When we come home from a weekend here when we slept with the windows open & a fan blowing in the bedroom & walking thru the front door feels like I opened a commercial freezer?
We started charging the kids utilities & got a thermostat that locks.
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Keeping warm. Lap quilts and at least one cat each. Wool socks too. We have a cotton curtain at toe top of othe stairs to keep the downstairs warmer in winter, especially when we use the wood stove, and cooler in the summer when using the air conditioners.
The best thing we did was 20 years ago when we replaced all the windows.
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This chat, (and my oil heating company sharing that it’s nos $6.35/gal for my 200 gallon tank), has me wondering if we need a Cozy Winter Warmer swap or craft-along around here haha
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Even my husband wants leg warmers to wear around the house!
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Let’s all embrace some flashback Flash Dance fashion! Lol
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@Magpie WOW! Things are looking SO GOOD! Congrats to you two on all your hard work and attention to detail.
I love curtains to control drafts! We think of it as old-fashioned, but it’s also very ecologically sound if you keep them for a long time. To me, it also feels a little luxurious, especially when they’re sumptuous fabrics.
We also keep a curtain at the top of our stairs for temperature control, but also for cooking odor control. That part has gotten a lot better since getting TheMisterT’s new range and adding ventilation there, but still. I added it in early lockdown, so was using upholstery fabric and a rod I had on hand, but neither were ideal. So last month, I made a new curtain with materials I’d been collecting over the last year or so and switched out the rod fro something more suitable in strength. I haven’t posted it yet, because I also ordered up a “curtain robot” so we can open and close it with a remote from the kitchen. And by “we” I mean “TheMisterT” who does all the cooking and none of the remembering to close it. However, my initial attempt to set it up didn’t work and I haven’t yet dug deeper into it.
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I love the luxurious look too! I made olive green velvet ones in the living room, inspired by the dramatic look in grandma’s house but a colour that matched our interior. The velvet just looks and feels really fancy and it really helps with draughts, even though our windows are new. Eventually, we’ll have grandma’s old red one in the hallway. We have two outside doors that are mostly glass, and both of them have direct sunlight on them part of the day. As we still don’t have proper curtain rails arranged, I pinned sheets to a tension rod as a temporary solution (it’s not strong enough for a heavy curtain for winter unfortunately) and that made a real difference in heat.
@AntBee at the current price levels, a Cozy Winter Warmer craft-along where we can share tips and ideas might be just what everyone needs.
In winter, my grandparents used to wear so many layers. We are so used to turning up the heat. My grandparents always wore sweaters at home with a shirt underneath (the collar would be visible) and I just know they always wore a cami underneath, too. If they felt cold they’d put on a cardigan and only after that they’d think of turning up the heat. They always wore socks and slippers too. They would drink a lot of tea and in winter they ate soup twice a day, plus sometimes a cup of broth after they came back indoors after doing physical labour in the cold. They would cook the kind of dishes that would bubble for a while and it warmed the house.
My family had a homestead-like small farm and in winter we’d only use the kitchen. The living room was more of a formal room and it wasn’t heated in winter, it wasn’t used at all. That might be an option for people in larger homes. The kitchen had a gas heater that could be used as a food warmer too and everyone just sat there, the TV sat at the head of the kitchen table lol.
Funny, in my head grandparents are old people, mine dressed like old people and were always talking about “before the war” so I thought they were ancient, but I clearly remember my own grandparents doing manual labour, they were healthy, fit and strong. Most of them would have been in their 50s when I was born. My parents didn’t become grandparents until they were relatively old (approaching 70) but they dress and behave a lot more like their kids’ generation than their own parents did.
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This. A couple years ago I went through a bunch of photo slides from before I was born and shortly after. There was a photo of me as a tiny infant, being held by my maternal grandmother. I did some math based on estimated and realized that I was about the same age at the time as my grandmother was in that photo and she looked WAY older than I did. Partly that’s just perspective based on hairstyle and such and partly it was about differences in skin care, sun block, weight and other health stuff, but DANG. She was in her early 50s in that pic and looked more like people look in their 80s nowadays. There’s also the thing that our parents and particularly our grandparents are always old.
I remember reading one of the Little House on the Prairie books as a tween and Laura was so interested in growing up and wearing clothes like her mother and aunts. I realized then that people my age were absolutely not looking forward to dressing like their mothers! I think that’s a change in culture over the last 100 years or so.
I do think the 50s were a lot older when we were children than they are now, for a lot of reasons and depending on place and socioeconomic conditions.
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I look at women now who are in their 50’s and see them as being 30 year olds! It is very weird for me because my circle of friends range from 30-86 year olds! I wear jeans and t-shirts most days and can’t even imagine my mother, let alone my grandparents, wearing jeans at my age.
I have a picture of my great gran wearing a floral dress and an apron. I always thought she was in her 70’s in that picture, but she is actually in her mid 50’s. None of my 50 year old friends look even close to her age.
I think it might be other cues that tell people you are older. I know younger people are more likely to hold doors for me or help me carry stuff probably because I walk slower and stiffer. I remember my mother told me that she felt physically great and slowed down only a little after each ten years, but once she hit 70, it was every five years, and at 80, every two years. The change in her from 80 to 85 was very dramatic and “fast”.
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My mom shared this pic of herself when visiting my sister in HK 2009. She’s 61 & looks younger than me now WTF.
Anyhow, here we are tonight.
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Those paint colors are so soothing.
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Nice color choices! And, nice matching outfit! 
Lookin’ good!
I do not like painting. I am procrastinating. I just, ugh, it’s so tedious.
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I like painting. I do not like the prep or the clean up. Painting, actual putting the paint on something seems to take the least time.
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I can get into a zone with the entire painting process. I find the balance of attention to detail (prep and cutting in) and low attention tasks (rolling, some of the clean up) keeps me just interested enough, but then also gives me time to think on other things or listen to music or podcasts. But I understand why it’s not for everyone.
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Nope. I hate it. It’s awful & I cannot wait to be done.
I hope I’ll like these colours again once I get over being so aggravated. Right now I hate them too 
I’m truly annoyed all the hardware was painted & I’m forced to add another layer. I’d really like to take it all off & clean it up, or just replace it. It looks so crappy & lumpy covered in goopy paint.
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I looks really nice! I hope you’ll recover from painting and enjoy the colors again soon. I did not enjoy a single minute of building that deck 2 years ago, so can relate to not being in love with the results right away.
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And we’re done!
The dark carpeted area is for a massage table, we’ll suspend a wrap around curtain rod there for a sense privacy, I think sheers will be nice. We have some large art & macrame pieces to hang.
A runner for the entryway. A taller plant. I’d like a 3rd rattan chair. I’ll sew cushion covers.
My sewing tables are behind the folding screen.
One day we’ll lay broadloom over all that terrible concrete floor but that’s a project for later on.
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What a lovely peaceful feeling you have given that huge room! Looks cozy and inviting.
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