How To Make Your Loved One's Care Home Room More Welcoming

Adapting to the new routines of a care home can be challenging for your loved one. They’ll find themselves living in an unfamiliar environment, so making their care home room more welcoming and homely is really important.

Here, we’ve listed 13 ways you can make your loved one’s care home room more welcoming, to ease their transition into care home life.

The Benefits of Adding Personal Touches to Your Care Home Room

Care homes make life more comfortable for residents whilst also ensuring they’re safe and well cared for on a day-to-day basis.

Often, practical and safety requirements can make care home rooms feel impersonal to new residents.

By adding personal items and other touches to your loved one’s room, it should soon feel more familiar and homely. Decorating also allows your loved one to leave their own mark, helping to give their room a sense of identity which is distinctly theirs.

1. Ease the Transition with Visits in the Lead Up to the Move

The first way to make a new room feel homely begins before moving in. If you can visit the room ahead of the day, you can become familiar with the home and the people living there, making the transition easier.

Most care homes will allow you to visit before and after taking a place there.

2. Hang Cherished Photos

Photos of friends and family will help remind your loved one of the people closest to them and the happy memories you’ve all experienced together.

The majority of care homes will allow and even help you to hang these photographs, as their importance for emotional wellbeing is well-recognised.

If your loved one has moved into a dementia care home, remember to only hang pictures in wooden frames. Shiny surfaces can confuse those with dementia, so reflective plastic frames should be avoided.

3. Spend Time in the Room with Family Members

Central to making a place feel like home is creating fond memories in it. There’s no better way to do this than by spending time in your loved one’s new room with them.

You could invite fellow family members or close friends to have lunch in your loved one’s new home. Sharing this meal and some laughter will create happy memories of this new space. It will also work wonders for your loved one’s emotional wellbeing.

Arranging regular visits and bringing additional guests will show your loved one the care and affection you hold for them.

4. Get a Mobile Phone or Computer to Keep in Contact with Family and Friends

Modern technology means you can stay connected with friends and family from a distance. If your loved one’s living situation makes regular visits difficult, calls via Zoom, FaceTime or a similar application means you, your family and friends can still get in regular contact with them.

5. Lay Out Items of Sentimental Value

Another way to remind your loved one of positive memories and make their room feel more familiar is to put out personal items that hold sentimental value. Every person will have their own treasured possessions, so these will also help to bring some of your loved one’s identity to their room.

Whether it’s an ornament they’ve owned for years or their favourite piece of jewellery, be sure to find a special spot for each item.

6. Accessorise the Room with Soft Furnishings

Although you might not be able to paint the walls or lay a new carpet, you can still personalise a room’s overall aesthetic through various accessories.

Adding throw pillows to chairs or sofas in the room, or a knitted blanket to the end of your loved one’s bed, will help create a warmer atmosphere. These can be brought from home - so they may be packed with emotional value - or purchased as a moving treat.

7. Bring Furniture from Home

Decorative changes to your room don’t necessarily have to be limited to soft furnishings and accessories. Bringing your loved one’s own furniture can help to make their new accommodation more like their old home.

You can use our free service to filter and find care homes that allow furniture.

8. Bring Your Furry Friend Along

Some care homes allow pets to live with residents, while others allow pets to visit residents.

Depending on what kind of animal your pet is, they'll either live with your loved one or in the home's garden.

There are numerous benefits to owning a pet, particularly for older adults living in a care home, such as improved mental wellbeing and a genuine sense of purpose.

When your pet moves in with you, a support plan will usually be agreed upon, covering how your pet will be looked after within the home.

9. Take Your Loved One’s Bedding

There’s no feeling like sleeping in your own bed. You can emulate this feeling and make your loved one’s first night in their new care home or nursing home room as peaceful as possible by bringing their own sheets.

The familiar scent and feel of your loved one’s own quilt and pillows will make their bed as close to their old one as possible, helping to ease any nerves.

10. Create a Room Packed With Nature

Connecting with nature has numerous benefits for mental health, so decorative items such as flowers are the perfect addition to your loved one’s care home room.

Many care homes have access to a garden for this reason, but you should also think about bringing nature into your loved one’s room with flowers and potted plants.

If your loved one will find it challenging to maintain greenery, artificial flowers and plants are a much more low-maintenance option that still look great!

11. Bring Your Loved One’s Favourite Games and Hobbies

Bringing games and equipment that allow your loved one to practice a skill or discover a new interest is a brilliant way of promoting independence.

Many older adults continue to learn and develop as they age, so your loved one shouldn’t be intimidated to try something new.

Fitness-related hobbies could be of particular benefit, as they can help your loved one remain mobile.

12. Set Up a TV in Your Care Home Room

Most care homes have a communal space with a television that residents can use. Your loved one may also be able to put one in their new room, giving them control of the programmes they watch.

Having a TV in their room will allow your loved one to keep up-to-date with their favourite shows, along with being able to revisit the classics.

13. Create a Memory Box

Finally, you can ease the move into a care home by filling a memory box with cherished items from your loved one’s life. Creating a special place to store these mementoes means your loved one will always have a fond reminder of happy times nearby.

Memory boxes can include objects of emotional significance, such as pictures of loved ones, as well as more general items from the past, like old coins or stamps.

The creation of a memory box can also help your loved one bond with members of staff, as it’ll provide talking points when they spend time with their carers.