Aging in Place: Renovating Your Swift Current Home for Long-Term Comfort and Safety
- SLETTEN CONTRACTING
- Jul 23
- 5 min read
More and more Saskatchewan homeowners are making the same decision: they want to stay in their homes as they get older. Not move to a facility. Not downsize into a condo across town. Stay in the house they've built their life in — the familiar neighbourhood, the backyard, the kitchen that knows them.
This is a deeply personal choice, and a well-planned renovation can fully support it. 'Aging in place' doesn't mean turning your home into a hospital. It means making thoughtful changes — some subtle, some more significant — that allow you or someone you love to live safely and comfortably in a familiar space for as long as possible.
At Sletten Contracting, we work with Swift Current families on aging-in-place renovations that balance genuine practicality with real comfort — without sacrificing the feel of a home that's actually lived in.
The Case for Planning Before You Have To
The single most important thing we can tell you about aging in place renovations is this: the best time to do them is before they become urgent.
When a health event forces the issue — a fall, a diagnosis, a sudden change in mobility — decisions get made quickly and under stress. Contractors get called in to patch rather than plan. Features get bolted on rather than built in. The result is a home that feels retrofitted rather than considered.
Planning ahead changes everything. It lets you integrate accessibility features into a broader renovation at significantly lower cost. It lets you make design choices you're proud of rather than accepting whatever's available on short notice. And it gives you control over the timeline and the budget — two things that disappear the moment a situation becomes an emergency.
Many of the homeowners who call us for aging-in-place work are in their fifties and early sixties — not because they need these changes now, but because they're thinking clearly about the next twenty years. That is exactly the right approach.
The Bathroom: Where the Risk Is Highest
Falls in the bathroom are the leading cause of injury-related hospitalization for older adults in Canada. The majority happen in the shower, on wet floors, or getting in and out of the tub. This is the room that demands the most attention in any aging in place renovation — and it's also the room where good design makes the biggest difference.
The changes that matter most:
Tub-to-shower conversion with a barrier-free (curbless) entry — the single most impactful change for fall prevention. Eliminating the step in and out of a tub removes the most common point of failure.
Grab bars at the correct height and location — beside the toilet, at the shower entry, and inside the shower. Properly blocked into the wall framing, not anchored into drywall. There's a significant difference.
Non-slip tile with appropriate grout line spacing in the shower floor and on the bathroom floor
A fold-down bench inside the shower — teak or teak-look finish so it looks intentional, not clinical
Comfort-height toilet or a raised seat with integrated grab bar
Single-lever faucets and pressure-balancing valves that prevent accidental scalding
Improved lighting — older eyes need significantly more light, and the bathroom is often the worst-lit room in the house
Done well, none of these additions look like medical equipment. A beautifully tiled curbless shower with integrated grab bars and a fold-down bench looks like a premium design choice. The goal is a bathroom you're proud of that also keeps you safe — and those two things are not in conflict.
The Kitchen: Staying Independent Where It Matters
The kitchen is the second space that typically benefits from aging in place modifications. The goal is maintaining independence — the ability to cook your own meals, move freely through the space, and access what you need without relying on assistance.
High-impact kitchen changes for aging in place include:
Drawer-style lower cabinets instead of door-and-shelf configurations — dramatically easier to access without bending or kneeling
Pull-out shelves inside existing lower cabinets — a cost-effective upgrade that transforms accessibility
A lowered countertop section for seated work — particularly useful if mobility changes are anticipated
Touchless or single-lever faucets
Contrasting countertop edge colour to improve visibility for those with low vision
Side-opening or drawer-style oven to eliminate reaching over a hot door
Lever-style cabinet handles rather than knobs — easier to operate with reduced grip strength
Main Floor Living: The Big Picture
For many homeowners, the most transformative aging in place change is restructuring the main floor to allow complete independent living — bedroom, bathroom, laundry, and all daily activities — without ever needing to use the stairs.
In a typical Swift Current bungalow, this may already be possible with relatively modest modifications. In a two-storey home, it often involves converting a main floor office or den into a primary bedroom and upgrading the nearest main floor bathroom to full ensuite quality.
Key main floor accessibility modifications include:
Converting a main floor room to a primary bedroom — with appropriate closet storage, lighting, and electrical for modern use
Widening doorways to 36 inches — the standard for wheelchair and walker clearance. Best done during a broader renovation when walls are already open
Ensuring all floor transitions are flush or gently ramped — thresholds and level changes are a significant trip hazard
Adding main floor laundry if it currently exists only in the basement — one of the highest-impact changes for long-term independence
Installing a stair lift if stairs remain in daily use — requires structural assessment to confirm feasibility
Lighting: The Underrated Safety Upgrade
Lighting is one of the most overlooked elements of an aging in place renovation, and one of the most impactful. After age 60, the human eye requires significantly more light to see clearly — and most homes are dramatically underlit relative to what's actually needed.
A lighting upgrade done as part of an aging in place renovation typically includes:
Increased fixture count and lumen output in bathrooms, kitchens, stairwells, and entryways
Motion-activated night lighting in hallways, bathrooms, and between the bedroom and bathroom
Under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen for task visibility
Elimination of high-glare fixtures that cause visual discomfort for older eyes
Smart lighting controls or rocker switches at accessible heights
What Does an Aging in Place Renovation Cost in Swift Current?
Bathroom conversion (barrier-free shower, grab bars, lighting, comfort toilet): $15,000 – $35,000 depending on scope and finish level
Main floor bedroom and bathroom reconfiguration: $30,000 – $70,000 depending on extent of structural changes
Full main floor accessibility renovation (bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, doorways, laundry): $60,000 – $120,000+
Targeted modifications (grab bars, lighting, lever hardware throughout): $3,000 – $10,000
These are ranges, not quotes. Your actual cost depends on your home's current configuration, the extent of the changes, and your finish level. We provide detailed, itemized estimates at no charge.
The Sletten Approach: Built for Your Life
We don't arrive with a checklist of standard modifications. We start by understanding how you actually live — which rooms you use most, what your daily movement patterns look like, what the realistic trajectory of change might be over the next decade, and what your priorities are right now.
From that conversation, Wade and the team develop a plan that solves the right problems in the right sequence. We know Swift Current homes — their layouts, their construction eras, their common structural patterns. That local knowledge lets us work efficiently and identify opportunities that a contractor unfamiliar with prairie homes might miss.
Whether you're planning ahead thoughtfully or responding to a situation that's already arrived, we'll give you an honest assessment and a clear path forward. No pressure. Just the information you need to make a good decision.
Call (306) 774-6251 or visit sletten.ca to book your consultation. We serve Swift Current and the areas.
