Preparing for Winter

Rummer

Sitting in a tracksuit with a fleecy dressing gown over the top, I will not put the heating on!

fedupandskint

Sat with a glass of wine and a thick hoodie, wine keeping me warm tonight!

Will not put the heating on for ages yet, trying for the mid of Oct at least!

greenbee

I saw this and wondered whether it might be of interest. It sounds too good to be true

alice-mary

I too am hoping to not put the radiators on until hopefully the end of October! Have realised over the last few days that putting washing on the line is not enough to actually dry it now but I don't want to use the tumble drier. I remember being totally cheesed off last winter with having to squeeze around the various drying racks and rails in my house but yesterday I came up with a marvelous idea (imho)....

I have a long horizontal banister that I have always used to dry things on BUT I have only recently noticed that on the opposite side to the banister (still over the stairwell) there is a parallel dado rail. I've put 2 of my clothes horses (the upside down V shaped type) over the stairwell at the opposite end to where I'll actually get to the top step so they are balanced like a huge old fashioned tent along the dado rail and banister and over the huge amount of free space that isn't actually used for anything. I'm not sure that I'm actually describing it very well and am aware that if there were any children or energetic people or pets it might not be a good idea BUT I live by myself and have been amazed at how well the wet things have dried overnight!

I've been really careful about how I'm placing the clothes and towels etc on the clothes horses so there is no chance of me bumping into any of them while I'm walking up or down the stairs (I don't even notice it on the way UP and it feels like I'm entering a very tall tent on the way down) but as any heat that IS in the house rises, this really IS the best place for drying things....I just can't believe I've been in the house for 5 years and have only just thought of this!

I'm SO chuffed as this now means that I won't have to worry about using more electricity with the drier on as the winter sets in and I can still walk around without bumping into things. Also, when I finally DO give in and put the radiators on, THAT heat will rise too and things will dry even faster! HTH somebody.

zarazara

Thats brilliant

zarazara

we've had woodworm beetle on the window ledges this week. I've squashed them all. DH reckons they are coming in on the logs for the fire. But its an old house with lots of holey beams and floorboards so they might be hatching out form somewhere, particulaly as the house was unnoccupied for a time before we moved in. I've looked them up on the net and they like damp wood. So now theres a conumdrum, do we heat the house and keep it dry which should=no woodworm or do we let it be cool and so encourage the blighters to breed?

zarazara

greenbee I expect the curtain will reflect the heat back into the room but it isnt insulation.

Rummer

The curtains sound a bit like those blankets runners use to keep warm at the end of races!

p00

oliveoyl wrote: »

I have a 4.5 tog duvet and one of those fleecy under-blanket fitted sheets on mine in winter... I manage to get fitted sheets over the top but the duvet doesn't go over the corners/edges... if it did I don't think I could use fitted sheets.

I use the next size fitted sheets when I put a quilt on the mattress under the sheet. Home & Bargains bedding is fairly cheap. Makes the bed much warm in winter.

Money_maker

jcr16 wrote: »

i've had an idea about the fleece lining of curtains. I am going to sew a strip of velcro to curtains just under header tape then a strip on the top of the fleece ( once cut to right size) so i can then just velcro together. so i can add for the winter and remove for the summer.

i'm not sure yet if this will work, but in my head it will. so i will experiment with it. What gave me the idea was in the argos book they had a thermal curtain lining which just hooked on to the exsisting header tape of curtains. so i was thinking i could adapt this method to suit.

Has anyone tried this idea ? does it work ?

That should work really well. Press studs would also work (pain to stitch on). What about the hemming tape you can buy that you iron on? That can be removed fairly easily at the end of season - or am I just being ridiculous now?!