9 Ways to Design Your Home for Multigenerational Living

Alexis Kerr, 44, of Detroit, Michigan, who spent time living with a friend's elderly mother near Kansas City and helped set up her space, suggests placing a large paper calendar on a kitchen wall with colorful markers for crossing off each day. That way even family members struggling with memory issues can keep track and feel connected.

3. Safer stairs and doorways

Multigenerational homes don't have to be all one level. But if you're considering a house with stairs, make sure there is at least one bedroom with its own bathroom on the main floor.

To make stairs safer, Cini suggests painting the bannister a contrasting color from the wall color to make it easy to see. And if there is a door at the top of a flight of stairs but no landing area before the first step, she recommends moving the door frame back to create a three-foot landing area. This way, when an older person opens the door, “they get themselves situated and then decide to go down the steps."

Another key renovation: Call says doorways should be wider than 40 inches to allow a wheelchair (and if necessary, emergency personnel with equipment) to easily enter and exit.

4. Compromise on stuff and style

If an adult child moves home or an aging parent moves in, they're sure to have plenty of stuff. You may need to ask everyone to pare down. But it's important to incorporate some of that favorite memorabilia or furniture into new living arrangements.

Wellbank's family combed through her grandmother's possessions to decide what to keep. Their goal was to make sure her grandmother could see favorite items on display in their shared household, without disrupting the established style of the home.

"There was a bit of overlap in their style,” Wellbank says. For example, her grandmother collected Gone With the Wind memorabilia, which didn't mesh with the family's decorative approach. Her grandmother's bedroom became Gone With the Wind-themed and a few other pieces, like glassware, were worked into the décor throughout the house.

Call says that approach works well: Try decorating common areas like a living room or family room in a more neutral way that pleases everyone. Then let each family member decorate their bedroom in any way that makes them happy.

And don't forget framed photos: “Photos are really important especially for people that are suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia,” he says. “They need to be around their familiar things."

5. Togetherness vs. privacy

Even if family members love being together, we all need our own space. This can be a challenge in a more modern, open-plan house where everyone hangs out in a combined kitchen and great room, Cini says. Older homes, with smaller more purpose-built spaces may be better suited to this type of living.

These private spaces can help lower the tension level. And they're useful if some family members work or do school from home. “Everyone should not see every part of your life when you're on a Zoom call,” she says.

If your home has a very open design, Cini suggests looking for areas to add pocket doors in order to flexibly section off some spaces. Even thick draperies can help to create separate spaces when needed.

6. Less noise, more peace

Draperies added between rooms can help cut down on noise too – something that can be challenging when teenagers and grandparents share a household.

Some families have begun converting garages into hangout spaces for kids and teens, which allows them to make noise and have fun even if older family members are taking a nap. Also, think about situating children's bedrooms as far as possible from grandparents’ rooms.

One thing that helps: A generation ago, teens played their music on record players that the whole household could hear. Today, they often listen to music and even television via AirPods or other headphones.

7. Maximize the space

Many homes in the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. are on slightly sloped land and “may have sliding glass doors out of the basement to the backyard. That's a great place to put a ‘mother-in-law suite,'” Cini says.

Having a separate suite with its own exterior entrance can give grandparents a welcome break from young grandchildren. Even in places like Arizona or Florida with single-level houses lacking a basement, it may be possible to add on a spare bedroom and bath for an incoming relative.

Along with extending your home outward, don't forget to look upward and take advantage of your vertical square footage: “We have typically a lot of height” in rooms Cini says. “It's a great place to put storage for things that you don't get into quite often.”

Add custom cabinets all the way to the ceiling, then fill them with seasonal clothes or holiday decorations you rarely need. For a prefab option, “IKEA makes these huge modular closets,” Cini says, that “double or triple the amount that you're able to store in a normal closet.”

Her favorite trick with these: Paint them the same color as the walls. You'll gain lots of storage space but barely notice that they've been added to a room.

And to make your current closets more efficient, look into getting a modular shelving system. “You can go to Home Depot or Lowe's and for $150 you can double the amount that you store” in each closet, Cini says.

8. Big help from a tiny house

For some families, an ADU (additional dwelling unit) in the backyard makes multigenerational living easier. Studio Shed, a Boulder, Colorado-based maker of ADUs, has seen a 150 percent increase in sales during the pandemic and has increased staff by 50 percent to keep up with demand, according to Jeremy Nova, cofounder and creative director at Studio Shed.

"Being able to create safe and comfortable multigenerational living situations is a top priority for many homeowners right now,” Nova says.

ADUs generally have just one floor, so stairs aren't a worry. Older family members can have their own space but be just steps away when they need assistance.

Guesthouses like these are common in California, Call says. Costs, estimated between $50,000 and $150,000, vary widely depending on size, design and the part of the country where you're building, he says.

Local zoning rules also vary. Some communities are updating their rules to allow ADUs as they become more popular, while other communities resist giving permission because they're concerned the ADU will be used as a rental property.

"Most municipalities are realizing the benefit of ADU's to the community as a solution to housing pressure,” says Nova.

If zoning is an issue, one solution is to create a physical connection between your house and the ADU, like a short, enclosed breezeway with doors at either end, Cini says. For zoning purposes, that makes the ADU an addition to your house even though it functions as a self-contained home.

9. Lots of light

To see well, older adults need 70 percent more light than younger people. Adding lamps and light fixtures helps, but be sure to watch for cords that might present tripping hazards. Cini recommends adding strips of LED lights with adhesive backing anywhere that you need brightness, including along stairs where an automatic timer can activate them when it gets dark.

"They take hardly any energy,” Cini says, “so they're very easy to operate on a battery.”

One priority: Be sure to light a clear path to the bathrooms at night and add nightlights.

Smart bulbs that respond to voice commands may prevent older relatives from fumbling for switches in the dark. But keep in mind that some may forget how these systems work. If you're using smart bulbs, you can purchase manual switches that connect to the bulbs via WiFi, Cini says. They look and function like traditional light switches, but stick to a wall with Velcro and don't require wiring.

"Smart lights with the switches let you adjust the intensity level. So if a kid goes in there and you know he requires 70 percent less light, he can put it low,” she says, “I have to have my little IKEA light, plus the lights on, to read my book. So it allows you to modify and adjust towards that particular person.”

Stairs, showers, lights, countertops: All these changes may seem overwhelming. But Call says it's important to remember that multigenerational living is something millions of families have done for generations all around the world.

"If you look at Asian countries, or if you look at so many Latinx home interiors, everybody is living together. Why in America is it so strange for us to do so?” he asks. “For a country that believes in family values, we can get back to family values and create homes that work for all of us.”