Ways to conserve heat and maximise light in your Dandara home
Conserve Heat:
· Use your curtains! If there is any sunlight peering through the day, it’s best to keep your curtains open to allow that warmth to radiate through your home. Once it gets dark however, you should close the curtains - this will act as another barrier and insulate the warmth that came through during the daytime. Make sure there are no gaps so you can guarantee the warm air stays inside – this also helps reduce condensation. Add layers to your windows as this will minimise heat loss.
· Reflect the heat! Radiator panels help by reflecting the heat back into your room. They are usually quite cheap and easy to install. This way it ensures that the heat from your radiators warms up your room and not your walls.
· Close doors and vents in unused rooms. Any heat that’s been generated from either natural sunlight or heaters will remain inside each room, if you remember to make the small effort of closing doors or any vents. That way the heat is trapped inside, and you won’t be wasting valuable energy, and will prevent you from paying to heat uninhabited space.
· After using your oven, leave the door open. This is a smart way to heat your kitchen and any adjacent room, especially if you’re already using your oven, then there’s no sense of letting that heat go to waste. After you’re finished cooking, leave the oven door slightly open to allow your kitchen to be filled with amazing smelling food and warmth.
Maximise Light:
· Go for a brighter interior wall colour. This adds more light into your house and will reflect natural light back into your room. Opt for bright shades of grey, blue, to maximise that lightening effect. If it’s warmth you’re after, use light shades of terracotta or yellow paint colours. A sunny hue can brighten and warm a dark, and dingy space. Paint the ceiling white, this will help make the room feel taller.
· Use glass mirrors on the walls. It will help with reflecting light and allow it to bounce around your room. You can also mimic this with any polished surface that will reflect light. You can even decorate during this time of year with light furniture to really enhance the brightness in your room. Simply place a mirror opposite or beside a window; no matter how gloomy the sky is outside, it will harness any available daylight. The bigger the mirror, the brighter and larger the space will feel.
· Use soft or warm white lights in your home. There is a significant difference between cold white and warm white, so a simple swap may add new brightness to your area. The simplest method to accomplish this is to test one of each type of bulb in a room at various times of day. SAD lamps, also known as sun lamps or light boxes. These work by imitating sunlight. People need sunlight for many reasons. It affects the body’s natural daily cycles called circadian rhythms. These effect how people feel and when they go to sleep and wake up.
· Avoid heavy clunky furniture or clutter, as this will make your room feel smaller, darker, and heavier than it really is. Paint your accessories such as skirting boards using a light reflective colour to bring out a contrast from the colour of the walls and reflect any light around your room. You could even add foliage around your room as plants and nature make your room feel livelier and lighter.