Preparing for Winter V

VintageHistorian

My main want for this year is a new front door curtain. We still have the one that came with the house when we bought it 9 years ago. It's just a thin piece of material, easy to wash and put back up, but apart from blocking an immediate draft it's not very insulating, so I'd like to get a thicker thermal-lined one.

I saw Tesco had lots of winter accessories reduced in the clothing section yesterday, but the reductions weren't enough (£8 down to £6 for example) to make me stop and seriously consider it for DS.

Laura_Elsewhere

our front door curtain is actually two ordinary curtains pinned to make one very long one- we bought four online for a few quid, lovely thick old chenille with a heavy lining, and two are in the bedroom and these two in the hall. They really make a difference!

The sitting room curtains make me smile- incredibly, they are the cotton-velvet curtains that were bought from John Lewis in 1980 for my childhood bedroom!! The dark green has faded to a rather lovely green like a ripe greengage (!); I did consider dyeing them when we moved here and I brought them with me but decided to keep the faded colour :) I did replace the lining with good cotton sateen (reduced to £1/m (!) at Dunelm some years back).
Who would think curtains would be used for 46 years and still going strong?! I mean, they were good curtains but we had little spare cash so would have been a sort of "sensible quality investment" level rather than anything far above the ordinary!

fionaandphil

Me! I noticed weather due to pick up so getting all the blankets and winter coats done as soon as it's hot enough. We've started on wood for the fire already. Holding off on the oil for now in the hope it will reduce further if things calm down.

I think we may also have a double glazed unit that has blown so will need to get them in to fix that, I think it cost about 80 last time we had one done so hoping it hasn't increased too much.

Laura_Elsewhere

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82001950#Comment_82001950

I'm also planning ahead, intending to clear space by early September to sow lambs lettuce, red chard and other winter salads, so I can have small amounts of fresh leaves all winter long. I love leafy salads even in winter, and want to stop buying plastic bags of the stuff, expensive and flown in from abroad.

fionaandphil

@VintageHistorian have you considered just lining it with thermal material, a blanket or another pair of curtains? We have a fairly thin curtain at our glass door which matches the wallpaper beautifully. Couldn't find anything heavier that did, so we have a heavy cream curtain that lines it in the winter and keeps more drafts out.

SuzeQStan

another vote for blanket liner here - just pinned one to our door and hallway curtains which has been really effective.

VintageHistorian

Well beyond my skills or interest to be honest. Also we've since painted the hallway and put down different flooring and carpet so it looks quite out of place. I'm not fussed about spending the money, it's just procrastination that gets in the way 😅

Cherryfudge

I replaced my thick coat recently - saw the perfect thing on V1nted and risked the unknowns of having it shipped across the Atlantic. Then I was glad of it recently as it's great in a cold wind!

We've also learned from our experience last winter, which was very damp. Slates were starting to move on the roof and some towels that were stored in the loft came out smelling musty. The roof might have held out a few more years but we've had the whole thing replaced before it becomes a problem and while we can afford it! It's interesting that over the last few days the house has felt a bit colder without that thin layer of slates. It now has a membrane - how modern! - instead of the mortar that was largely crumbed off the inside of the slates, and I hope by tomorrow night there will be a new lot of slates in place.