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We love welcoming new seasons but a change of weather also brings with it newer challenges and difficulties. Particularly, winter. If you live in North America or Canada, or any place where the winters freeze everything around you, it becomes even more important to remain on top of the fast changing scenario.
Good maintenance and preparing well for the new season not only ensures a smoother transition but also a safer one. It need not be a grind though, as we will find out in this post.
In this post we look at ways to make your house cozier and warmer while also beautifying it in the process. Remember – warm, cozy, safe, and pretty is the mantra here. So let's get started.
What can beat the charm of a traditional wooden fireplace warming your hearth as you return home after braving a snowy commute? Nothing.
But here's the problem. However romantic or charming it may be, unfortunately a traditional fireplace also leads to fumes that are not good for you.
A vent-free gas fireplace burns clean and is usually put up in rooms big enough for fresh air circulation not to be a problem. If you've got a big living room (the size should comply with the guidelines for vent-free fireplaces), you certainly must consider getting a gas fireplace on board. It at once lends a cozy charm to your living space while also warming it up as the mercury dips. As close as you can get to a traditional fireplace minus the pollution.
For those who don't want to switch to anything modern, a fireplace surround can beautify your conventional fireplace.
Christmas is over but festivity is still in the air. And what better than white, red, and green – the colors of festivity, to keep it alive?
As you switch to winter hangings and upholstery to and the accompanying winter chill, include more of these colors in your décor. Think heavy red curtains, white rugs, green faux plants in wicker baskets. The holiday season won't last for long but you can continue reveling in the festive cheer for however long you want.
If you have big rooms or no doors between rooms, turn to thick drapes as partitions between rooms to keep away the chill big rooms and infuse a dose of warmth instead, literally and figuratively. Asian designs and prints are going to be huge in the coming year, so if you want to be on trend, check out drapes with Japanese or Persian designs for an exotic touch.
If your windows don't have shutters or blinds, what better time than a snowy season to rectify that?
Window shutters are at once reminiscent of , which makes it an even better idea to be considered for winters, except that they will serve a completely different purpose in this season. They will add an extra layer of protection against the wind chill, along with the window panes and heavy drapes, so you will have a considerably lesser draft to contend with. Not many homes in the northern part of the US and Canada have window shutters, so go ahead, try something different and be a trend-setter!
For even better protection from air seepage, airtight your windows with tension seal and weather-stripping. If you live in a state that gets battered by snow storms every January, you might want to consider putting up storm windows on top of your regular windows to keep the gale-force winds from damaging the glass. Bear in mind though that this installation is of the permanent kind and you'll have to uninstall it to be able to open your windows. You can leave them on for the entire duration of the winter regardless. Take them off when the sun makes a reappearance for good and store them in the shed till when they'll be needed again.
Lighting is a big part of appealing décor; it's evocative, romantic, and can even bring a touch of glow to your place.
Decorative candles are an extremely popular option to enliven home décor, especially in the bathrooms. But while candles are beautiful, particularly of the fragrant variety, they are also one of the major causes of fire during festivities. After all the heart and energy that you put into preparing a lovely interior you don't want any of it to be damage by a strongly flickering flame, do you?
For this reason we are of the mind that candles are best avoided at any time of the year. Instead get your light fix (no pun!) from quirky lampshades. Safe to use and a visual delight!
The exterior of a house says everything about its owner. A well-maintained home shows you care, lengthens its life, and . An unkempt one not only affects the price negatively, but is also an open invitation to thieves to try their luck with you.
So for your own sake, smarten up and put in the required effort, regardless of how lazy you feel on Saturday afternoons. Clear the gutters, the lawn, the porch, the backyard, basically all the exterior spaces of leaves, twigs, and other debris accumulated over fall. This will prevent water logging (brought on by melted snow) and god forbid, even ice dams. Tune up your lawn equipment. As important as weather-stripping your windows is to seal all the open cracks around the exterior walls of your house so that rodents aren't able to sneak in and make merry at your expense.
