Multigenerational homes therefore present an invigorating kaleidoscopic view of intergenerational life, laced with the sights, sounds, traditions and age-old wisdom of yesteryears as well as today. But multigenerational living can be rife with its own set of exclusivities, for instance in the ways in which varied age segments’ needs and desires are differentially incorporated.
You can set the scene for an equitable living space simply by choosing furniture that suits the needs of all your family members. Where there is highly crafted furniture that allows seniors to relax in comfort, you will find furnishings designed to withstand the rigours of nimble, adventurous, and curious young children.
Comfortable Seating for Everyone
Multigenerational living trend, which is becoming increasingly popular, brings together numerous persuasions and aspects of each age group but can also cause multitude of challenges.
The foremost is discussion of space planning. Various groups tend to require different space requirments to feel comfortable and live at an optimum level at the same time.
Not only should comfort and durability be considered when picking out furniture to make sure every member of the family feels like they have their place in the household, but seniors might take into consideration how they can sit in their seating in an ergonomically-friendly way. Children, on the other hand, will likely require childproof furniture that holds together strongly.
For instance, furniture that provides mood-evoking colours create a cosy ambience and gathers family members together. Moreover, cleaning guidelines guide readers on how to keep the furniture in good condition for a long period of time without harbouring any dirt. Simply dusting and carefully covering furniture can remove dust and increase the furniture’s lifetime.
Furthermore, using furniture pads or glides can lessen potential damage, as the pads enable furniture to adapt to uneven surfaces while protecting high-traffic areas.
Comfy Armoires for Storage
How do I ensure comfort and also make sure that the house feels like a place where people of all ages can come together easily? Multipurpose furniture, like sofa beds that can be pulled out and turned into a sleeping space, or adjustable dining tables that extend when additional seats are required, help people simplify their lives, making it easier for everyone to gather together for dinner or movie night.
Armoires are the most flexible piece of furniture in our living space, with hanging rods or shelving for clothes storage, and additional drawers and shelves for storing more clothes or linen. You will find armoires of any style and material to suit any living space, from heavy wooden armoires to stylish metal armoires.
When choosing furniture, seek high quality, premium designs with a sturdy construction, ergonomic design features, and durable upholstery fabrics. These far outweigh cheaper and mass-produced furniture that can be dangerous in various ways; for example, furniture with rounder edges minimises the risk of injury if children or elderly people trip over anything.
Bookcases with Built-In Storage
Built-in bookshelves can add more storage without taking up floor space, and a good remodelling specialist can custom-fit the shelving and panels to your home’s décor.
Furniture pieces for multigenerational living must serve multiple generations, which means you have to be careful choosing them; an ageing parent or grandparents might need ergonomic seating to keep their posture upright; a child might need durable furniture that has inbuilt safety features for children.
While well-built transitional or traditional pieces retain style over time – and thus can be passed down to future generations, saving replacement costs – leaving in the old sofa will contribute nothing to your asking price and may even make it look like something went wrong. So you need to swap it out for a sofa that matches your updated look. The same goes for your dining table. Buy sturdy, timeless-looking furniture that will simply become more valuable over time; neutral colours work best as they will look just as nice, or even better, further down the line than they do now, which also increases resale value. Finish it off with some decorative woodwork – be it crown molding around the area, or picture frame molding going around the window – to really give it a custom look.
Storage Bench
It’s one of the most effective ways to economise while adapting your house to life with multiple generations.
These must be flexible layouts – ‘you never know when you might need another floor, and conversely, if it’s the right type, you might one day be able to detach one – so making sure the volume of the ground floor reflects the structure of the building is fundamental’. Investing in a home doesn’t mean it will be frozen in time. ‘You’ll make changes as your needs, space or the market change. In multigenerational living situations you might initially want one master suite, but have fewer needs as the children move out; at another time you might multiple one-bedroom spaces to accommodate your grandchildren or an intergenerational cohousing scheme.’ These adaptable layouts mean that the house need not be costly to reconfigure.
It is a way to connect inside a shared space, and also to allow each family member to have some privacy. What can be done with dividers, bookshelves can do too. The bookshelf unit acts as a room divider but also as a seating area for various members of the family. Doors or curtains all create privacy in different ways.
Any personal residence that contains several generations of family occupants will soon be awash with dust-collecting parts, stains, rippled upholstery, and other plain evidences of wear and tear. The challenge is how to contain and extend a piece of furniture’s life in these circumstances. Routine dusting, vacuuming and, for areas of shared access, the use of antibacterial cleaning products all help to avoid build-up. Pads on chair legs and feet on tables will retard the gouging of floors and the transmission of vibrations, both of which tend to disturb occupants. Upholstery fabrics in multigenerational living furniture have a longer lifespan if they resist staining and fading.
