Preparing for Winter V

Floss

Curtains - my cat does a fine Eric & Ernie impression when the long curtains over the french doors & catflap are closed 😁

Laura_Elsewhere

@HappySloth - during the war people built DIY "baffles" for doors that opened into a usually-lit room to stop the light breaking the blackout - basically you would use something like carpet-tiles to build an angled tunnel, very short, with the turn between 45 and 90 degrees, and a curtain hanging at the room-end, so that the cold air (or wartime light) doesn't get very far into the room. They tended to use wood frames and old curtains or old woven carpets of the rug type, but you could experiment with virtually anything - I imagine it'd be simple to make something moveable so you'd be able to lift it aside easily to use the door...

basketcase

Laura_Elsewhere said:

 They tended to use wood frames and old curtains or old woven carpets of the rug type, but you could experiment with virtually anything - I imagine it'd be simple to make something moveable so you'd be able to lift it aside easily to use the door...

Not sure how big the dogs are.  If they're fairly small, would a rabbit tunnel work - if you're not handy?  Failing that, a length of 'cloche' tunnelling?

sammy_kaye18

Happy_Sloth said:

Any ideas of something i can put over the dog flap, an extra layer perhaps something that would keep less of the cold air out? but will still give the dogs free access to outside? 

Hello lovely
I know when our council redid our house they took the doors off downstairs between our kitchen and living room - and Ill be honest it can be bloody freezing so I ordered like a pressure pole to fit in the door and have hung a curtain there and the amount of heat it keeps in and the cold draught it keeps out is amazing. 

I was wondering could you maybe use something like a net curtain rod and hang a small curtain over the flap to help disperse any of the draught that may come through? or make like a small foam draught excluder that could fit around the edge of the door. 

otb666

@Happy_Sloth Would the leg of a pair of jeans work for your dog to crawl through.Fixing the end over the flap. Or a fleece top with the end cut bigger.

Frugalfaffing

I bought a really old ,  heavy wool blanket today in the charity shop. Its from the 1940' & the label say "National Priced controlled blanket" 33/8 weight 4 1/2lbs . Its now on our bed as a throw,  just testing it out before next winter. 

MingVase

I've got one of them! So heavy - I use it under the bottom sheet. its very cosy.

otb666

i have 2 of them They are very rough but good on bed.  Better than weighted blanket that cost a lot (realized the weight was too heavy and causing me joint pains in the morning) 

sammy_kaye18

We brought a really big fleece blanket from Matalan which is gorgeous and soft as well as light. 
We generally use it for curling up under on the sofa because it is lovely and warm but we have used it a few times as a bottom sheet on our bed and it was so comfortable and warm. I have told my husband I think we will be buying a few more to use as a bottom sheet in the winter. 
Kept us all snug without leaving us feeling restricted. 

basketcase

I've been following this thread with interest.  Some really good ideas.

Just delurking to say that we use another duvet as a bottom sheet. Either an old, 'past its best' one underneath the sheet or as mine is at the moment - in a duvet cover, on top of the sheet with another one on top.  Every week when I change the bedding the top one moves down and the other gets a fresh cover and becomes the top cover. IYSWIM

I sleep between the two, BTW.