Warming a cold room without turning the heating up
Most British houses lose heat in the same four places, and the cheap fixes are aimed at three of them. Before spending anything, it is worth knowing which of the things you have heard actually change the temperature and which only change how a room feels — because both are useful, but not interchangeably.
Windows: the biggest single loss
Even good double glazing loses far more heat per square metre than the wall around it. The fix is not more heating, it is covering the glass at night.
- Line the curtains. An unlined curtain is decoration. A lined or interlined one is insulation, and thermal-lined versions do measurably more.
- Fit them wide and long. A curtain that stops at the sill lets warm air roll down the glass and out along the floor. Past the sill, and wider than the reveal, traps it.
- Close them at dusk, open them in the sun. Free solar gain during the day is worth more than people expect, even in a British winter.
See curtains and drapes.
Floors: comfort you can feel immediately
Bare floorboards on a suspended floor are the classic Victorian cold-feet problem — air moves through the gaps. A dense rug with a pad underneath does two things at once: it stops the draught and it stops the floor pulling heat out of your feet, which is most of why a room "feels" cold. Cover the area you actually sit and walk in rather than the whole floor. Browse rugs and runners and area rugs.
Layer the person, not the room
Heating a whole room to warm one person sitting still is the most expensive way to be comfortable. This is where blanket weight matters:
- Lightweight fleece or cotton throw — for over the knees while reading. Easy to wash, easy to move room to room. See throws.
- Sherpa or chunky knit — the sofa blanket. Traps a real air layer; heavy enough to stay put.
- Wearable blanket or blanket hoodie — genuinely the most efficient option because it moves with you. See wearable blankets.
- Weighted blanket — worth being precise about: weighted blankets are for the calming pressure, not for warmth, and the heavier ones can sleep hot. Choose roughly a tenth of body weight. See weighted blankets.
Draughts: unglamorous, effective
Cold rooms are usually draughty rooms. In order of how much they cost you: the letterbox and front door gap, unused chimneys, gaps under internal doors to unheated hallways, loft hatches. A draught excluder at the bottom of a door between a warm room and a cold hall does more than another jumper.
What only feels warmer — but still counts
Candlelight, warm-toned lamps rather than overheads, textured cushions and a heavy floor covering do not raise the temperature at all. They do reliably change how cold a room reads, and that changes the thermostat setting you are willing to live with. That is not nothing. See candles and holders and cushions and covers.
The bedroom is a separate problem
A cold bedroom with a warm bed is the ideal, not a failure. Put the money into a mattress topper and the right duvet tog rather than heating the room overnight — our duvet tog guide covers which rating suits which season.
