Preparing Your Character Home for Winter

For most people, getting ready for winter is a considered a burden. The days are shorter and bleaker, you feel like you’re sleeping outdoors, and there’s never any good light in which to read, sew, or do anything that requires basic vision. However, what winter does do is encourage you to be more creative with your space, and to see the charm in the less obvious areas of the house. It also encourages you to rejuvenate your home altogether, something that should be done whether the season is changing or not. Here are a few essential ways you can prepare your character home for winter.

winter in-door garden via pixabay.com

Inspect Exterior

The most important part of making your home cold-proof is to inspect and repair its exterior, because this is obviously where the cold originates. For starters, remove any rubble from the roof gutters (dirt, leaves, moss, etc.) so that they remain unclogged,and seal any air leaks that could make ventilation more difficult to achieve. Now is also the time to replace or conceal any peels or faulty layering that might prevent cold air from staying outside. For assistance in these areas, consider contacting a licenced repair service like Roofmasters. This way you will have multiple areas attended to by professional problem solvers.

Refurbish Interior

Now would be a great time to install warm lighting, display a range of new colours around the house, and dust out your fireplace for the coming winter. These tasks will amount to a more welcoming interior for you and your visitors. You’ll also need to properly insulate each room with not just an air-conditioning unit, but some tactful design choices. For example, heavy curtains mounted against the window drafts will insulate a room simply by preventing any cold air from seeping through. This method requires no energy use, so consider investing in some good curtains. You might also want to dedicate a room to dealing with the inevitable perils: wet clothes, muddy boots and cold air. So in your hallway, include a rack for raincoats and a bench for shoes so that no dirt will enter the rest of the house.

Landscape Changes

The last thing you want is a squelchy lawn, or worse still, grass that reaches your knees, so make an effort to mow it down and rake away the leaves before the rain decides to show. Pre-winter is also the best time to do some gardening before it is too murky to even step outside, so pull out any dead plants and create a neat space from the get-go.

Remember that all this effort won’t only make winter easier to endure, it will make your life easier. Times like these should motivate practicality all year round, and by the end of the season, you should be ready to do the same preparation for summer. Repetition is key—doing this once a year isn’t wise; it must be done whenever it is needed—so stick to these basic principles and after a while you’ll be greeting the cold season with open arms, from inside your sufficiently closed house.