Safety in the Living Room

Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Detectors

Every home or apartment needs to have both working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. You should know how to change the batteries in the detectors; be sure to keep extra batteries of this type in your refrigerator; and remember a simple date on which to change them. Many people use the daylight savings date, New Year's Eve, or their birthday. Pick whatever works best for you.

Prevent Falls

Clutter, be it piles of papers or magazines or areas overloaded with extra furniture, can be very difficult to navigate and a hazard to your safety in the house. You may need to have a family member or a neighbor help you sort and clear out extra things that are hampering your ability to walk easily around your home. In addition, any loose rugs need to be either be removed or anchored firmly to the floor.

Cords for electrical appliances, telephones, or other uses should all be placed behind the furniture away from the circulation areas and never under rugs that you walk on. Extension cords and outlets can easily be overloaded and potentially cause a fire danger. Have someone check these regularly.

Chairs

If you have a problem rising out of some chairs in your home, you may need to remove them and replace with items that are sturdy and that you can use independently. There are commercially available furniture accessories to help you rise out of a chair and, though expensive, even chairs that will raise and tilt to help you stand up.

Lighting & Contrast in the Living Room

Amount of Lighting

Is it too dim, too bright, or does it cover too small an area? If so, consider changing the bulb wattages (within the recommended limits), repositioning lamps, adding additional lighting, or putting dimmer switches on the lights so you can vary their intensity as required.

Type of Lighting

You may find when you're playing cards or board games or reading, you could benefit more from using the combination of fluorescent and incandescent light which is close to natural sunlight and produces less heat. Experiment with different types of lighting and both floor and table lamps but, once again, make sure you do not exceed the recommended bulb wattage for your fixture. When you're working on a particular activity, such as reading or playing cards, do remember to position the light directly on the activity and away from your eyes.

Window Treatments

If your living room drapes block out natural light, consider using adjustable blinds, or lighter translucent curtains. For many people natural sunlight is best. If this is true for you, try rearranging your furniture so that your reading chair and work areas are positioned to take advantage of the natural sunlight. If however, you are a person bothered by glare, being able to close off all or part of the direct sunlight may be important for you. In this case, blinds and curtains may be your best options.

Unless you have blinds or other light curtaining that will protect you from glare, think about re-positioning your seats and sofa so you are sitting with the light behind you. It's always a good idea to have at least one seat close to the window so you can gain full benefit from the natural light, but again, make sure the light is coming over your shoulder for ease of reading or doing many other tasks.

Reducing Glare

Windows, mirrors, and shiny surfaces can produce glare and can cause major problems when you're trying to view either a TV or computer screen. Choose a location where you can control both light-intensity, direction, and glare. Turn the TV or monitor away from windows. Glare shields can also be purchased for computer monitors, but they also reduce visibility, so be cautious.

Using Contrast to Improve Visibility

If you have problems finding your way about the living room, you may be experiencing problems due to the lack of color contrasts. For example, if you have dark furniture and a dark carpet, you might think about placing light colored cushions and/or headrest covers on the chairs and sofa. If you have a light colored coffee table consider placing it on a darker colored carpet so you can more clearly see its edges. Also consider using contrasting colored lamp bases or shades to help you locate specific pieces of furniture. If you're buying new furniture you might want to consider solid colors rather than 'busy' patterns or stripes. You might also think about the texture of the furniture. Do you want something that feels smooth, rough, patterned, soft, or hard? For some, furniture placed in the middle of the room can also be a problem, especially if you forget it's there! Again, contrasting colored identifiers placed on or near the furniture, such as cushions, large ornaments, lamps, a ticking clock, or a change in floor texture, can serve as tactual and visual reminders. Also, keeping the furniture arrangement the same will help you always know where you are and enable you to navigate the room safely.

Outlets

Often wall sockets and light switches are either installed or painted the same color as the wall so, with reduced vision, they can be hard to find. One solution is to install new, contrasting color face plates to either the outlets or the light switches.

Another possibility is to mark the outlets with either raised dots or contrasting dots to help you locate them, and align a plug. While you can easily make your own 'dots' using spots of glue, bits of tape, or whiteout solution, dots such as Hi-Marks, Spot-N-Line Pens, Touch Dots and Maxi Marks are also available commercially from vision rehabilitation catalogs (see Products for Independent Living).

Finally, outlets are often low on the wall and behind furniture. As people age and/or have vision issues, it may become more difficult to bend down and use them. A solution to this is to use a surge protector (like many people use with their computers). Plug the surge protector into the outlet and then place the strip on the back or at the end of a table, thus raising the outlet sockets and making them easy to reach. If necessary, the outlets on the surge protector can also be marked with raised or contrasting dots to identify each plug.

Doorways

As it's sometimes difficult to locate doors in a room because they are often the same color as the walls, you might want to consider painting them a different color. The edges of the doors and door knob could also be painted in a contrasting color to the door itself. Painting the doorway threshold a contrasting color may help you define a possible change in level, and thus avoid unnecessary accidents.