How Customising Your En Suite Bedroom With Personal Belongings Can Create Familiarity Within a Care Home

Moving into a care home can feel like a big step for both older people and their families. It’s natural to worry about the transition to a new environment and whether it will feel natural and like home. However, one way to help your loved one settle in is by customising their bedroom with personal belongings. There are many small but significant touches that can provide a comforting sense of familiarity, helping to create a warm, homely atmosphere in their new space.

In this blog, we’ll explore how personalisation can ease the transition into different care types, share our top ways for creating a familiar space, and highlight the long-term benefits of creating a space that feels truly unique to your loved ones.

The Importance of Personalisation in a Care Home

Care homes are designed to provide a safe and supportive environment for their residents, but can't perfectly represent the layout and familiarity of somebody's own home. Because of this, personalisation plays an important role in helping residents feel settled after making the transition.

Bringing personal items into your loved one’s en suite room is much more than just decorating – it’s about creating a space that reflects their personality, life, and memories. Whether it’s a treasured photo of family members, a favourite chair, or bedding in their favourite colours, these items hold sentimental value and can provide comfort during a time of change.

Personalisation is especially valuable for residents living with dementia, as familiar objects can spark memories, provide reassurance, and help maintain a sense of identity. No matter the level of care an individual requires, these touches contribute to enhancing their emotional well-being and help to make the transition to care feel less overwhelming.

How to Make Your En Suite Bedroom Feel Like Home

With a few thoughtful touches, you can create a space that feels personal, comfortable, and truly homely. Here are our top tips for making your loved one’s room a space where they can thrive:

Bring Items With Sentimental Value

Personal belongings like family photos, treasured keepsakes, or a favourite book can help remind your loved one of happy moments in their life. These items don’t just decorate the room – they also provide emotional comfort and create a sense of continuity between the care home and their previous home.

For example, placing framed pictures of children, grandchildren, or friends on a bedside table can make the space feel familiar. Items that hold sentimental value, such as a wedding photo or a family heirloom, can also provide an immediate sense of connection and belonging.

Incorporate Familiar Smells and Colours

The senses always play a big part in creating a homely atmosphere. Scented candles, air fresheners, or even a particular soap with a familiar fragrance can evoke comforting memories and provide a sense of calmness. Also using bedding, cushions, or curtains in their favourite colours can create a visual connection to their previous home which makes the new environment feel more personal and inviting.

Decorate With Personal Touches

Care homes always encourage their residents to show off their unique interests and let their personalities shine, so decorating their bedrooms with personal touches is a brilliant way to not only help them feel more settled but also allow the team to get to know them better and provide a continuum of care. Personal touches could include anything from posters or wall art to jewellery or favourite games.

Prioritise Comfort

Comfort is key to creating a true sense of home. If possible, bring in your loved one’s favourite chair or a cosy throw blanket for their bed. Having a familiar spot to relax with a hot drink or listen to music can make a big difference to how they feel in their new environment.

How Personalising En-Suite Bedrooms Can Benefit Those Living With Dementia

For individuals living with dementia, personalisation plays an especially significant role in fostering comfort, familiarity, and emotional security. Dementia often also impacts memory and cognitive function, meaning changes in their routine can cause individuals to feel confused or unsettled. Personalising their en-suite bedroom with meaningful belongings can help ease the transition into a care home and create a space that feels safe and recognisable.

Familiar objects can act as powerful anchors for memory as they remind residents of core memories throughout their lives and their loved ones which help them to maintain their sense of identity. Familiar scents from scented candles, air fresheners, or even a specific brand of toiletries can provide reassurance and encourage calmness when paired with an environment where they can feel safe.

Most care homes will also provide a full activities programme with tailored activities to enhance the quality of life of all their residents. Their teams will work closely with residents and their family members to tailor activities to their specific hobbies and interests, whilst maintaining their mental and physical well-being.

How Care Home Teams Support Personalisation and Comfort

Most care homes will provide en-suite bedrooms for each resident and will encourage them to make the space their own. They are on hand around the clock to help residents and their loved ones every step of the way, whether this is moving their personal belongings, arranging their room to suit their needs or offering support and companionship.

Facilities within a care home or nursing home are designed to balance homeliness with practicality, ensuring rooms are safe and functional while still feeling warm and inviting. Common areas are also often decorated to create a welcoming environment, encouraging social interaction and relaxation.

The Long-Term Benefits of a Personalised En Suite Bedroom

A thoughtfully customised space can make a meaningful difference to a resident’s emotional well-being, social engagement, and quality of life.

Supporting Emotional Well-being

A space that feels like their own provides reassurance, reduces anxiety, and can help residents feel more in control of their environment. This is especially important for residents living with dementia or other conditions that may make change particularly unsettling. Over time, this emotional stability supports better mental health and contributes to a sense of peace and belonging.

Care homes are not just places to live; they’re places where residents can thrive emotionally. A personalised en suite bedroom and freedom of routine allows residents to start each day in a space that reflects their personality and preferences which helps to boost their mood.

Encouraging Social Connections

A personalised room can also play an important role in fostering social interactions and building relationships within the care home. Personal items like photos, memorabilia, and sentimental keepsakes often serve as excellent talking points for staff, visitors and other residents.

For example, a photo of a loved one or a picture of a past holiday might become a talking point and spark meaningful conversations with care staff, creating opportunities for residents to share stories from their lives. These moments not only help staff better understand residents' interests and personalities but also help residents feel seen and valued as individuals.

Providing Peace of Mind for Families

For family members or friends, knowing that their loved one is living in a space that feels safe, familiar, and truly their own offers peace of mind. Care home teams understand that transitioning a family member into a new environment can be an emotional experience, often accompanied by feelings of guilt or worry. A personalised room and flexibility to make use of a variety of facilities help reassure families that their loved one is surrounded by the comforts of home and is receiving thoughtful, individualised care.

Creating a Familiar Space Where Our Residents Can Thrive at Amberley Care Home in Sale

At Amberley Care Home, we understand the importance of creating a personal and familiar environment from the moment one of our residents begins their care journey. Before we have a new resident move in, we meet with them and their loved ones to create a personalised care plan that details their specific needs, preferences and interests to ensure we provide them with exceptional care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We have a dedicated team of compassionate nurses and care experts at our Care Home in Greater Manchester who provide first-class Residential Care, Dementia Care, Nursing Care Respite Care and Palliative Care around the clock. Each resident is assigned an en-suite bedroom and is encouraged to personalise them however they wish to and we are here to support you in any way we can.

We want our residents to maintain their independence for as long as possible whilst we provide for their personal and medical needs, so give them freedom on how they spend their days whether this is taking a trip to our hair & beauty salon, getting some vitamin D in our private secure gardens, socialising with like-minded individuals in our communal spaces or relaxing in their bedroom.

Book a tour to see for yourselves the difference we can make at Amberley Care Home. We look forward to meeting you.