Beat winter blues with four surprisingly easy home improvement ideas that will keep you snug as a bug in a rug.
Everyone tries their hardest to prepare their home for upcoming seasons. To beat winter blues, most people will have heating units and radiators cleaned and refreshed to prevent them from getting blocked.
Others will have their insulation inspected and perhaps replaced. Are you one of the fortunate ones considering replacing your central heating with a completely new system?
Then when the glow of summer arrives you may find yourself installing window film to keep the solar rays out. Others will hire someone to do maintenance work on their air conditioning and most avid cooks will be hankering for a new barbeque setup.
Whatever you decide on, there’s one important thing to keep in mind: it’s never too late for home improvements. And if you need to beat winter blues then these four ideas will have you throwing off the parka indoors in no time.
Let In The Sun
Your windows let in a surprising amount of heat because of the sun, even in winter. This is important to understand if you have windows that are in direct view of the sun. The easisest way to beat winter blues is to bathe your home in natural sunlight.
The best way to welcome this heat into your home is to simply open the curtains or shutters whenever the sun is out, and close them whenever the sun is away.
Solar energy from the sun is the most effective way to heat your home without paying a penny during the winter, but it takes a little planning and you need to be aware of where the sun is so you can open and close curtains at the appropriate time.
For help with window treatments see Evan Javier’s article on Choosing the Right Blinds.
Don’t Call Me Penny
Install A New Central Heating System
Using your home’s central heating isn’t the greenest way of keeping warm during the winter, but it’s probably the most effective way of doing so. It can be fairly expensive and time-consuming to do this, so it’s best to get started straight away. A reverse cycle heating and cooling system will typically be more efficient and will reduce the cost of your heating bills.
A reverse cycle heating and cooling system will typically be more efficient and will reduce the cost of your heating bills; which is always a great way to beat winter blues. It also provides better heating control that can be monitored or changed however you want.
Remove Shade
If you have large trees around your home, then try and trim them down to prevent them from blocking the sunlight. The sun is lower in the sky than in summer so tall trees will block the low traveling sun. The more shade there is in your home, the less likely the sun will be able to reach you.
For instance, you should take down any garden awnings you have and also move any large objects away from the windows. Decluttering your home is also a great way to give your heating more space to breathe. Radiators and heating outlets don’t work very well if you surround them with objects—they need space in order to spread the heat around your home.
A landscape architect wll be able to design a garden whereby certain trees and shrubs will be full and leafy in the summer, thus creating shade. But in the winter, the same trees and shrubs will lose their leaves thus allowing the lower traveling sun to penetrate your windows.
Buying New Bedding
New bedding is a fantastic way to increase your body temperature but still stay comfortable at night. Memory foam mattresses are an excellent replacement for typical spring beds because they retain heat a lot better than other varieties. However, there are times when your memory foam mattress might be a little too hot due to the material used, so you may want to consider getting a topper instead of a full mattress.
However, there are times when your memory foam mattress might be a little too hot due to the material used, so you may want to consider getting a topper instead of a full mattress.
Also consider the luxury of sleeping in velvet… well almost. Buy velvety flannelette sheets from Canningvale and retain more heat under the covers without leaving the elecric blanket on.
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