Sometimes there’s nothing cosier than curling up under a thick duvet in a cold room.
Conversely, there are few things harder to do than extract yourself from the duvet and brave frozen floors and chilly bedrooms first thing in the morning.
So, to help you avoid this unpleasant moment, we’ve put together some tips on how to keep your bedroom warm in winter.
How to Keep Your Bedroom Warm in Winter
Turning up the heat can be expensive. Luckily, turning up the thermostat isn’t the only solution to a cold bedroom. Here are some more affordable tips for how to keep your bedroom warm in winter.
Draw Your Curtains
Drawing curtains is one of those curious English phrases with a dual meaning. When it comes to how to keep a bedroom warm in winter, both are relevant.
One of the best ways to inexpensively add extra warmth to a wintery bedroom is by drawing the curtains in the morning to let the sun in. This can be especially helpful in old houses with single glazing.
However, you must remember to trap that sunlight before the day ends. Otherwise, it will escape the way it came in – out the window. To stop that happening, draw the curtains again once the sun sets.
You can add another layer of protection by getting a set of thermal or blackout curtains.
Clear Your Radiators and Vents
Another quick and easy solution to how to keep your bedroom warm in winter in winter is to make sure nothing is blocking your radiators or vents.
Sometimes, especially if space is at a premium, we unthinkingly put furniture directly in front of a radiator or vent. The trouble with this is that now when you switch your heating on, there’s only one place for that hot air to go, and it’s not into your arctic-temperature bedroom.
Instead, the unsuspecting furniture absorbs the heat, leaving you freezing. Pulling your furniture away from radiators and floor vents allows more heat to travel into the room and take the chill out of your early mornings.
Furniture isn’t the only culprit when it comes to heat guzzling. Long curtains that cover radiators are equally likely to soak up the heat. A good rule of thumb is to check the level of the window sill and ensure your curtains never fall past it.
That way, the heat is free to rise into your bedroom and warm it up.
Add Rugs for Warmth
Wooden floors and even well-done linoleums can have a certain appeal when left undecorated. But if you are looking for solutions to the problem of how to keep your bedroom warm in winter in winter, laying a few rugs over those floorboards might be the answer.
That’s because floors are one of the few parts of the house with no natural insulation. Couple this with the fact that hot air rises and all that warm air winds up floating around your ceiling, leaving the floors icy.
Rugs help trap some of that heat, the same way placing a sofa in front of your radiator traps heat.
So, if you are wondering how to keep your bedroom warm in winter, and save your feet from the discomfort of a cold start to the day, don’t hesitate to get out the rugs.
Use Thicker Blankets
When it comes to how to keep your bedroom warm in winter in winter, this tip is an old but good one. There’s a long tradition of layering quilts over top of each other to trap warm air in the bed.
Some say this goes back to Medieval times when people also huddled together under all those blankets to conserve heat. But it’s not purely a Medieval concept. Quilters dedicated lifetimes to quilting so that when the young women married would have enough quilts to keep their nascent family warm.
We still love a quilt for summer. But these days they aren’t your only option. When the weather turns cold, and you start wondering how to keep your bedroom warm in winter, it’s time to get out the duvets. Pay attention to the tog count; the higher the tog level, the warmer you will be.
Heat a Hot Water Bottle
When tackling the problem of how to keep your bedroom warm in winter, a hot water bottle is our go-to solution.
They’re easy to make up, and you don’t have to touch the thermostat. We favour the old, rubber hot water bottle with an insulated cover, but these days you have options. In addition to rubber hot water bottles, you can now find:
- Electric, explosion-proof hot water bottles
- Heating pads
- Electric blankets
- Wheat sacks
- Silicon hot water bottles
All these operate the same way a hot water bottle does and keep you warm in bed.
Whatever you opt for, remember that hot water bottle placement is essential. Many people naturally place the hot water bottle on their stomach or down by cold feet.
But the most effective place for a hot water bottle is neither of these. We spent years winter camping, and our expert advice is that to get as much warm blood circulating as fast as possible, you need to put that hot water bottle up against your thigh. There’s a major artery there, and it will soon have not just your feet but your whole body warm and cosy.
And if you’re more modern and opt for a microwavable wheat sack, don’t forget to stick a cup of water in there with it while you’re microwaving it. It keeps the wheat from drying out and ensures you won’t have to extinguish any spontaneous microwave fires.
Install a Space Heater
Another fast and easy way to approach the question of how to keep your bedroom warm in winter is to use a space heater.
This can be an ideal solution for attic bedrooms with poor insulation since they sometimes struggle to retain heat.
Plug the heater in an hour or two before bed and let it warm up the room. Just ensure you remember to switch it off before climbing into bed. Otherwise, you’ll have no way of knowing if the unit overheats, short-circuits, or otherwise puts you and your family at risk.
Stop Up Draughts
Never underestimate how pervasive even small openings for draughts can be.
If you’re wondering how to keep your room warm in winter, one of the best ways to start is by stopping up any cracks or holes where cold air can seep into the room.
There are many ways to do this, including using tea towels or old towels, but a great fix is adhesive bubble wrap. It still lets the sun in during the day, but it moulds to the shape of the hole, effectively insulating against the draught.
Wear Extra Layers
This is another old scouting tip for how to keep your bedroom warm in winter. Admittedly, piling on extra layers won’t warm the room up much, but it will keep you warm while sleeping.
Hats and socks are an excellent way to stop extra body heat from escaping into the chilly night air. Likewise, a pair of leggings under your pyjamas gives you an extra layer of insulation from the cold.
Install Floating Shelves
Finally, if you still need a way to keep your bedroom warm in winter and nothing else works, try installing shelves over your radiators or heating vents.
Earlier, we talked about ensuring you kept your furniture well away from these, so this may seem a bit contradictory. But whereas a sofa directly over a vent soaks up all the rising hot air, a floating shelf works differently.
Instead of absorbing the hot air, it works more like a false ceiling. It stops the heat rising into the corners of your actual ceiling, where it’s no use to you. Instead, it traps it between the vent and your floors, ensuring your bedroom stays warm in winter.
That’s not to say shelves placed proximate to vents and radiators won’t absorb any heat. If you plan to use them, avoid things that might suffer heat damage, like candles.
The Bottom Line
When it comes to how to keep your bedroom warm in winter, it can be as easy as drawing the curtains at the appropriate time of day or installing a space heater.
However, depending on the age and condition of the house, you may need to get a bit more involved.
Whatever precautions you take to keep your bedroom warm in winter, don’t forget to be safe. Unplug your space heaters before sleeping, keep them well away from carpets, and avoid using fully boiled water in a hot water bottle.
Be safe, be creative, and keep warm.
