Decorate Your Home for Survival

Page Updated on July 28, 2007

We all know about the "emergency kit" we're supposed to have in our homes, but there are also ways of making your home a safer environment during emergency situations by just using sensible decorating techniques.

• Keep your home tidy. It's just not fun to have the lights go out then realize that you must maneuver around all of the toys and misplaced objects to get to your lighters and candles. Keeping your home tidy keeps your home safer and more attractive.
• Add candles to the decor of every room in your house. Candles are a beautiful and inexpensive way to decorate your home, and in the event of an emergency, you'll be glad you have them. Every room (including the bathrooms) should have some candles in candle holders. Candles in jar containers are best because they tend to last longer than candles that drip, and the glass helps protect them from being blown out. Look for decorative jar candles with metal lids. Use the lid to close the jar when you want to extinguish the candle rather than blowing the candle out to reduce smoke. (It's not fun to blow out all of your candles after the electricity comes back on only to create a cloud of smoke that sets off all of your smoke alarms.) Avoid scented candles. One scented candle smells nice, but an entire house filled with scented candles will give you a headache. Don't forget to have a lighter in each room as well. Some decorative lighters are attractive enough to be placed next to your candle arrangements (but don't do this if you have children). Less attractive lighters should be stored in a location that is accessible to adults and close enough to the candles to avoid having to wander around the room in the dark. I prefer lighters to matches because they are less likely to fall into a pile on the floor when you open the box upside down, don't require a striking surface, and won't burn down to your fingers causing you to drop the match because of an involuntary reflex. An alternative to candles are lanterns, but the problem with lanterns is that they can spill (especially during earthquakes), leaving you without a fuel source if you end up spilling all your fuel and creating a fire hazard. Never leave burning candles or lanterns unattended.
• Have blinds AND curtains on all of your windows. Not only is this decorative but can save your life if you are stuck without heat by improving the insulation of your home and can help your home stay cooler in hot weather. I prefer mini-blinds to other kinds of blinds because you can angle them to work with the movement of heat. Point them down during the summer to let cool air from the outside fall into your home while warm air in your home rises up through them. Point them up during the winter to let warm air rise in from the outside and cool are fall down through them from the inside. Plus, they can reflect sunlight in or out of your home to further control temperature. Curtains that can be drawn open completely or closed completely offer extra insulation during cold weather and effectively block out hot sunlight during hot weather.
• Have rugs on all of your floors. Like blinds and curtains, rugs improve the insulation of your home, helping to keep it warm during the winter. If you have carpeting, then you don't need to worry about this, but for everyone with hardwood, tile, or other hard surface flooring, rugs are a must. (So why not just install carpeting? During the summer, the hard surfaces can be left bare, actually helping to keep the temperature down inside the house.)
• Decorate with food. A good way to make sure you have plenty of munchies on hand is to use them in decorative arrangements. Have a fruit or nut bowl (don't forget the nutcracker) for a centerpiece or in end table arrangements. Grow food indoors. There are a variety of dwarf fruit trees on the market now (some provide fruit all year round), and many vegetables can be grown in windowsills (look into buying indoor salad growing kits).
• Decorate with items you can actually use. It drives me nuts to see objects that are "for decoration only." Look into decorating with products that are sturdy and can handle actual use. Attractive blankets and pillows are a good start. Old fashioned fans (the kind you see southern belles fanning themselves with) are excellent during the summer if you lack air conditioning. Decorative fireplace accessories should actually be durable enough to be used to tend the fire. Those artistic knives displayed in the kitchen should actually be able to cut food. Look around your home and notice what items you have that are "just for show" and consider replacing them with the real deal.
• Consider installing a wood stove. Okay, so you may have to really work your budget to do this, but it's worth it. If your heat goes out, you'll have a source of heat. If your stove and microwave cease working, you'll have a place to cook. I prefer wood stoves to just plain old fireplaces. Yes, the traditional fire place is more attractive, but they are very inefficient (most heat goes up the chimney). Meanwhile, wood stoves are typically about 70% efficient (much better than a fireplace) and provide a cooking surface. I personally prefer wood stoves to other types of stoves, such as gas or pellet stoves, because wood is almost everywhere while gas and pellets require a supplier. With a wood stove, if necessary, you can always chop down the tree in your back yard and put it to use (it might not be a very good source of wood, but it will burn). Wood stoves also look great when placed in rooms with a country or rustic theme.
• Use battery operated items or items that don't require batteries at all. A good example here is your clock. Many of us rely on digital clocks, but an analog battery operated clock or a clock you have to wind up will serve you much better if you don't have electricity. Plus, they're more attractive than the digital variety. Atomic clocks are great because you never need to worry about figuring out what time it is to set them. Just press a few buttons and they will automatically set themselves to the correct time.
• Decorate with entertainment items that don't need to be plugged in. Elegant game boards, such as for chess, backgammon, and so forth, can really add to your decor while providing entertainment during long boring periods of sitting around, stuck in your home, without electricity. A bookshelf with several books you haven't read yet, or some of your favorites that you'll read again and again, adds sophistication to your home while providing entertainment as well. A basket of yarn and knitting needles used in your current knitting project can add a coziness to a room with a country theme while giving you something to do by candle light.
• Make sure all of your things are secure in their positions. This is especially important if you live in an earthquake prone area, but other disasters or even accidental bumps can destroy your possession and create an unsafe environment. All of your possessions should be stored or displayed in a way that ensures they won't fall or move around. This could be as simple as storing your DVD collection in a binder designed to hold DVDs rather than displaying all of them in their original cases on a rack that could easily fall over, adding a decorative railing along the bottom of every shelf in your book case to keep books from sliding out unexpectedly, or anchoring large furniture items to the studs in your wall. More fragile or dangerous Items, such as china or sword collections, should be kept in a locked cabinet (if your cabinet has glass doors or walls, try to replace the glass with something that's shatter proof or put a protective film on the glass).
• Decorate your home to avoid fire emergencies. To help keep fires from spreading to your house, keep all landscaping well watered and trimmed, keep outdoor plants away from the sides of your house, keep your home well maintained (especially fireplaces, any gas appliances, and chimneys), and decorate your home with fire resistant materials (such as ceramic or metal roofing, tile flooring, granite countertops, and so forth). Install sprinklers in your landscaping; they can be turned on to keep all areas of your yard wet if a fire approaches. Install sprinklers and fire/smoke detectors in your home.
• Decorate your home to avoid water damage. Keep valuable items up high (such as on the top shelves of a cabinet or on your second floor if you have one), so water that gets in your home (whether it be from natural floods or broken pipes) won't reach them. Keep your pipes (water and sewer) well maintained, making sure to take steps necessary to avoid freezing in the winter.
• Invest in sturdy furniture. I know that old table made out of cheap particle board was inexpensive and looks nice, but how strong is it? Could it protect you if you had to hide under it to avoid being injured by debris that's blowing around or falling? That discount bookshelf made out of thin fiber board may look nice, but is it strong enough to hold all those books while it's shaking in an earthquake? Instead of the cheap alternatives, stick with strong materials and sturdy craftsmanship. They'll last longer (which will save you money in the long run) and can even help protect your life.
• Put storm shutters on the outside of your windows. If you live in a hurricane prone area, it is absolutely necessary to have storm shutters. In other areas, they're a good idea to protect your home in the event of a storm with high winds. Some shutters are quite decorative and can add to the aesthetics of your home, while others are more discrete and easily hide away.
• Don't place heavy or breakable items over areas where people sit, stand, walk, or sleep. That giant painting in the heavy frame looks great over the couch, but if it gets knocked off the wall while somebody is sitting in that couch, that person could end up in an emergency room. It's never fun to wake up to heavy books falling onto your head from the bookshelves you installed above your bed. That heavy sculpture hung over the doorway is an example of creative positioning of the art piece, but it's also a concussion waiting to happen, so find a new home for it. Items that can easily break, such as frames with glass, mirrors, figurines, and so forth are also accidents waiting to happen, so find a place to put them where they won't break and cut anyone up.