Being elderly and needing daily support from a long term residential care facility doesn't mean your accommodation has to be plain, unstylish, boring, or worse - institutional. With a diverse selection of affordable architectural styles today, even long term care accommodation can let go of the utilitarian architecture and begin with a fresh new start of appealing design that reflects a home-like atmosphere in a functional package.

Designing senior living with a reflection of the past, a base of the practical present and a touch of the future are sure to meet the needs of the aging population as it continues to grow. The senior consumer of the future will come with many profiles and will be looking for living arrangements that reflect a wide expanse of taste, living requirements and values, at a range of price points from affordable to extravagant.

If you had the option to design and build your own home, or a ?facility? that would become your home, wouldn't you let your imagination run wild and creativity soar to include and consider the many possible design options that exist in the resource bank of architecture?

Architecture today is a wide-open array of taste from the old world style with the accents of stone and stucco, tile roofs and heavy beams all very suitable to homebuyers looking for a connection to the historic past. A farmhouse or a country home with simple floor plans, warm colours and cozy spaces would please many individuals looking for a connection to an era of not so long ago. Ranch style homes of the 1950's are ever popular for those looking for a one floor living plan who are not afraid to recapture a retro look, or something more open with glass such as garden doors opening onto a landscaped patio or view of a park like backyard. Designing for seniors means paying attention to details such as uncluttered hallways and wheelchair accessible traffic zones, but it doesn't preclude the designer from planning style and space that feels like home.

Working with an architect to bring together your design ideas, your creativity, an outline of what your needs may be for comfort, space, budget, maintenance and functionality, are all necessary details and requirements that go in to the design of a building that not only serves its occupants but feels inviting ? like home.