Adapting the home: colours, contrast, and signage

They say you can adapt the home to help a person with dementia find their way better. What really works, without expensive renovations?

A home can "tell" a person where they are and where to go — or confuse them at every turn. The most effective adaptations cost little.

Principles

With dementia, visual perception changes: low contrasts disappear (white toilet in a white bathroom), strong patterns confuse (a floral rug can look like a hole or a garden), and memory of "where things are" fails before the ability to read visual cues.

Changes that work

• Contrast: brightly coloured toilet seat, plates in a contrasting colour to the food and tablecloth (proven to increase intake), light switches highlighted against the wall, handrails in a different colour.
• Signage: on doors, real images + word ("BATHROOM" with a photo of the toilet) at eye level. In the early stages, the word is enough; later, the image is more valuable.
• Seeing inside: doors ajar or with a window to the bathroom; drawers and cupboards with labels/photos of the contents (or transparent fronts).
• Simplify visuals: fewer strong patterns on rugs/bedspreads, remove loose rugs, reduce clutter — every extra object is noise.
• Light: more and more uniform (shadows confuse and frighten); night light on the path from bed to bathroom.
• Mirrors: reduce/cover if they cause confusion.
• What should NOT change: the general layout of furniture — familiarity is their biggest navigation system.

Sources: Alzheimer's Society (UK); Dementia Services Development Centre — University of Stirling.