With the prices of electricity and natural gas increasing, you want to find ways to reduce the loss of climate-controlled air from a home. Autumn is the time when most homeowners begin to consider ways to save energy on heating costs while making a home more comfortable. One of the most important ways to keep a home warm and beautiful is with new vinyl replacement windows that are designed to seal out cold air during snowstorms, but there are other simple things that you can do to maintain a home’s temperature. While in the summertime, you might enjoy having lightweight curtains or window blind on windows, in the winter, you can hang heavy draperies instead to help prevent drafts.
Make Heavyweight Window Quilts A great way to have heavy draperies for your home’s windows is by making your own. Thick drapery fabrics are often difficult to find, but you can use quilted fabric instead. An inexpensive way to find quilted fabrics for windows is by shopping in the bed linen aisle at a department store. For a rustic home, use traditional patchwork quilts to make heavyweight pull up blinds or draperies for windows. It is also possible to find plain quilted bedspreads or coverlets that are simple to cut into pieces to make draperies that will block the cold air coming in around windows.
Make Homemade Draft Stoppers to Keep Your Home Warmer If there are drafts coming in around the doors in your home, then add stick on insulation or caulking around crevices. Many homeowners notice that drafts come in underneath exterior or interior doors, and this is another time to make a homemade item to save money while staying warmer. While there are ready-made draft stoppers for doors, these are often expensive and the wrong size. Use a sewing machine to make a draft stopper from thick fabric and polyester filling. First, measure the bottom of the door and add on a few inches to have the correct size of draft stopper. Make a long tube for the draft stopper by stitching the fabric front to front and leaving one narrow side open. Turn the fabric so that the decorative side is visible before filling it tightly with the polyester filling. Stitch the remaining side by hand before placing the draft stopper at the bottom of an interior or exterior door.
