Types of Furniture for Senior Living: Building Safe and Comfortable Aged Care Homes

In the face of an increasingly ageing population, how can the elderly enjoy a high-quality retirement life? It is important to clarify that the prerequisite for a high-quality retirement is ensuring the safety of the elderly. Topics closely related to safe retirement, such as ‘Senior home modifications’ and ‘Aging-in-place products,’ have become hot topics of concern across society. Understanding these topics can help your senior living project achieve twice the result with half the effort!

In Australia, the industry generally agrees that the ‘optimal size’ for a nursing home is typically 60 to 90 beds, with building heights generally ranging from two to three storeys. Compared to smaller-scale nursing homes, a 90-bed facility can achieve more flexible staffing arrangements, stronger risk-resilience, and better alignment with the upcoming Australian regulation, the ‘Aged Care Act 2024,’ which will take effect from July 2025. According to industry standards, a 90-bed retirement home must be equipped with 90–100 dining seats to ensure that all residents' meal needs are met during peak hours for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Given the accelerating ageing of the population and the sustainability challenges facing the existing elderly care system, this reform follows the recommendations of the Elderly Care Working Group and aims to establish a care system that better meets future needs. The new Aged Care Quality Standards will come into effect in November 2025, with a focus on ‘diet and nutrition’ and ‘environmental design,’ requiring nursing home to provide comfortable and safe spaces that fully meet the needs of all residents and visitors.

Additionally, multi-purpose zones and public spaces typically require an extra 20–30% of seating capacity based on the number of beds to accommodate visitor reception, event hosting, and seating rotation needs. This design philosophy has been widely adopted in the planning of modern aged care facilities and is widely recognised.

Core Space Furniture Configuration

• Dining Area

The number of dining seats should be equal to or slightly more than the number of beds to accommodate peak meal times for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Additionally, the dining area must be kept clean and hygienic, with regular cleaning and disinfection to provide elderly residents with a safe and clean dining environment. Dining tables are essential furniture for daily meals. Therefore, age-friendly dining tables must not only offer diverse designs but also have rounded edges to eliminate sharp corners. Their dimensions, structure, and materials must be safe and stable, meeting the needs of the elderly. Some age-friendly dining tables feature inward-curved sides, allowing the elderly to sit closer to the table surface for easier eating. The edges of the table surface can also be designed with drainage channels to prevent spilled liquids from spreading, reducing the risk of slipping and enhancing the dining experience for the elderly.

Chairs, as one of the most frequently used pieces of furniture for the elderly, require particular attention to safety and stability, comfort and convenience, environmental health, and ease of management when selecting. Key age-friendly details such as the material, appearance, colour, safety design, and rounded edges of the chairs are essential elements in ensuring a safe and comfortable dining environment for the elderly.

When a healthy person approaches the dining table, they simply pull out a chair, stand between the table and chair, hold onto the chair back, and slide the chair into position. These actions are second nature to most people, requiring little thought. However, for elderly individuals with mobility issues, these simple actions are often impossible to perform independently.

So, how can nursing home caregivers move elderly individuals with mobility issues to or away from the dining table without causing physical harm? Logically, we need a chair that is both easy to move and stable once positioned. However, ordinary four-legged chairs lack this flexibility, while four-wheeled chairs with full rolling capabilities pose safety risks: when the elderly individual stands up, the chair may accidentally slide away, leading to a fall.

The only viable solution is to design a chair that combines flexible mobility with stable positioning. In recent years, senior living dining chairs have emerged to address this need. These chairs are equipped with 360-degree swivel casters and foot brakes, allowing caregivers to easily move seated elderly individuals to the dining table and apply the brakes at the appropriate position to keep the chair securely in place. Regardless of whether the weight exceeds 300 pounds, safe and smooth movement and meal preparation can be ensured.

From an appearance perspective, these senior living dining chairs are virtually indistinguishable from ordinary dining chairs. However, the casters and brake design beneath the seat provide revolutionary convenience and safety for elderly individuals with mobility challenges and their caregivers.

• Resident Room

After moving into a nursing home, the elderly spend most of their time in their private spaces. However, in many large-scale elderly care facilities, residents are generally mobility-impaired, with most requiring walkers or even wheelchairs. Poor room layout can result in a lack of humanistic care.

High cabinets are inconvenient for the elderly to use, while low drawers require frequent bending and standing, which is nearly impossible for mobility-impaired seniors. Many rooms have narrow, poorly designed wardrobes with cheap, easily damaged drawer tracks and hinges, failing to meet daily storage needs.

Additionally, many elderly individuals are attached to their belongings and prefer to keep items that hold memories. However, when moving into a nursing home, they often have to discard a large number of personal items, and the limited space available after moving in makes storage a significant challenge.

Therefore, furniture with storage functionality is particularly important. Well-designed storage spaces can neatly organise items without occupying activity areas, maintain a clean and orderly environment, and satisfy the emotional need of the elderly to retain their belongings. For example, bedside cabinets with drawers or tables with storage functionality are excellent choices for elderly care environments.

• Common Area

In nursing homes, the recommended number of seats in public areas should reach 30% of the total number of beds to ensure that the elderly have sufficient rest and socialising space in public areas. Furniture such as single sofas and lounge chairs can significantly enhance the comfort of socialising and activities.

The flexibility of furniture layout is crucial for improving the quality of life for the elderly:  

Group Seating Layout: sofas for 2–3 people facilitate interaction and communication;  

Bright and warm colours: help elderly people with cognitive impairments better identify seats;  

Distinct colour contrasts: contrasting colours for seat surfaces, backrests, and armrests enhance visibility.

Elderly people often spend extended periods in public areas, so furniture placement should not only encourage social interaction but also ensure the safety and mobility of those with limited mobility. Wide pathways and clustered seating arrangements promote interaction while ensuring smooth passage for wheelchairs, walkers, and other assistive devices.

Seating should be ergonomically designed to provide good support and comfort, especially for prolonged use. Furniture placement should avoid obstructing pathways, ensuring clear access points so that the elderly can choose suitable seating based on their physical condition.

Social interaction has a positive impact on the mental health and cognitive abilities of the elderly, helping to reduce loneliness and delay cognitive decline. A reasonable layout and comfortable furniture design can encourage the elderly to actively participate in social activities, promote mental and physical health, and alleviate the burden on caregivers.

Furthermore, placing lounge sofa in corridors and activity areas allows the elderly to rest at any time, further enhancing safety and convenience.

Conclusion  

Selecting appropriate furniture for the elderly is more important than many people realise. While safety is undoubtedly crucial, comfort, convenience, and ease of use are equally important. Given the high cost of furniture investments, elderly care facilities need to choose products that best meet the needs of the elderly while also considering budget constraints. By selecting elderly-friendly furniture that prioritises safety and functionality, and by regularly inspecting, promptly replacing, or renovating outdated furniture, facilities can effectively create an environment that promotes the physical and mental health and quality of life of the elderly.

Yumeya's sales team has extensive experience in elderly care projects and can provide customers with personalised furniture solutions, assisting elderly care facilities in configuring the most suitable products for public spaces, private rooms, and outdoor areas, allowing the elderly to enjoy a safe and comfortable living environment while reducing the pressure on care staff.

Selecting medical-grade furniture suppliers and confirming that products have passed antibacterial and fire-resistant tests are key to ensuring the safety of elderly care projects. Additionally, products should be required to have load-bearing test data of over 500 pounds (approximately 227 kilograms) to accommodate diverse needs, including those of obese individuals. Furniture with a 10-year structural warranty can also effectively reduce maintenance costs and enhance the long-term return on investment for the project.

By thoughtfully incorporating natural elements and colours, custom seating can not only improve the mood of the elderly but also enhance overall well-being. We are committed to combining high-standard design and quality to ensure that elderly care communities become vibrant spaces where every senior can truly enjoy their golden years.