Preparing for Winter

mardatha

Can anybody give me ideas for my problem please .... Our bedroom has one big window, is either 6 or 7ft, can't remember and too lazy to go and measure. Single glazing, and we sleep right next to it as the head of the bed is on that wall. We dont like it dark and cosy, we like to be able to look out andf see the stars, but in winter it can be quite draughty. Is there anything I could do to lessen the draught without losing the light open feel of the room ?
LOL mission impossible !

dreaming

lurker de-lurking here with a window problem. A few weeks ago I had wooden shutters (which I love, love, love) fitted to the bay window in bedroom. Thinking about winter however, and wanting to add extra layer to windows, realised I can't fit a curtain rail round the bay as then the shutters won't open for me to be able to open window (as there is just less than half inch clearance between ceiling in bay and top of shutter). Radiator is in bay so don't want to block off by putting curtains across bay. Probably will be warm enough as window double glazed plus shutters but first winter in house so don't know, and trying to think ahead (which I obviously didn't do when I had shutters fitted - doh!).

Any ideas gratefully received.

Confuzzled

mardatha wrote: »

Can anybody give me ideas for my problem please .... Our bedroom has one big window, is either 6 or 7ft, can't remember and too lazy to go and measure. Single glazing, and we sleep right next to it as the head of the bed is on that wall. We dont like it dark and cosy, we like to be able to look out andf see the stars, but in winter it can be quite draughty. Is there anything I could do to lessen the draught without losing the light open feel of the room ?
LOL mission impossible !

well there's always bubble wrap... you can also get white/beige fleece blankets, they diffuse light but it doesn't go totally dark in the room, they can be pinned onto the inside of your curtains.

another idea would be to do what others have done and stretch something like a clear tarpaulin across the length you can either use velcro to attach it or you can make some sort of rod to hang the tarpaulin from, fitted just inside the window, maybe find a way you can roll it up or pull it up when you want to see perfectly clearly out the windows

this essentially creates a secondary glazing, trapping the cold air mostly between the window and the tarpaulin (i'm not sure if you can get that plastic wrap like secondary glazing in sheets as large as you need)

mardatha

Oooooh - I could do a mix of the two though- line the curtains and make up some sort of transparent blind thing for the middle bit where the curtains stay open. TY !

Confuzzled

dreaming wrote: »

lurker de-lurking here with a window problem. A few weeks ago I had wooden shutters (which I love, love, love) fitted to the bay window in bedroom. Thinking about winter however, and wanting to add extra layer to windows, realised I can't fit a curtain rail round the bay as then the shutters won't open for me to be able to open window (as there is just less than half inch clearance between ceiling in bay and top of shutter). Radiator is in bay so don't want to block off by putting curtains across bay. Probably will be warm enough as window double glazed plus shutters but first winter in house so don't know, and trying to think ahead (which I obviously didn't do when I had shutters fitted - doh!).

Any ideas gratefully received.

i wonder if you might be able to string a fleece blanket (in a complimentary colour of course!) along a net curtain wire? if you wanted it between the window and the shutters you could use cup hooks to pull it in at certain points along the bay. you can just cut holes in the fleece it won't run but if you have an eyelet tool you could use those to make it look nicer

another idea would be to use a large fleece hung the same way but in front of the shutters so YOU only see it inside. not being able to see your shutters i'm not sure how you'd attach it but by having it on a net curtain wire it would be easy to attach and detach and the fittings wouldn't show much

poorbabe

Just ordered my daylight simulation lightbulbs: 3 x 60w and 1 x 125w. The high voltage one will join its twin in the living room so any visitors may need sunglasses if they visit me in the winter

These bulbs emit white light which I find very helpful as a partial aid for my SAD. The others will be for the summer months but I may use one in the hallway once they arrive .

NualaBuala

I've wondered about those daylight bulbs ... do you folks find them good? Are they a bit harsh/glarey? I normally like a soft light but it's sod all use for reading by! And do they help with SAD - I thought you had to buy a lightbox and sit in front of it every day.

mardatha

Daylight bulbs are perfect for knitting or sewing

poorbabe

NualaBuala wrote: »

I've wondered about those daylight bulbs ... do you folks find them good? Are they a bit harsh/glarey? I normally like a soft light but it's sod all use for reading by! And do they help with SAD - I thought you had to buy a lightbox and sit in front of it every day.

Hi NualaBuala, I don't have the lightbox purely on grounds of cost at the moment, but I do have a sunrise lamp which I use in the winter mornings to gently wake up to. That emits white light. I also use it at bedtime as you can set the wakeup/downtime timer for 15 or 30 mins. It also doubles up as a night light so I can do a spot of reading too.

I wouldn't say the daylight bulbs are good for everybody but I prefer the white light to the standard yellow, so I will now use them year round. During the winter I would much rather sleep through it til April or move to warmer climate, but as I can't do that on the NHS I'm trying other means including exercise and chocolate

Fortunately my work colleagues know what I'm like so they avoid me for the first hour of the morning til I've had my coffee/start smiling :rotfl:

dreaming

Confuzzled wrote: »

i wonder if you might be able to string a fleece blanket (in a complimentary colour of course!) along a net curtain wire? if you wanted it between the window and the shutters you could use cup hooks to pull it in at certain points along the bay. you can just cut holes in the fleece it won't run but if you have an eyelet tool you could use those to make it look nicer

another idea would be to use a large fleece hung the same way but in front of the shutters so YOU only see it inside. not being able to see your shutters i'm not sure how you'd attach it but by having it on a net curtain wire it would be easy to attach and detach and the fittings wouldn't show much

Thankyou for the idea. Wonder if I could attach the wire to the ceiling of the bay as I don't want to make holes in the shutters. Will look at that possibility. I could perhaps just put in a couple of hooks (I have some in the shed) and do the bamboo cane idea someone mentioned. So many good ideas on this thread - have converted everyone I know to wind up torches after having loads of power cuts last year and all the torches had dead batteries.