When homes are being designed, whether it’s your own or for your real estate business, the outdoor space is a fundamental aspect that must be well thought out. Making outdoor spaces accessible for anyone is paramount and it’s not just as simple as adding a ramp from the door.
Creating an accessible outdoor living area requires a lot of planning and work, ensuring that everyone can enjoy immersing themselves in the outdoors. Use these ways to make your outdoor living area accessible for everyone, including those using wheelchairs like the Edge 3 Stretto power chair.
Table of Contents
Plan
Before you begin the transformation of the home’s outdoor area to create an accessible outdoor living space, it is vital to plan so you can successfully create a lovely yard that works for everyone. The first part of the planning process includes evaluating your current outdoor area with fresh eyes. Look for areas of improvement and note down potential challenges when it comes to accessibility. Some may be obvious, such as steep steps, but look for areas that aren’t so obvious too.
From this, create a plan of how you will tackle these challenges and ways to improve the outdoor space. Within this plan, you should also note where you will need professional help and begin budgeting so you have an idea of how much it will cost.
Ensure safety and access
The first step of action should be access and safety, particularly if you are planning for the elderly, wheelchair users, or those with mobility difficulties. Identify all of the outdoor barriers that will be an issue such as steps, uneven terrain, narrow paths, overgrown bushes, and slippery slopes.
Tackle these first to cover the dangers and prevent accidents from occurring. These issues can be easily solved by having dedicated ramps, leveling the floor, widening paths, and cutting overgrown shrubbery.
Create functional zones
Zoning the garden can make it easier to create an accessible outdoor living space. Even if your yard isn’t the size of a mansion with separate vegetable patches, mazes, and grand water features, it is still very much worth doing.
Have distinct areas for different activities to determine an extension of your living space into the outdoors:
- A dining area with accessible seating and tables that’s close to the house
- A cozy comfortable area with plush seating, shade, fluffy cushions, blankets, and a fire pit
- A flower garden with a wide pathway
- A sensory garden or therapeutic area for various ages and senses
- Raised flowerbeds for herbs, vegetables, and fruits where people can tend to them easily.
By zoning you can concentrate on the needs of that certain area, making it enjoyable for everyone and improving the experience of the outdoors.
Have easy-to-navigate paths
Having easy-to-navigate paths is essential to help those with accessibility needs to move easily and safely from one area to another. Paths need to be widened to accommodate wheelchairs, walking frames, or another person assisting someone walking.
To help you with this here are some rough measurements to show how wide your garden path needs to be:
- 2m width gives room for 2 wheelchairs or two people side by side.
- 1.5m is great for 1 wheelchair and someone alongside.
- 1m allows only room for 1 wheelchair.
Your paths should be made so that people with accessibility needs can easily get around the yard and reach every zone they want to. They should have gentle curving paths rather than sharp corners and room for people to change direction easily. Ensure the paths are flat, smooth, and anti-slip to prevent injuries and accidents.
Have lots of accessible seating and furniture
Having accessible seating areas and garden furniture is paramount for an accessible garden. Ensure you have easy-to-get-on furniture so those with mobility issues can easily relax comfortably. Avoid using swing seats and instead have a wide couch or cozy garden chairs. Make sure an outdoor dining table is close to the home and avoid the bench-style picnic tables as these can be difficult to sit on for many.
Have accessible seating, such as comfortable cushioned benches, dotted around the yard to allow people to rest or take in the natural green surroundings. This promotes wellness as spending time outdoors improves mood and boosts energy.
Sort level changes
An accessible garden must be level across the whole yard. If there are unlevel parts that are bumpy or sloping, then these must be changed in some way. Usually, this can be an easy fix with ramps and easy-to-navigate steps. Have shallow, deep steps or shallow gradual slopes for wheelchair users. This makes the yard safer and easier to navigate for those with mobility problems.
Light your garden
Your outdoor living area should allow anyone to enjoy it at any time of the day, during daylight hours, or at night. Having clear modern lighting ensures that the yard is safe and welcoming when it goes dark. You can use path LED lighting that lines the path edges to provide additional safety and help with navigation. Ambient lighting is also great to use for gardens. This type of lighting enhances the look of the yard when the sun sets, and it can set the mood for enjoying the outdoors alone or with loved ones.
Task lighting, such as motion-activated lights, is a great way to clearly illuminate areas of the yard while keeping the space safe as it deters intruders. Additional lighting like fairy lights, spotlights, or festoon lights around plants or grass areas can provide visual highlights to give your outdoor living space a warm and welcoming feel.
Use these ways to create an accessible outdoor living space for homes to ensure that everyone can enjoy nature and time spent outside in fresh air. Whether it’s for your own home or your business, accessible outdoor living spaces are vital to accommodate those with mobility issues, providing a tranquil haven for everyone.
