a care home room is to add things like cushions and throws in your loved one’s preferred colours. Where possible, we try to make space for familiar pieces of furniture, such as a favourite chair or a set of drawers. Talk to the manager first about what you’d like to bring, so that we can plan the layout of the room, and also make sure that the item is going to be safe to have in the home – items such as rugs can be a trip hazard for your relative, and some soft furnishings are not suitably fire retardant.
At Randolph Hill, we encourage residents to choose from a range of wall colours and soft furnishings, and as long as the layout gives us enough room to carry out our care, we help you make them as comfortable and familiar as possible.
Something For All the Senses
It’s not just the visual additions that can help make your room more homely, familiar scents can be just as effective. You could add a simple reed diffuser in their favourite scent, or some fresh flowers for a little extra cheer. Recreating the right scent can spark some nostalgia and make the room more relaxing.
Think About Entertainment
Music often has ties to memories and people. You can add some happy memories and familiarity into the space by making sure your loved one has access to some of their favourite music. You could bring in a radio, CD, or tape player. The charity “Playlist for Life” has helpful tips about compiling a playlist for people with dementia: playlistforlife.org.uk
Most care homes will have a television in the lounge, and at Randolph Hill, each resident has a TV in their room too . This means the resident can choose what they watch, and make sure they don’t miss their favourite shows.
Create a Memory Box
If you want to add even more memories to the care home room, and you’re short on space, why not create a memory box for your loved one? Creating a special place to store a range of significant items gives them a go-to if they’re feeling uneasy and need a happy reminder.
Potential items could include extra pictures of loved ones, postcards, written messages from friends and family, and more general items from the past, such as old tickets, coins, or stamps.
Feeling organised about your loved one’s move can help ease some of the stress and worry. If you get the opportunity to see the room that they’ll be staying in beforehand, we recommend doing it. Then you can get planning on how you’ll fill it with all the things they love.
Most importantly, this new room is an opportunity to make new memories. So, make sure you’re spending plenty of time in there with them while you’re visiting.
If you would like to see what our rooms look like, explore here. You can choose a Randolph Hill location and select ‘Rooms & Facilities’.