To keep the blinds open?

[CinnamonStar]

In my family we have this thing where you don't shut all the curtains until everyone is home - so you have one window with the curtains open (or half open) and if it is dark you put a lamp in the window until all the family members get home in the evening.
So I have our kitchen blind half open (we don't have curtains) and a lamp on the windowsill until DH gets home.

DH says it is a nice idea (actually I don't think he'd even previously realised I do it until yesterday when we talked about it) but that in this very cold weather it will just make the flat cold, and I should shut all the blinds as soon as the sun goes down to preserve the heat.

AIBU to not be able to bring myself to do it, and to think it won't make the flat that cold (yes I know, my family are bonkers, but it is just what we do. So there.)

I think it's a lovely idea.

I always keep our front curtains open (there are blinds as well), the porch light and the hall light on until my husband comes home from work. Makes the house more welcoming, IMHO.

I think it's a nice (if kooky and quaint) idea and your DH should put up with it.

Are you of Swedish decent by any chance? Bit of viking in you? Light in the window and curtains open is the norm here.

Put a 'WELCOME HOME' banner outside and close the blind.

I think that's lovely, but depending on your flat your DH may have a point.

Our house is old and draughty, closing the curtains would help but I can't be bothered, we live in the middle of nowhere so no worry about neighbours seeing me doing Just Dance in Just Knickers (maybe the odd cyclist)...

I'm sure there must be a compromise, we always keep our outside light on until everyone's at home, its a kind of beacon I guess (I was brought up on the coast, maybe that's why I do it) to guide family to safe haven... could you put the lamp behind the closed curtain?

No way. I don't want all and sundry looking into our front room. Leaving curtains open when it is dark outside makes me feel very vulnerable, especially when DD is in there on her own. In winter we switch the porch light and the light over the front door on.

Ah re-read... you have blinds... hmm. Will think.

Surely Ikea will do some very flat kind of battery operated light you could stick to the window itself?

YANBU to leave them open if you think the welcomingness is worth the cold.

But YABU to not be able to bring yourself to do it - what kind of sillyness is that? Do you think your family will not come home f the house doesn't have a visible light?

YANBU. I leave some of our kitchen blinds open if its not too cold. We live on a very dark quiet county lane and I like to see what's going on outside because I am nosy!

Thats lovely.

I hate coming home to a dark house even if I know that OH is up in his study (which is at the front of the hose and I normally come in the back)

Maybe like suggested above a battery low heat light?

at the Welcome Home banner.
DH and I discussed it more and we decided I will put DD's (extremely feeble) Thomas the Tank torch in the spare room window, and then shut the door. Nobody goes in there much anyway so it will not affect the warmth of the rest of the house, but I will still be keeping the light shining.

That's interesting Kladdkaka. I'm not of Swedish descent, but there is Danish blood if you go back far enough on the family tree - and there is a long line of seafarers in the family too (my Dad was the last), so maybe that is where it comes from.