Hi,

I keep reading lately that key to keeping your house warm over winter (and cut your heating bills) is to have heavy, well-fitted curtains or blinds to stop the heat escaping through the glass. I understand this and can see that it would work, but who wants to live in a dark house all winter?

I would have to have all the lights on all day as our house is quite dark at the best of times, yet alone if I kept all the blinds down all day.

I also find that over winter I want the light coming in - if I have to be cooped up all day due to cold / rain, I at least want the house bright. I can see myself getting quite insular and a little 'dark' myself if I was home all day with the blinds down.

For those who live in the colder states, do you use this house warming tip?

Nope. That would be silly. Open the curtains up during the day. Let the sun come in & warm the house up for you (and light it). Then when the sun is gone, close curtains and turn on heater.

My Mum does this. We are in SA.

During winter the house is basically pitch black. Dad hates it (as did us kids growing up) and at the first chance will open everything up, but as soon as mum walks in everything gets closed up again.

I can see the logic behind it, but like you find it a little depressing TBH.

On really cold days, I tend to close the curtains up late afternoon 3-4pm crank up the hearter and get the house warm again.

Our house is solar passive, the principle of this is to let the sun as far into the home as you can get it during the day to heat the floors and walls, then close the house up as soon as it is getting dark to trap that heat inside. Perhaps if you have absolutely no sun it might be best to keep it closed up. That is why areas with long dark winters have double glazing.

I'd rather be happy and spend a tiny bit more on heating than close the place up and live in the dark!

I agree, curtains open during the day, letting the sun heat the house. When it cools in the late afternoon, early evening, we turn the heater back on and close the curtains.

I tend to open the curtains where light is coming in, and keep them closed where it's not. I've found my office is colder with the blind up, until 11am when the sun hits it in winter. The front of my house is cold in winter, so I keep the blinds/doors closed at the front and open at the back, and the warmth filters through and gets trapped. Then as the sun sets we close the blinds and curtains and doors to unusued rooms, and it keeps the house warmer.

Because the living areas in our house are quite open though, we still get plenty of light in the house this way. I couldn't live in the dark, I'd find it really depressing.