OK, so it is summer. The sun is shining (some of the time), you are wearing your flip flops as a matter of course, and you are looking forward to your summer holiday or the upcoming festival season. Your social life consists of long, late evenings and barbecues, and you can’t remember what it is like to be cold. This does not, then, perhaps, feel like the right time to be thinking about winter. However, to use the Game of Thrones catchphrase, ‘winter is coming’. Winter is always coming, except when it is here, and from an interior design perspective, if you are doing any renovations or changes right now, you have to factor in what things will look and work like when the colder weather sets in. Here, we take a look at some great ways to get your home prepared for winter, even if it is the last thing on your mind!
Get a Great Fireplace
Like most people, you probably love the idea of cosying up in front of a real fire. However, for most rooms and homes, a real wood fire just isn’t practical. It requires a lot of cleaning and maintenance, it needs a chimney to be installed, and it needs you to be out chopping wood and carrying logs around in the middle of winter. While there are some other great options like underfloor heating that can keep your home nice and warm, they just don’t give you that appealing flickering glow that the flames of a real fire do, so what can you do? Well, bioethanol fireplaces have become all the rage in interior design circles lately, because they offer the same effect as a real wood fire but with none of the smoke or mess.
A bioethanol fire can be installed almost anywhere, as it runs cleanly off of an alcohol spirit rather than a solid fuel like coal or wood. It is clean to burn, and safe for the environment too, as it gives off no polluting smoke and the fuel itself is replensishable. If you want to see the kind of great aesthetic styles that are available when it comes to these kinds of fires, too, click here and take a look at some fashionable, modernist style open flame fires that run on bioethanol. It really is a great heating solution to consider if you are decorating right now.
Curtains and Rugs
When you are decorating it is worth taking the time to think about how your curtains and rugs will help keep your home warm in winter. Even with double glazing, thick, lined curtains will help keep the heat in and the cold out, and in summer they can also be good for keeping the same room cool. Another benefit to lined curtains over the more floaty, thin style you may be drawn to in summer is that they keep out light and noise better, so if you are looking at something for your bedroom then they may well help you get a better night’s sleep.
Rugs can also be very nice in winter, especially if you have wooden or tiled floors that can be cold on your feet when the temperatures are low. Rugs have a lot of benefits in interior design terms, as they can be used to separate areas in an open plan room or area, and can also add some colour or flair in an otherwise plain room. If you have a minimalist style design, a rug in a plain block colour can add warmth while looking cool, otherwise if you have a more cosy, homely design aesthetic then a traditional looking patterned rug in an oriental or otherwise decorative style can look nice. Furry rugs next to the bed can feel great when you step onto them on a cold morning before you have a chance to get socks and slippers on, so also consider this if you are planning ahead for winter.
It is always worth considering designs that will work well all year round rather than focussing on the current season when you redecorate, so if you are doing work on your home now, don’t forget that winter is coming!
