The healthcare & care home interior design specialists
Catalyst Interiors is revolutionising the world of interior design with our ground-breaking approach to dementia care environments!
Dementia Friendly Interior Design
As a market leading specialist in dementia friendly design for care homes, we operate quite differently to standard care home furniture suppliers. We design care home settings as our starting point. The surroundings as the framework to work within, focusing on the type of flooring installed, natural and artificial lighting, colours, and the dementia care home furniture utilised. Our design for dementia service is instead a holistic approach that sees our experienced and highly trained team look at every aspect of the needs of people living with dementia, to enhance the quality of daily life for these care home residents.
It is not an understatement to say that our design for dementia service considers every sensory requirement within a care home facility. We understand that every form of dementia has its own challenges that need to be considered and adapted for. Interior design for dementia care homes is a process for experienced individuals who are more than just suppliers of care home furniture.
Our team of specialist dementia healthcare interior designers are experts in the specific needs of the healthcare market. Our service does not stop at supporting the individual with dementia but also their families and carers, who are a pivotal factor in designing practical healthcare interiors. Great dementia friendly design is first in our goals; providing friendly spaces and care environments to the people living in care with dementia is always at the forefront of our thoughts.
We do not design for the procurement manager, not the financial accountant, as their needs are best met by meeting the requirements of those that will benefit most from our solutions. We are catering for your resident’s needs by aiming to enhance the life of the person with dementia. This, in turn, means that our designs are indeed a ‘win win’ solution for everybody involved.
Residential Home Design
A residential care home facility is a setting where elder members of the community come together, usually living in single rooms, with access to on-site care services. Typically therefore a healthcare facility registered simply as a care home will provide personal care only – help with washing, dressing and giving medication etc. Now our start point for design in this environment is that the facility should stimulate the mind and body, bringing both happiness and well-being.
Residential homes should be fun and we will typically design in facilities such as cinema rooms, therapy rooms and relaxation spas. In fact we have often also designed such healthcare interiors to include indoor beaches, sun therapy rooms and themed pubs. A Catalyst designed home is a place to enjoy living with a wider circle of friends.
By designing our healthcare interiors as we do our experienced team ensure that our clients and their customers love the unique features that we create in their homes, and their staff love working within them and as a result staff retention in a challenging workplace market is enhanced.
A picture speaks a thousand words, so if you would like to see a Catalyst designed healthcare interior ask us to show you recent projects that we’ve work on, or ask us for a 3D walk through design for your next project, just don’t trip over the care home furniture-it’s virtual remember.
Nursing Home Design
Care for the elderly & the vulnerable amongst us is a sign of a compassionate giving society and goes way beyond the remit or experience & training of most care home furniture suppliers.
We work closely with our clients and supply partners to challenge and change the way people think about care environments and nursing in particular. With these healthcare interiors we recognise that what we do is fundamental to the quality of care that is ultimately delivered, so the choice of nursing home furniture, allied to the materials used in our clients’ nursing home interiors is pivotal to creating healthcare interiors that exceed expectations and allow residents to enjoy a dignified life at their own pace.
We think of our own family and loved ones when we design such nursing care interiors, would we be happy to see our parents or grandparents living in such a facility. There is an achievable balance that we always reach between client’s needs and resources, the physical surroundings of the built environment (although early adoption of us in the process will always help accelerate this gain) and the residential home furniture to be utilised.
Our Pinder award winning designs are recognised by our peers and their own Jon Chapman commented, when asked to sum up what Catalyst had done to receive so many awards & finalist entries, “As judges of design, we are impressed with aesthetics but only if it enhances suitability for the purpose”. With a Catalyst Interiors specialist nursing home interior design our clients, their ultimate customers, family & staff all benefit from an unrivalled industry experience and knowledge, that ensures the 1st experience is one that ensures faster occupancy & greater fill rates.
Catalyst Interiors is not just transforming spaces, we are transforming lives
Care Home Furniture
Many people think that the selection & procurement of care home furniture is a fairly routine subject matter, but is it?
Well perhaps not, as the whole interior design and fit out of a care home is an integrated function that experience suggests should be tackled as a whole project. In fact, design for dementia should play a large part in the selection of nursing home furniture, as the needs of the elderly and sufferers of Alzheimer’s, both present and future, should be catered for in a safe secure environment, where care home furniture is just one small part of the overall needs to be met.
Care home furniture must firstly be robust and in particular supportive, stable, and solid, easy to see, age appropriate and the colour choice should contrast with the surroundings to ensure the LRV (Light Reflectance Value) is correct for the specific user audience. Now, just from that one line perhaps you can understand how critical the selection of care home furniture is, and the importance of the design and procurement professional’s knowledge of the product area.
With the needs of the elderly and dementia patients alike it is important to make sure all furniture for the care home environment is easy to use, so it must be familiar, comfortable and intuitive (easy to operate & to remember how to do so) it is not furniture for an ordinary home or a younger audience and must be treated differently.
“Seating can give visual variety, tactile stimulation, opportunity for increased socialisation. The provision of suitable seating for the aged population will not only increase their ability to function effectively and improve their comfort, but in the case of those with dementia, will also reduce agitation and wandering behaviour.”
- Wagland, Peachment, 1997
Care Home Furniture Styles
The styles of care home furniture should reflect their users, and be of a recognisable shape, dressed in a plain fabric, arms contrasting with the seat helps positioning, in bright plain colours that contrasts with the floor. Ideally the user’s bottom should be flush with the back of the chair, with a flexed knee slightly forward of the front of the cushion. Care home seats should be of a correct height and width allowing easy access and exit, allowing the user to get firm back support and be able to touch the floor to stabilise themselves and feel safe.
Now here we have majored on the most common piece of care home furniture-the chair, but there are equal considerations to be accounted for with regard to tables, beds (very important in the care home facility) and other pieces of furniture that care home residents interact with.
At Catalyst Interiors we procure £millions of care home furniture, as part of our one stop interior design & fit out service, and our staff are trained in the selection and procurement of furniture suited to the specific needs of the elderly, vulnerable and dementia related needs. We are not furniture designers or manufacturers, we leave that to others, but we are experts in nursing home furniture selection and procurement, and as such involving us in this vital area of care provision can be extremely beneficial.
What Our Customers Say
Seb Morris:
Develop Manager - Liberty Property
Catalyst have been nothing short of exemplary to work with. They perfectly understand the operator’s needs, the needs of the developer and most importantly, the needs of the residents whom will be residing in the care homes. Their products are of extremely high quality, durability and reasonably priced. Mike and his team are a first-class team to work with and we appreciate the speed of which they operate. Catalyst were in and out of our latest care home in under a week!
We look forward to many years working with each other
James Gant:
Develop Manager - Cinnamon Care
I have worked with Mike and the Team at Catalyst Interiors for several years now, and they have been a vital part of Cinnamon’s journey in the creation of our ‘Brand’ identity with our new care homes. Catalyst are a key member of the Team that helps Cinnamon deliver luxury care homes into the market place, and are always a name that goes straight onto the Team Sheet. From inception to the completion of a home. Catalyst’s input, knowledge, and expertise of what our homes should look like is second to none
Ed Moore:
Director - Anavo Group
Catalyst know their stuff when it comes to high quality interior design and refurbishments for care homes. Anavo has worked with the team on multiple projects from new build fit-outs to existing building refurbishments and we’ve been delighted with the results on every occasion.
Our recently opened home, Alexandra Mill in Crewe is an example of the standard they deliver. The fit-out process on site was seamless and it never fails to provide the wow factor for visitors. Our residents feel at home in the comfortable, beautifully designed space. We’re looking forward to doing more with the team!
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