Can Garden Rooms Help Support Independent Living?

Being able to live independently and age in place is of growing interest to many around the UK, ensuring that we can continue to enjoy the same level of freedom that we had when we were younger, even as our mobility and physical needs change over time.

To facilitate independent living, it will likely be necessary to make home adaptations and alterations to ensure that it remains safe for you to live there. 

This could include, for example, installing walk-in showers, bath and shower seating and anti slip flooring in the bathroom, widening doorways throughout the house to accommodate a wheelchair, lowering the kitchen worktops and installing ramps outside.

Another home adaptation that’s becoming more popular, however, is the addition of a garden room outside. If you have or are anticipating reduced mobility but want to remain at home, a bespoke garden room could be the way to achieve this, with these spaces easily tailorable to suit your accessibility needs.

These annexes mean that you can potentially move family members into your actual home if and when you need to, while still enjoying the flexibility of having your own space and without having to move to a care home in order to be looked after. 

As we all know, care homes can be incredibly expensive and it can be very hard emotionally to leave the home you’ve lived in for so long, but a garden room represents an excellent solution to a tricky situation.

You’ll be able to retain your independence (far more so than if you did move to a care home) while having the peace of mind that relatives are nearby, able to give you the support you need, coupled with that all-important sense of familiarity that makes the house your home.

These spaces can easily be custom-built to integrate into the garden, featuring futureproof fixtures and fittings that can cater to your evolving needs, or those of a loved one. As an alternative to a care home, it’s certainly one worth exploring… and one that can actually add significant value to your property, at the same time.