Help for seniors downsizing their homes
HGTV host Emily Henderson, left, goes over color patterns with a Sunrise Senior Living resident. Credit: Handout
Downsizing can be so upsetting.
After empty nesters and seniors move to a smaller home, it's usually not the bigger old house they miss. It's the memories the house evokes. That and the grand piano and giant armoire that won't fit in their new space. So how do you decide what to take and what to part with?
"An object needs to be really beautiful, really functional or have sentimental value attached to it," says interior designer Emily Henderson, host of "Secrets From a Stylist" on the HGTV cable TV network. "If an object has none of those things, then that's what you don't bring with you."
But parting with cherished items that simply won't fit is often difficult. "It makes me sad to think of the family heirlooms, the beautiful antiques that have been handed down for generations, leaving the family," Henderson says. "I would say hand them down to your kids or grandkids." To ease the pain of not seeing these treasured objects every day, Henderson suggests taking photos of the items and putting them in a frame. This "gallery in a box" can fill up an empty spot on your wall and in your heart.
Henderson has signed on as an interior design expert with Sunrise Senior Living, the operator of 277 retirement communities nationwide, including six on Long Island. Her mission is to help seniors cope with the sometimes traumatic event of moving from a large home to apartment-style living.
She also advises Sunrise on how to make functional aging-in-place items look stylish.
For example, Henderson recommends installing a chair rail that is really a safety rail in a fashionable disguise. Unlike a normal chair rail that is perhaps 1-inch in depth, this rail would stick out about three inches and can help a senior avert falls. Also, when it comes to furniture, think outside the boxy. Henderson recommends round pieces, because they lower the odds of banging into something with a sharp edge. And round tables make a room look larger, she says.
But most of all, consider this a new beginning. You may leave behind some pieces you love, but it's also a great time to rid yourself of things you've secretly hated for decades. "I love a good purge," Henderson says. "It feels good to start fresh."
For more design tips from Henderson, go to stylebyemilyhenderson.com or sunriseseniorliving.com/design.
