Your Retirement Floor Plan Should Include the Best Features of Retirement Living

If you are looking at retirement communities and viewing retirement floor plans, you may find this article of help in deciding what are the most popular floor plans for retirees. First, decide, how your life will be different in retirement. Here are ten features that are the most popular for today's retirement floor plans and how they will work with your new retirement lifestyle:

1) Bedroom on the First Level - This is the most important feature of a retirement home, and the most popular. No longer do you need to be on the same floor as the rest of your family, and you are probably an empty nester by now. If you buy a two-story home, it is wise to have at least one bedroom on the first level. Even if you feel very active right now, in a decade or two you may wish you didn't have to climb stairs.

Will you be working in retirement or do you have a hobby that will require extra space. If so, a good idea is a third bedroom or den. Since retirees are living longer and working in retirement, they often need a third room for hobbies or in-home office.

2) Upstairs Bonus Room Over the Garage - Retirees who relocate to other states have out-of-town guests that visit for longer periods. Have a Bonus Room, if you can, for guests upstairs--a larger and separate area for more privacy so guests can stay longer.

3) Open Floor plan - Kitchen - Open floor plans are what retirees want -- they do not want their kitchens enclosed. This makes for easier retirement living. You can easily access the living areas and join in conversations from the kitchen to the living room. Like many retirees today, you may want a more upscale-appearing home than you had before. Kitchen countertops and cabinetry are now made of luxury materials such as extra thick granite slabs, exotic hardwood cabinetry and commercial appliances. When they are this beautiful, do not hide them from view. Make cooking nutritious meals more fun: its easier for others to join in when the kitchen is a more open floorplan.

It is a trend now to hide appliances such as microwave under the countertops. I would also suggest a dishwasher raised off the floor and lower cabinets for holding dishes to make them more easily accessible. Straining to bend over or reaching up can become very uncomfortable and hazardous as we age. Also, make all doorways wider.

4) Luxury Bathroom - At least the master bathroom should be more luxurious and a spa retreat. You will spend more time at home and aging bodies will enjoy whirlpool tubs, exotic fixtures, raised toilets and separate showers with bench seats. You will travel more and stay at luxury hotels. You will want your own home to be as nice as any resort. Larger and more elegant bathrooms with room for two people are in demand. Large windows with scenic views from the bathroom and glass block will create spaciousness and more light.

5) Sun room - If you have moved because you want more sun, adding a sun room makes sense. It's an extra room, too, usually in the back of the home, that can double as a guest room or hobby room.

6) Covered Patio - In addition to the sun room, boomers still want an outdoor patio for barbecuing, gardening and sitting in the fresh air. These are usually placed off the sunroom in the back of the home and accessed from there.

7) Informal dining room - Not many retirees need a formal dining room any longer. They would rather have the space be for a cozy dining alcove for two off the kitchen and a smaller dining room for guests--getting 2 rooms for the space of one large dining room. If there is room for a formal dining room, it follows the required rules: more open and airy--not closed off.

8) More and larger windows - Larger windows throughout are in demand to create a comfortable living space.

9) Ceilings - More ornate ceilings - vaulted, recessed, with carvings, moldings--you get the idea. Again, enjoying a more upscale interior is enjoyed by seniors in retirement.

10) Great Room - Very popular now for easier living -- one great room for everything eliminating separate formal living and dining rooms -- entertainment, studying, relaxing, and living. Kitchens open onto these rooms.

Observe how you do everyday things such as doing laundry or disposing of trash, and plan a path that is the easiest. Living differently in retirement, you will require a different kind of floor plan than you have had before--one that functions well and makes your life easier.

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