Preparing for winter

[redhappy]

This will be our first winter in this house (rented), and it's absolutely freezing!

The rooms downstairs are all bare floorboards, so I'm planning to get some thick rugs to go on there. The hallways are always very draughty. It's not possible to put up a curtain over the front door, any suggestions what else I could do?

Would love to hear others tips for getting the house ready for cold weather (or winter tips in general

Put some draught proofing at the bottom and side of door?

Get boiler checked, bleed radiators, get nice thick curtains for windows.

And a nice thick duvet and some extra cardies!

Thanks, sorry I didn't really give much detail!

It's a upvc door, in an old house (about 150yrs). The door itself is fine, but the doorframe is what lets the draught in. Above the frame is a window to ceiling height hence nowhere to put curtain rail. Planning to get/make something like this but can't figure out what to do around the rest of the frame

A portiere will enable you to hang an interlined curtain behind the front door - they're designed for exactly your circumstance - see these.

I'd interline as many curtains as I could afford and make a few of those bottom of the door dog sausages to reduce the drafts.

All those things help a lot in our draughty old house.

That link is to British Gas lol.

Draft excluders are a god send in our drafty, 200 year old, rented house.

I made my own out of an off cut of fabric I bought from the remnants bin at a curtain shop. Simply cut a wide strip, sew up the longest side, fill with old tights/rags, gather together the excess fabric at each end and tie with a ribbon or use an elastic band. For a cheaper alternative chop the legs off a pair of tights, fill each leg with rags and tie the open end.

Other things we use are thermal curtain liners and a goose feather & down duvet both of which make our bedroom toasty warm at night.

I also make sure there are plenty of spare blankets and throws around the place. They're lovely for snuggling on the sofa on really cold nights.

oh haha!
Well you can see were my focus is tonight!

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Lifeandhealth/Pix/pictures/2010/1/5/1262689889680/Draught-excluder-001.jpg&imgrefurl=www.guardian.co.u" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">try again

You need cashmere wrist warmers, so that you can MN whilst having toasty warm hands and wrists. :)

And you need to let any ideas of style go - and wear fat socks over tights, accessorised with a dressing gown and a hot water bottle - which is exactly what I am doing as I type.

We already have feather duvet, and with a hot water it is sooo warm. Stays warm all night too, hot water bottle still hot in the morning!

Daisydo thanks, they look great, will check with landlord tomorrow if we can put one up. We do have quite thick curtains, but I think I need to add another layer of lining. I was thinking about using a cheap fleece blanket, since it's not too heavy and very warm and draught proof, bit concerned could be a fire hazard though? Although we don't actually have any open fires.

As well as a duvet, I also have a goose-down mattress topper and it's made a huge difference.

Secondary glazing over almost all our ancient windows (plastic clips and glass to fit).

I suppose if it's rented you don't want to spend too much on it.

Thermal underwear. Honestly. And a scarf - doesn't matter if it's not big and chunky, just needs to keep the draught off your neck.

We also have lots of blankety things on the sofa which we cosy into if watching the telly.

3 Blankets on the sofa, they stay there all year round. Already wear a scarf all the time.

Do need to invest in some thermals though.

Have you all got warm slippers? I find these make a huge difference, plus thermals, gilet, scarves as others have said.

Plus a smuch draft proofing as possible.

We have a 200 year old house, which the LL has thoughtfully made open plan and added a conservatory at the back in which he placed the kitchen. There is no central heating. Every November I want to weep, but you get used to it. I put draught excluders round the doors including the one into the hated conservatory, plug key holes with blue tack, tack a heavy blanket across the opening to the stairs and spend a lot of time chopping wood! Also have a couple of little halogen heaters - they're very cheap and effective. I wear loads of clothes and have a blanket on the sofa. It can actually get quite cosy, though last winter was a a bit :( at times. On the bed I have a blanket over the mattress and have two goose down duvets, plus hot water bottles at bed time. I quite like cold bedrooms - they make you more alert when you wake.

I'm hoping for a warmer winter than last year, but I've heard it will again be a cold one. Weirdly we suffer from fewer colds and sniffles than almost everyone I know.