Prep Now for a Warm and Cozy Home Later

Winter. It’s a cold, dreary, often bleak season, with wet and cold temperatures, dry air, and a sprinkling of festive cheer in between. It’s a time when your home comes under attack from the elements, and a few maintenance checks here and there wouldn’t go amiss…

It’s a time when you want to be cozy indoors, and hope not to be freezing when you’re outdoors, and we all love to get dressed up in thick coats and knitted hats, and have snowball fights with our loved ones!

But the winter period of 2019, and into early 2020, is predicted to be more bitter and snowy in temperature than usual - of course, it’s quite early to try and predict how cold winter is going to be this year, but the Farmers’ Almanac has already released their own findings. And if those are to be believed, and based off of your own forecast for the winter ahead, there’s a good chance the cold is going to invade your home like never before.

And so, to help battle those wintery conditions, it might be a good idea to get started on your winter prep now. It’s almost autumn, and those colder temperatures will soon be moving on from September onwards, so this could be a great use of your time. So here are a few pointers of inspiration to get you started.  To help you even more, check out this heat pump glossary.

Light Up the Place

The more lights there are in your home, the warmer it’s going to feel, especially when it’s blustering white outside. And the good thing about interior lighting is the fact that you can layer it to your heart’s content - you never have to solely rely on the overhead light that exists in a room, especially if it’s a bright and yellow in color, and you leave it off for as long as possible when the night time rolls around! You can pop fairy lights around the tops of your rooms, to give the area of a bit of sparkle and shine, or you can use standing lamps to light up cozy reading corners, whilst leaving the rest of the room in a darker tone. It’s a great set up if you like napping underneath thick, warm blankets.

During the winter periods, it gets dark very early on in the day; usually, we have little to no natural light from about 4 in the afternoon onwards, and we don’t get any again until about 8 or 9 in the morning the following day. It’s a darker time, no matter where you live in the world, and that’s just another reason why you’re going to want more lighting than usual.

But more specifically, you’re going to want a lighting scheme that helps to represent the natural light you’re missing - you can get daylight bulbs to screw into your hanging lampshades, or you can invest a bit more money into a sunlamp. The latter option, when used a couple of hours a day on a daily basis, can put you in a much better mood for the rest of the winter!

Keep Wet Things in the Kitchen

It goes without saying, but tracking dirty, wet boots all the way through the house is never going to keep your home warm during the wintertime. Even in the summer, it encourages bugs, and goes moldy and rots a lot easier because of the sunlight and the heat! So make sure any and all boots or wellingtons are taken off in the kitchen and kept on the tiled floor that’s designed to prevent water/grime damage.

Liberally Place Rugs

Rugs are always great for making a wintery home feel a lot warmer and safer on the inside. If you’ve got a rug on the floor, even if there’s carpet beneath it, you’ve got something to dig your toes into, and to help heat the house without even turning on the heating or adding logs to the fireplace. And seeing as they’re quite a budget-friendly addition to a winter home, you can throw one down in every single room!

Make sure there’s one in the bathroom, especially. The bathroom is the one room of the house that gets colder above all the rest, and even the pipes that carry the water to and fro can freeze up and burst if the elements get too much. Make sure you’ve got something warm and fluffy to step out onto after a bath or a shower.

Install a Fireplace, Even if There’s No Chimney

Fireplaces used to be all the rage - if you had a fireplace in your home, you had a way to heat your home, which was mostly contained and safe even when the children were sat in front of it. But with the invention of modern heating systems, and the increased use of domestic gas, most houses have done away with their fireplaces entirely, which seems a real shame!

But in preparation for the winter, and if you’re a fan of the atmosphere a good fireplace, you can always get a new fireplace installed, even if you’ve got no chimney to your name. After all, there are quite a few different types of fuels out there these days, and you won’t need to burn wood or fill your house out with smoke ever again!

If that interests you, check out websites such as modernethanolfireplaces.com - ethanol is a great way to still maintain that cozy, traditional winter home feeling, while keeping your carbon footprint down and maintaining plenty of breathable air in your living room.  You will also find great ideas about ethanol fireplaces here!

Can You Really Temperature Proof Your Home?

The summer has been rather hot this year, and it’s only going to get hotter and hotter as the years go on. But that means the winters are going to be colder too! So make sure you’re prepared for the other end of the scale, and always try to get your preparations going as early as possible! Prevention is always the best.