Living in an Igloo? Here's How to Thaw Your Icy Abode
Coming home to an icebox is no fun, so lift the comfort quotient with some straightforward fixes
Not everyone has the luxury of a central heating system, ticking over during the day, greeting us with a big toasty hug when we come in from the cold. Homes with inadequate insulation, ill-fitting windows and doors, toe-stiffening cold floors or just hard-to-heat layouts don’t put out the welcome mat when you’ve braved the winter chill. Adopt a two-pronged approach: take measures to keep your home from chilling out in the first place, and boost your glow fast when you open the door on a less-than-welcoming space.
Layering rugs not only helps keep a room warmer, but makes it visually welcoming and homey. This is a good tip for renters who move home frequently and may not own rugs suitably sized for different spaces. Going from largest to smallest, layer up two or three rugs, with the warmest and best-looking one on top.
TIP: Move sofas and chairs a little closer to each other and bring the rugs right up to the front legs of the furniture to create a warm and sociable lounging spot.
TIP: Move sofas and chairs a little closer to each other and bring the rugs right up to the front legs of the furniture to create a warm and sociable lounging spot.
Plug the leaks
Leaking window frames are silent heat burglars. Solutions include having them professionally (or DIY) caulked, applying a window film or window strips or, for a quick fix if the leak is at the bottom, closing the window firmly onto a foam-filled draft excluder – also known as a door sausage.
TIP: Spot an air leak in a window frame: hold a lit incense stick or mosquito coil near joins and look for smoke movement.
Leaking window frames are silent heat burglars. Solutions include having them professionally (or DIY) caulked, applying a window film or window strips or, for a quick fix if the leak is at the bottom, closing the window firmly onto a foam-filled draft excluder – also known as a door sausage.
TIP: Spot an air leak in a window frame: hold a lit incense stick or mosquito coil near joins and look for smoke movement.
Work with your windows
Even with well-sealed windows, heat loss through glass robs your nest of warmth. Up to 25 per cent of internal heat can be lost through glass, so with uncovered windows you’ll be coming home to an unwelcoming chill. Invest in insulating thermal curtains if the budget allows. If a heavy curtain isn’t the look you’re after, investigate cellular or honeycomb shades and blinds. The clever design traps air in small cells to reduce heat loss. When fitted inside a window frame, the modern generation of honeycomb blinds and shades are sleek and unobtrusive. They can be custom-made or bought from mega homeware outlets, such as Spotlight and Bunnings.
TIP: Double glazing can be retro-fitted to windows when frames are in good condition.
Even with well-sealed windows, heat loss through glass robs your nest of warmth. Up to 25 per cent of internal heat can be lost through glass, so with uncovered windows you’ll be coming home to an unwelcoming chill. Invest in insulating thermal curtains if the budget allows. If a heavy curtain isn’t the look you’re after, investigate cellular or honeycomb shades and blinds. The clever design traps air in small cells to reduce heat loss. When fitted inside a window frame, the modern generation of honeycomb blinds and shades are sleek and unobtrusive. They can be custom-made or bought from mega homeware outlets, such as Spotlight and Bunnings.
TIP: Double glazing can be retro-fitted to windows when frames are in good condition.
Get a move on
When you come home to a cold and unwelcoming space, one of the best – and cheapest – ways of warming up is to get moving. When we’re cold, we hunch up, take shallow breaths and move slowly. Drop your shoulders, breathe deeply and try five minutes of moderate exercise to raise your pulse. Better still, put on music and dance like no-one’s watching for one or two tracks. Works like a charm to lift your mood after a hard day’s work too.
When you come home to a cold and unwelcoming space, one of the best – and cheapest – ways of warming up is to get moving. When we’re cold, we hunch up, take shallow breaths and move slowly. Drop your shoulders, breathe deeply and try five minutes of moderate exercise to raise your pulse. Better still, put on music and dance like no-one’s watching for one or two tracks. Works like a charm to lift your mood after a hard day’s work too.
Don’t let the bathroom ice up
It’s often the coldest room in the house, so allowing the bathroom to hit rock bottom temperature-wise means it takes ages to warm up. Although heated towel rails aren’t designed as a primary heat source, in an otherwise unheated room they make the difference between an arctic shower experience and a more pleasant one. Larger multiple rails put out enough heat over time to take the chill off a small closed space. They don’t take huge amounts of power to run compared to other electrical heating, can be put on timers, and many are safe to leave on for the whole winter.
TIP: Look for hybrid towel rail/radiator combinations that dry towels and heat a small bathroom simultaneously
It’s often the coldest room in the house, so allowing the bathroom to hit rock bottom temperature-wise means it takes ages to warm up. Although heated towel rails aren’t designed as a primary heat source, in an otherwise unheated room they make the difference between an arctic shower experience and a more pleasant one. Larger multiple rails put out enough heat over time to take the chill off a small closed space. They don’t take huge amounts of power to run compared to other electrical heating, can be put on timers, and many are safe to leave on for the whole winter.
TIP: Look for hybrid towel rail/radiator combinations that dry towels and heat a small bathroom simultaneously
Hit the shower – fast
Schedule a shower as a homecoming treat. Not only does a shower turn your dial to ‘warm’ in record time, but it washes away the day and sets you up for a relaxed evening. If you have a heated rail, warm up a dressing gown as well as a towel while you’re showering.
TIP: For a circulation-stimulating (and exfoliating) after-shower thrill, dry off vigorously with a ‘friction’ towel. These are hard to find in Australia, but European websites have them – look for natural, dye-free linen towels and mitts. I’ve turned pure linen towels into friction towels by avoiding fabric softener – the idea is to keep the fibres pleasantly rough – and line-drying to extra dry.
Schedule a shower as a homecoming treat. Not only does a shower turn your dial to ‘warm’ in record time, but it washes away the day and sets you up for a relaxed evening. If you have a heated rail, warm up a dressing gown as well as a towel while you’re showering.
TIP: For a circulation-stimulating (and exfoliating) after-shower thrill, dry off vigorously with a ‘friction’ towel. These are hard to find in Australia, but European websites have them – look for natural, dye-free linen towels and mitts. I’ve turned pure linen towels into friction towels by avoiding fabric softener – the idea is to keep the fibres pleasantly rough – and line-drying to extra dry.
Be sheepish
Sheep may not be known for their sharp minds, but they know something about insulation. If you have no ethical objections to using sheepskins, they are unbeatable for preventing heat loss – and for pampering frosty feet. As a bathmat, a sheepskin is a delight to step onto and dries quickly.
Sheep may not be known for their sharp minds, but they know something about insulation. If you have no ethical objections to using sheepskins, they are unbeatable for preventing heat loss – and for pampering frosty feet. As a bathmat, a sheepskin is a delight to step onto and dries quickly.
Keep a sheepskin where you get dressed, on the floor either side of the bed, under your office desk, on cold laundry tiles or under stools around a kitchen bench – wherever your tootsies may meet a cold floor.
Warning! The comfort of sheepskins draped over dining chairs will not only give your dining room a fun Viking-throne vibe, but will keep your guests at the table long past dinner.
Warning! The comfort of sheepskins draped over dining chairs will not only give your dining room a fun Viking-throne vibe, but will keep your guests at the table long past dinner.
TIP: Revive sheepskins by combing to remove loose strands and washing, by hand or handwash machine cycle, in a specialised sheepskin washing product that cares for both the wool and the leather. Air dry and fluff up by combing again. Most are also dry cleanable.
Warm up from the inside
A hot drink doesn’t actually raise your internal temperature – it has a placebo effect, fooling your mind into telling your body it’s feeling warmer – but there are few more cheering homecoming routines than putting the kettle on. Set up a winter hot drink station with everything you need for a hot mug of something at the flick of a switch. Boil a jugful of water and put the leftovers into a hot water bottle to slip into your bed or under the sofa cushions for some couch potato foot comfort.
A hot drink doesn’t actually raise your internal temperature – it has a placebo effect, fooling your mind into telling your body it’s feeling warmer – but there are few more cheering homecoming routines than putting the kettle on. Set up a winter hot drink station with everything you need for a hot mug of something at the flick of a switch. Boil a jugful of water and put the leftovers into a hot water bottle to slip into your bed or under the sofa cushions for some couch potato foot comfort.
Throw on a throw
Radical as it may sound, those gorgeous throws we drape so artfully on our sofas, chairs and beds have another use! Whether you love giant chunky knits, vintage crochet, tartan blankies or a touch of light-but-warm cashmere, cuddle up the minute you sit down – you get colder sitting than walking around.
TIP: Electric throws are an instant versatile personal heater when you can’t wait for the room to warm up with space heating. Wrap yourself up on the sofa or put one on the bed, adjusted to the desired temperature level.
Radical as it may sound, those gorgeous throws we drape so artfully on our sofas, chairs and beds have another use! Whether you love giant chunky knits, vintage crochet, tartan blankies or a touch of light-but-warm cashmere, cuddle up the minute you sit down – you get colder sitting than walking around.
TIP: Electric throws are an instant versatile personal heater when you can’t wait for the room to warm up with space heating. Wrap yourself up on the sofa or put one on the bed, adjusted to the desired temperature level.
Lots of synthetic throws are silky soft and look great, but as a wrap, they can trap body moisture and become uncomfortably clammy, not to mention leaving hairy faux-fur fibres on your clothes. Think natural fibres for winter warmth and invest in at least one throw in beautiful, light, breathable wool.
Fall for flannel
UK store Debenhams reports that, for the first time in 50 years, flannelette sheets are outselling many other lines. Aussies have also fallen for flannelette again, and sheets are now widely available in designs other than traditional plaids and plains.
The brushing process that fluffs up cotton creates tiny air pockets that trap heat. The texture is soft on the skin and maintains warmth better than cottons and synthetics. Combine with a huggy hot water bottle – or two – slipped between the sheets an hour or so before bedtime, and you may be able to do away an electric blanket. It sure beats hiring a butler to warm up the bed with a copper warming pan full of hot coals!
See more cosy bedrooms
UK store Debenhams reports that, for the first time in 50 years, flannelette sheets are outselling many other lines. Aussies have also fallen for flannelette again, and sheets are now widely available in designs other than traditional plaids and plains.
The brushing process that fluffs up cotton creates tiny air pockets that trap heat. The texture is soft on the skin and maintains warmth better than cottons and synthetics. Combine with a huggy hot water bottle – or two – slipped between the sheets an hour or so before bedtime, and you may be able to do away an electric blanket. It sure beats hiring a butler to warm up the bed with a copper warming pan full of hot coals!
See more cosy bedrooms
Switch on
Spot heaters make a world of difference to your personal comfort in a poorly insulated house or without efficient space heating. Most are designed to heat up a person 1-2 metres away and won’t heat large areas, but they are great for a quick body heat boost. Top-end portable fan heaters use ceramic disc technology to propel heat, while budget versions – as low as $75 – often have insufficient power to reach very far and much heat is lost towards the ceiling.
At the peak of the market, Dyson has released the AM09, which combines a quiet channelled long-range airflow for personal heating (and cooling) and switches to project wide-angle high-velocity heated air into the whole room. It’s a luxury product at a luxury price, but may be the answer to your winter heating woes.
Be sure to factor in running costs as well as the initial purchase price of a heater. Inexpensive electric space heaters can be very costly to run, while a natural gas space heater may cost more to buy, but is likely to cost you less over time because of the dramatically lower running costs.
Spot heaters make a world of difference to your personal comfort in a poorly insulated house or without efficient space heating. Most are designed to heat up a person 1-2 metres away and won’t heat large areas, but they are great for a quick body heat boost. Top-end portable fan heaters use ceramic disc technology to propel heat, while budget versions – as low as $75 – often have insufficient power to reach very far and much heat is lost towards the ceiling.
At the peak of the market, Dyson has released the AM09, which combines a quiet channelled long-range airflow for personal heating (and cooling) and switches to project wide-angle high-velocity heated air into the whole room. It’s a luxury product at a luxury price, but may be the answer to your winter heating woes.
Be sure to factor in running costs as well as the initial purchase price of a heater. Inexpensive electric space heaters can be very costly to run, while a natural gas space heater may cost more to buy, but is likely to cost you less over time because of the dramatically lower running costs.
If you’d like to add ambience as well as warmth, a gas fireplace could be the answer. Gas fireplaces at Abbey Fireplaces or Real Flame, for example, range from the purely decorative – to add the illusion of warmth – to those that heat the room along with the total cosiness that only flickering flames can bring. They can be installed in an existing fireplace, built-in or even installed in the centre of a room.
TELL US
Share your winter warming tricks and tips with us in the Comments.
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Browse more cosy fireside looks
TELL US
Share your winter warming tricks and tips with us in the Comments.
MORE
Browse more cosy fireside looks
Do you tend to use a reduced number of rooms in cold weather? Closing off rarely used spaces and consolidating your activities in a couple of rooms where you spend the most time makes good sense. Consider moving your desk into a corner of the living room or bedroom for the winter, then focus your heating efforts on these areas. It’s a sure-fire way to keep heating bills down too. Squeezing in an office spot in the kitchen means you can benefit from residual heat from cooking.