When Home Becomes Care: Linda Madani on Design, Aging, and Dignity

The seeds of Linda Madani’s interior design career were sown early. Growing up in New Hampshire, Linda’s father was a real estate developer who repurposed spaces, such as old mills, schools and hydro stations into housing, offices and restaurants. Linda accompanied her father to his building projects and even had her own hard hat at the age of ten. She loved construction and learned how to read architectural plans at a very young age. At Simmons College in Boston, Linda majored in business and fine arts. As a college senior she interviewed an interior designer for a class assignment and, in the process, asked if she could intern for her during her winter break. The job “clicked.” After graduating from college, Linda was offered a fulltime position as in interior design assistant. A few years later she went back to school to receive her interior design degree.

Something also clicked when Linda, now the owner of Madani Interiors, took on a renovation assignment at a neurosurgeon’s office. The doctor shared that most of his mature/senior patients had brain injuries from falls, particularly in the bathroom. As a result, Linda realized that a whole demographic was underserved by her field. It became her mission to help those in the third stage of their lives to live more safely, comfortably, and peacefully in their homes.

Linda began by developing ways to make bathrooms safer, such as providing low, amber lighting for nighttime bathroom visits and towel bars that also served as grab bars. As she developed an expertise in safe aging, she understood that the topic needed to be approachable and sensitively handled. She created a website as well as material for presentations. One of the places where she spoke was at the Center for Modern Aging in Princeton.

As Linda’s business grew, it diversified. She has worked with people who wanted to fully renovate their home or their business setting, those who just wanted to “touch up” their home, those who were ready to down-size, and those who were just beginning to think about finding a new way of living and needed help knowing where and how to start. Working in people’s personal spaces, negotiating lifestyle changes with clients, and suggesting ideas required empathy, respectful listening, observing, communicating, and good old-fashioned people skills.

In June 2023, Linda’s father was told he had three days to live. Happily, her father’s prognosis proved incorrect; bringing her design and organizational talents to bear, in just two months’ time Linda relocated her parents from North Carolina to New Jersey, into a safe, welcoming, fully ADA compliant home whose renovation she herself oversaw.

Linda felt it was a gift and an honor to help her parents through their transitional experience, and it only strengthened her resolve to help others maneuver through the aging adventure. She advises those with whom she works that being proactive and preventative about their living environment as they age provides more control over and enjoyment of ones’ home life. She helps people realize what they value most and helps them create a safe, peaceful home environment that enables them to thrive and grow. That might involve purging things they don’t need, organizing and refreshing various living spaces, or finding a new home with fewer maintenance and upkeep demands. Lucky for those who work with Linda, her empathy, energy, and insight help make change happen.

The Center for Modern Aging at Princeton is one of the recipients of Linda’s talents. Through her service as a civic co-leader in the Stoney Brook Garden Club, Linda and her fellow Club members made twenty creative holiday wreaths to decorate the CMAP Christmas luncheon venue. The wreaths were given away after the luncheon to members of the CMAP community. The holiday wreaths are a tradition between Stoney Brook Garden Club and CMAP. As part of her continuing engagement with the Center, Linda will be interviewed by Conrad Strauch on the People & Peace Talk Show airing on January 28, 2026 from 5:00-6:00 p.m. Go to https://engage.cmaprinceton.org/component/events/event/1570 to register. You can also call 609.751.9699 with questions, or email info@cmaprinceton.org.