Preparing for winter IV

pinkmami

Dh just said he's gonna try resist switching on the CH until the 1st of November. Yeah right. He laughs at me sitting watching TV with my dressing gown & fleecy blanket!

I keep telling him I'm only looking after his money!

miele_2

Hi all,

Finally getting round to some winter prepping diy!

I have put up the ikea double rod curtain rail and poles (betydlig + racka) in the living room patio doors, with the thin summer curtains on the inside rod and some new thicker lined ones (good find at dunelm mill this week!) on the outside rail. New curtains are a bit long and dragging on the floor but doing a great job so far and keeping the cold air out! Will try to turn up the hems this weekend.

Put the cheapo curtain rail (ikea irja) up in the bedroom also and a new curtain, (another bargain find from dunelm mill!) Was a very wide pair of curtains so have just used one curtain. So now I have the venetian blinds and the lined curtain. Was great waking up with less light coming in and also a nice feeling of more privacy.

Will put up the rod & curtain in the front room today (other half of the pair used in bedroom).

Great feeling of being able to do this myself....Fed up of waiting for a man to help me!

Now need to save up for underlay & carpet for the landing and stairs....still walking on floorboards, cold and ouch

MandM90

Has anyone had any luck with pressure rails? Do you take down the rails in the summer, or just the curtains? I'm concerned about heating the entire house this winter but I'm also worried curtains everywhere will look a bit strange/get in the way if we have a large gathering of people.

boultdj

MandM90 wrote: »

Has anyone had any luck with pressure rails? Do you take down the rails in the summer, or just the curtains? I'm concerned about heating the entire house this winter but I'm also worried curtains everywhere will look a bit strange/get in the way if we have a large gathering of people.

I just take down the curtain, but I'm lazy like that:D, and keep the tension as high as you can get it otherwise it will come down, esspecialy with adopt-a-cat giving it a helping paw by climbing the curtain:o:mad:

MandM90

boultdj wrote: »

I just take down the curtain, but I'm lazy like that:D, and keep the tension as high as you can get it otherwise it will come down, esspecialy with adopt-a-cat giving it a helping paw by climbing the curtain:o:mad:

Oooh we have two kittens. I hadn't thought of that - might be a bit dangerous if it isn't 100% secure.

I might be being over the top - maybe no one would even notice a pole too much. I'm just working so hard to make our home lovely, I want to keep it that way

ETA: Sorry, another question.. For those of you who put winter clothing into storage, how do you store it? Those vacuum bags don't really seem to have glowing reviews! Should I just roll clothes up really tightly and put them in plastic boxes?

miele_2

Hi, another job I need to do!!

I was wondering if anyone lives in an open plan living room with the stairs in it? Did you section the stairs off with curtains to retain heat downstairs? How did you do it? With a bendy curtain rail attached to the ceiling? Does it look ok?

I quickly searched google images for 'curtains at bottom of stairs' but absolutely nothing came up.

Anyone had any success with this? Thanks!

Pooky

I put my winter clothes into those chairty bags that come through the door - I normally double layer the bag and bung in the loft in a big cardboard box that I keep for storing clothes (it had a memory foam mattress in it - big sturdy box that does up well and I can see instantly if any critters have had a nibble.

I curtained off my open plan stairs at our old house - I use fleece blankets sewn together and popped a channel through the top of each one - then hung them in net wires. I think it depends on your stairs as to how you can hide the wires.

I had traditional banisters going up the stairs and another set of banisters at the top in the hall way to the bedrooms - I screwed the wires into the bottom of the hall way bannisters so the curtains would hang down outside of the stairwell (if that makes sense?) I didn't want them hanging and draping on the stairs and being a trip hazard. I put another curtain at the bottom of the stairs. I attached the wire across the bit directly infront of your head as you walk down the stairs (I had wood there so easy to screw into).

As they were fleece, they didnt crease if I took them down when we had visitors, just folded them up and popped them on my bed until people had gone and then put them back up.

It was amazing how they kept the heat downstairs, I really noticed when you went through the curtain to go up stairs that there was a good few degrees temperature difference.

Got my dehumidifier yesterday - got over half a pint of water out the living/dining room area in 2 hours!! It's running upstairs at the moment and hasn't switched itself off all day. Luckily it's been fairly bright here today so the solar panels are creating enough power to keep that and the washing machine etc going (meter dial was running backwards!) I'll go empty it again soon but I'm impressed so far.

Curtain linings have gone up in 3 rooms - just need to find the living room ones and dredge up the energy to put them in (and clean the windows)

DD1 has a new coat and new winter boots - both sensible choices, she's realised its no fun being cold when you leave the house at 7am and dont get back until 6.30pm. DD2 picked boots that look like DMs, they're allowed to wear boots to school so they will do her nicely.

miele_2

Pooky wrote: »

I curtained off my open plan stairs at our old house - I use fleece blankets sewn together and popped a channel through the top of each one - then hung them in net wires. I think it depends on your stairs as to how you can hide the wires.

I had traditional banisters going up the stairs and another set of banisters at the top in the hall way to the bedrooms - I screwed the wires into the bottom of the hall way bannisters so the curtains would hang down outside of the stairwell (if that makes sense?) I didn't want them hanging and draping on the stairs and being a trip hazard. I put another curtain at the bottom of the stairs. I attached the wire across the bit directly infront of your head as you walk down the stairs (I had wood there so easy to screw into).

As they were fleece, they didnt crease if I took them down when we had visitors, just folded them up and popped them on my bed until people had gone and then put them back up.

It was amazing how they kept the heat downstairs, I really noticed when you went through the curtain to go up stairs that there was a good few degrees temperature difference.

Thanks, Pooky! I think I get it! I hadn't thought of using the wall from where the bottom of the upstairs banister is, what a good idea! It would be so much more nicer to put the rail there with curtains hanging down outside the stairwell then securing a rail to the living room ceiling, thanks! :T

I am too worried about odd looks from guests so having something easy to remove would be ideal. Love your idea about the double layer fleeces, I must look for some this weekend. Were you able to find single fleeces long enough or did you have to sow a few together?

rising_from_the_ashes

Arrrrgggggghhhhh

Need cat litter (can get 2 bags for £14.90 delivered) and decided to get a double lot (free delivery kicks in at £25) and put one lot away for the winter emergency supply as I really don't need anything else just now (and really begrudge paying p&p!)

AND

It's out of stock :eek:

Is everyone stocking up? ....... have I missed something?

dinglefoot

Hmm, I've been noticing a cat litter shortage in my local supermarket lately. Odd