Author Archives: Jeffrey Scott Thomas

How Hurricane Responses Have Changed Since The Victorian Era

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Today, people tend to think of hurricanes as horrible natural disasters. And, there’s no denying the damage they cause and the lives they can destroy. But, they also have had a huge impact on our country’s formation and course of history.

Even in the 16th and 17th centuries, strong storms and hurricanes caused problems like capsizing ships and rerouting settlers. As we know it, our country could be vastly different if it weren’t for these storms taking place.

During the Victorian era, hurricanes changed the course of agriculture and slave labor in America. One major hurricane in 1893 was the most damaging to ever strike South Carolina and the second most deadly in the U.S. 

Hurricanes might not be shaping our history as much these days, but they still get a lot of well-deserved attention. So, from Galveston to Katrina, and every major storm in-between, how have hurricane responses changed since the Victorian era?

The Major Hurricanes of the Victorian Era

The largest and most devastating hurricane throughout the Victorian era was undoubtedly Galveston. In fact, it remains the worst hurricane in U.S. history, often referred to as The Great Storm of 1900.

Some of the staggering statistics to come from this catastrophic event are still difficult to believe, including:

  • Over 6,000 deaths
  • $35.4 million in damage costs (over $1 billion today)
  • 15-foot storm surges that flooded the city

One interesting fact about this hurricane is that a seawall was supposed to be built before 1900 to protect the city. But, a respected meteorologist at the time dismissed the idea by saying the city could never be hit by a powerful enough hurricane to do any damage. Had that wall been built, Galveston may not have seen as much damage or flooding.

The biggest problem with this hurricane and other storms in the Victorian era was that people were ill-prepared. The U.S. Weather Bureau (now known as the National Weather Service) was only 10 years old when the Galveston hurricane hit, and its communication policies were lacking. They weren’t able to adequately give people time to evacuate or prepare in any way. Efforts were focused more on cleaning up after the disaster than preparing for before the storm made landfall.

Changes Over the Years

So many advancements have been made over the years to better equip those living in hurricane-heavy areas. Some of the old Victorian homes that have survived can be staged with their original charm, but given upgrades to help them withstand strong winds and rain. More modern houses in those areas are often built with more structural integrity, including features like:

  • Concrete fortification
  • Steel framework
  • Quick-drying construction materials
  • Square or hexagonal roofs that can withstand strong winds

Many homes in hurricane-affected areas also have hurricane windows, which were originally developed in the 1930s. Hurricane windows are strong and durable, meant to withstand harsh winds better than any traditional window. So, you won’t return home to an exposed house and shattered glass everywhere. You’ll also often see people boarding up their windows before a hurricane hits. That isn’t always necessary with hurricane windows. But, it can provide greater peace of mind if you’re going to be gone from your house for a while.

The most important change over the years is the use of technology. Obviously, it has come a long way since the 1800s-1900s. But, it’s being used to give people plenty of time to get to safety and take care of their homes. Hurricanes will always be devastating. But, the more you know about them ahead of time, the safer you can be.

The Impact of Hurricanes Today

Studies have shown that the hurricanes of today are more intense than those in the Victorian era. A lot of this has to do with changing weather patterns, and even climate change. But, the general patterns and timeframes of hurricanes have remained the same. Depending on where you live in the country, you know there is a “hurricane season”, from June to November every year.

Thanks to modern technology, we can now better detect hurricanes long before they reach landfall. That gives people in the path of the storm an opportunity to evacuate or prepare their homes.

Still, hurricanes are nothing to take lightly today. We might have better technology and more solutions to keep our homes safe. But, hurricanes are still deadly. Galveston remains the worst in U.S. history. Maria and Katrina aren’t far behind, both occurring in the 2000s and claiming more than 2,000 and 1,000 lives, respectively.

Hurricane season will continue to come to the U.S. every year, leaving destruction in its path. While you can’t prevent it, you can be grateful for the ways you can protect yourself and your home now that simply weren’t available during the Victorian era.

Yoga At Home: 7 Ways To Make A Calming Space

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If you have spent years doing yoga, we are sure you would want a studio of your own. Perhaps, a quiet room that is spacious where you can meditate in peace.

This is also where you take in the smell of scented candles and enjoy the tranquility.

Here’s the thing: When you combine meditation with yoga, you can have a clear and healthy mind.

But you do not have to drive to a yoga studio to experience it. More so if you have a calming space at home.

If you want to achieve the same, we have listed down seven space design tips to help you make a calming space at home.

Paint with the right color

When it comes to colors, you must choose the right color hue to foster a calm atmosphere.

For instance, blue is deemed a calming color, but only if exposed to a lot of natural light. However, this color can come off as cold and even uninviting if it’s under artificial light.

So, if you lack natural light in your space, you might opt for a green theme instead. Green is usually associated with growth, renewal, and prosperity.

Similarly, muted tones and warm whites are also excellent choices since they’re not demanding a lot of attention.

Find the right space

Decide where you want to do your yoga routine at home. You need to choose your space carefully.

You can write down the ideas you want for your space, paying attention to the minor details. This allows for any distractions during your yoga practice.

If you plan to do your practice indoors, choose a spot where there is at least one window lighting in it. Pick a space that isn’t too dark or busy. As much as you can, make your room bright and breathable.

Have the right equipment

To help create a relaxing yoga space in your home, you need to start with the basics. Make sure that you have proper equipment before starting your practice.

Fortunately, a great thing about yoga is that you won’t be needing that much. What you need is a quiet spot, minimum equipment, as well as the right frame of mind.

Here are some things you will when doing yoga:

  • A high-quality yoga mat
  • Strap
  • Set of blocks
  • Meditation pillow
  • Bolster
  • Yoga towel

Keep it clean and organized

It’s tough to focus on your practice if you’re in a relatively cluttered and messy environment. You may only have an empty corner in your small bedroom to do your practice, but make sure that it’s both clutter and distraction-free.

By keeping everything clean and organized, you’ll have enough space to do your practice comfortably.

Decorate your space

Determine whether it is the place where you want to spend some quiet time. Make it space that will inspire you to be on your mat, not just endlessly scrolling through your feeds online.

You can place several things to make your space more calming and inviting- plants, crystals, incense, or attractive tapestry. You can also opt for a minimalist theme.

Set the mood with lighting

Lighting plays a significant effect on one’s mood. Also, pay attention to the lighting. Opt for natural light as this helps in releasing serotonin and vitamin D production in your body.

Ideally, choose a space where there are many windows, and if you can do your yoga practice during mornings when a room is illuminated by natural light.

Meanwhile, if you practice during the evenings, you should go for some artificial lighting. An excellent example would be the light glow of candles or a lamp that emits soft lighting that will set your practice mood.

Use mood-enhancing scents

There’s a strong correlation between emotions and smell. So, try to introduce aromas that evoke positive feelings and relaxation.

Pick whatever makes you feel good. It can be aromatherapy candles, burning incense, or making your fresheners from herbs, flowers, and spices.

Try to stay away from smells that allow you to feel negative emotions like pungent chemicals, musty laundry, or stinking garbage.

Doing the seven design tips listed above can help find a space where you can achieve peace and harmony. As a result, you will feel stronger, healthier, and more balanced.

About the Author:

Jacky Xu is the Chief Operating Officer at Maid Sailors Cleaning Service Chicago. Maid Sailors takes pride in providing unparalleled cleaning services at affordable prices and will help transform your house into a home.

How Do You Know When You’re Ready To Buy A Home?

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Owning your home is one of the biggest adventures of your life. It creates a unique sense of pride and ownership. It also gives you a canvas to imprint your tastes, interests, and lifestyle on.

However, owning a home has proven particularly challenging for many individuals in recent decades. A variety of economic and lifestyle factors have held many back from being able to indulge in the financially exhausting activity of homeownership.

If you’re trying to decide if you’re officially ready to take on your own home, you’re not alone. Here are some of the biggest questions worth asking as you sort through whether or not you’re ready to buy a house.

Are You Financially Prepared?

Houses are often trumpeted as sound economic investments. They help you build up equity and avoid the need to throw away money on paying rent to a landlord.

While this is true, though, it’s equally true that houses are expensive. Very expensive. When you own your own home you have to pay for a variety of things, including:

  • The mortgage;
  • Home insurance;
  • Property taxes;
  • Utilities;
  • Maintenance and repair costs;
  • Home improvements and renovations;
  • Landscaping;

The list goes on and on.

On top of that, you’ll need a good chunk of change to buy the house itself. From realtor fees to taxes, down payments, moving costs, and more, there are plenty of ways to spend your hard-earned cash while buying a house.

The first question that you have to answer, then, is if you can afford a house in the first place. Do you have a solid and consistent income to pay a monthly mortgage? Can you save up extra money for repairs and unexpected homeownership expenses?

If you find that you’re considering wiping out your savings or emptying your nest egg early, you may want to think twice about your financial preparedness. Instead of moving now, consider protecting your retirement and rainy day funds and begin saving money specifically for a house.

However, if you have a decent amount of money set aside to offset up-front expenses and a steady stream of income to boot, you may be ready to leap.

Do You Have Other Expenses Looming?

Even if you have a sound financial footing under you, that doesn’t automatically equate to being ready to buy a home. While your present financial situation may be solid, it’s worth asking yourself if it will remain that way.

For instance, do you have any major expenses coming up? Are you fresh out of college and about to start paying for school loans? Do you have a wedding or birth on the calendar? The major expenses associated with these activities can put unnecessary pressure on your life if you also toss the added expense of a home into the mix.

Is Your Career Ready for Homeownership?

For many, the topic of their career as a whole — not just the money that it generates — often doesn’t factor into the idea of owning a home. However, it’s often recommended that you plan on owning your home for at least three to five years before you move again if you want it to be financially worth the work.

This naturally leads to the follow-up question: is your career going to be stable for the next three to five years or so?

Another question to ask is if you’re considering pursuing a change in your career at any point soon. If that’s the case, can you look for a job in a good housing market with low prices that will appreciate in the future? You may even be able to find an employer with a good job relocation package that helps you offset some of the costs of buying a house and moving into your new residence.

Are You at the Right Time of Life to Take the Plunge?

Another concern is if you’re at the right time of life to buy a home. Have you recently graduated from college and decided it’s time to buy a home? There are a number of factors to consider before signing on the dotted line.

For instance, are you thinking of getting married? If you already are, do you plan on having kids soon? If you’re on the younger side of things, has your credit had enough time to build up to a good credit score?

From family dynamics to jumping the gun on your credit, your age and stage of life are both important factors when it comes to getting a good deal on your home.

Figuring Out if Now is the Time to Buy a Home

Owning your own home isn’t formulaic. It can’t be. Everyone’s situation is uniquely different from one another. However, many common factors can most certainly help you judge how ready you really are to buy a home.

Things like financial security, a lack of major future expenses, having a stable career, and even simply being in the right time of life all factor into the mix. If you want to make the right decision, you must ask yourself the tough questions. Only then can you move into your homeownership journey with confidence.

4 Tips For Staging Your Victorian Home To Sell While Maintaining Its Integrity

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You might worry if your 100-year old house can be desirable to a large housing market when it comes to selling your historic Victorian home. What truly matters is the bare bones of the house being complemented by an aesthetically pleasing interior.

Think about what made you fall in love with your Victorian home. The original hardwood floors and architectural details likely tell all sorts of stories and capture uniqueness in every room. Step it up a notch by staging your home to show its versatility. Creating an appealing representation of your home can help buyers better visualize themselves enjoying the space like you did.

Staging makes a difference. It bridges the gap between the upscale HGTV world and how welcoming and charming a Victorian home can be, without the need for major changes. Here are four home staging techniques that work best with Victorian homes.

1.   Make Modern Updates in Key Rooms

A charming period home needs to appeal to modern-day buyers. Certain precautions for buyers to think about include the fact that this is an older property that could need some fixing up. However, there’s no need to make major updates or renovations if you’re selling your older home, because all that does is take away from its true personality that matters most. It’s important to prioritize the functionality of your home.

The first impression all starts with the initial sights walking up to the front door to inside the entrance. Is the front door original and assembled well onto the house? Is the doorknob intact? Inside, buyers will be looking for those original stunning structural details, high ceilings, and hardwood floors. But what they won’t be looking for is outdated appliances, plumbing, or heating and cooling systems that could fail them. You can provide buyers with an inspection, documentation, and additional incentive by transferring your home warranty to the buyer on new and existing appliances in the home. Doing so ensures protection against both the buyer and seller’s budget throughout this property transition if anything were to break down as it covers repairs and replacements. Plus, it allows peace of mind during the entire process, leading to a quicker sale on the market.

2.   Display Rooms to Feel Spacious

The last thing you want is for your home to feel limited and crowded during showings. Take the time to declutter spaces in order for buyers to truly envision themselves living in the space one day. With things like collections or personal photos sitting around, it can be difficult and overwhelming to see areas for what they really are.

It’s also crucial to make smart use of any awkward spaces your home might have. These are common in older homes as they tend to have a set up with a spot where there’s no purpose. Minimize these areas and transform them into a conversation space where you can make it a mudroom, coffee bar, or a nice decorated corner with shelving. Add seating, windows, and lighting as you see fit to make it flow along with the rest of the house.

If your home is vacant, it can be staged with some simple furniture to show the potential of each room when buyers move in their own furniture. That way, these organizing methods can give the new homeowners just what they pictured.

3.   Emphasize Architectural Details

Architectural qualities are one of the main reasons buyers are drawn to your property. People are interested in the charm, character, and preserved original structures that your home has to offer over others. Be sure to describe details of original aspects, fireplace mantels, rosette accents, building materials used, and more that differentiate your timeless home. Create focal points in your living spaces by arranging furniture to spotlight and draw attention to things such as decorative plasterwork and moldings. The more they see, the more curious they will become.

4.   Stage for the Modern Buyer

The goal of staging your home is to simply maximize the appeal for buyer’s envisions resulting in a quicker sale. It doesn’t have to involve big purchases, but you can use what you already own. Show potential buyers how their lifestyle could look with completed rooms. You’ll want to do this without filling it with outdated pieces of furniture which can take away from the comfort and charm your house has to offer. Many historic homes have a mix of furniture and decor that represent history as well as modern touches. As you find the balance between vintage and contemporary styles of design, buyers will be able to see how easy it is to include a variety.

Don’t forget the smaller updates! Even painting and lighting any dark spots with warmer temperature lightbulbs can significantly bring a breath of fresh air to any room. Take advantage of your windows and remove heavy draperies if needed to let in as much natural light as possible so that all features of each room are completely visible.

Selling your home can be quite a challenge, especially if you have a much older property, but it doesn’t have to feel like a burden. With some preparation, staging, and minor updating, you’ll be able to sell your historic Victorian home quickly, while maintaining its integrity. Focus on originality and detailing to showcase your home’s unique history that the market is sure to snatch up.

Design Your Bathroom With Mirrors

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When it comes time to decorate the bathroom of your house, there is an element that undoubtedly gains prominence in the room and the environment: the mirror.

A mirror is necessary for daily use in the bathroom. Who doesn’t look in the mirror just after waking up or before leaving home?

In the bathroom, there are multiple, such as combing your hair, putting on makeup, shaving, brushing your teeth, etc. But in addition to being a fundamental element, it is also decorative and transmits personality and character to the bathroom. There are countless shapes, textures and colours, and in Bathroom Design.

The choice of mirrors will depend on four main factors:

  • The style itself of the bathroom. In this aspect, you can find minimalist, modern, classic, rustic, industrial bathrooms, etc.
  • The dimensions of the bathroom. Depending on the space you have to place the mirror, you  will choose the right size so that it adds depth but does not overwhelm the room.
  • The type of sink. For example, you are not going to choose the same mirror for a countertop washbasin as a freestanding one.
  • Matter of taste. Depending on the taste you have when decorating the bathroom, you will choose a smaller or larger one.

Types of mirrors to decorate your bathroom

There is a multitude of mirrors that are adjusted to the needs of each person and that of their bathroom. They explain the difference in shapes and structures so that you can choose the right one for your bathroom.

Round mirror:

 It is one of the mirrors that you find the most in bathrooms. Thanks to its rounded shape, it can be adapted to any bathroom. You have to choose the colour of the frame so that it fits elegantly. There is also the possibility of introducing a round frameless mirror to add an infinite touch to the toilet. The Point collection, with its round lines details, is perfect to accompany this type of mirrors. In addition, Point can be found in three different finishes, essential to be able to choose which colour best suits the frame of the round mirror. The simple hangers or shelves methacrylate 55 cm. They will complement each other perfectly next to the round mirror.

Straight lines mirror:

 The straight-line mirrors in Bathroom Design are divided into rectangular or square. They adapt perfectly to modern environments and are introduced in the bathroom in large dimensions. You can place it on a column or wall vertically so that you can see the whole body. This mirror is often used in large bathrooms, as you can create an independent space that serves as a dressing area. The straight lines of these mirrors together with the straight lines of the wall toilet brush holders from the Point collection will create a balance and give a sense of order to the environment. You will also have the possibility to align the soap dish and wall toothbrush holder.

Framed mirror:

Framed mirrors are usually presented in decorations of a more classic and even rustic style. If you choose a wood colour, you will offer a cosy feeling that your guests will love. With this type of mirrors, you have an infinity of lines and colours since currently, there is an infinity of styles in the frames. In Bathroom Design, they recommend that you opt for a neutral colour, such as white or black. In addition, you will be able to find countless collections with chrome white or chrome black finishes, which will be complemented by unique and special shape. Following an aesthetic and chromatic line is essential for the bathroom. Therefore, for this type of mirrors, they recommend The entire Point collection, from the shower sponges to the shelves, since you can find them in three different finishes and having the option of combining colours or unifying all parts of the bathroom. Also read about chandie yawn-nelson .

It is essential to know the mirror that your bathroom needs in order to create simple spaces that you will use day after day, from the first hour of the day until minutes before going to bed. The great infinity of mirrors helps to find the ideal one for your bathroom, but you have to take into account the bathroom accessories to be able to choose yours.