window covers

[Emerald]

I like all these ideas. We have lots of doorways with no doors in our house and I think I will make some heavy curtains for those this winter. I would like to keep the heat from the woodstove in one room, when that is the only place we hang out. I am thinking of using velet, vevetee or cordoroy. I will have to find it on the cheap though, hopefully at the goodwill outlet!

My mother got many rolls of upholstery fabric for free and I picked one this summer to make better curtains for my stairs and for the kitchen doorway. We don't heat the upstairs in the winter and it sure cut our heating bill in half.. plus we close the kitchen off(it was the back porch at one time and it is just an enclosed room on a cement slab! so cold in the winter) We only open it when I am baking or cooking and have the oven going. Or on cold nights if it will drop below zero(F) cuz then the pipes freeze. If it drops too low we hang a light bulb under the sink! Keeps the water flowing. lol

Oh my rambling brain tonight! I didn't' even say what kind of fabric I ended up with.. a beautiful dark maroon velvet! I may do drapes for the living room to match the stairway. Then all my blue drapes can go on the big windows and my glass doors(looks like sliders but opens like normal).. I think I need more privacy.

 

[valmom]

I would love to be able to justify spending the money on a nice velvet or tapestry upholstery fabric- they are so luxurious. I have wistfully priced them. I don't think they ever go on clearance. I stick with clearance polar fleece- good deals on that this past summer when they were clearing out last winter's prints for this winter's new ones.

 

[VickiLynn]

I get mylar emergency blankets (about $3 in the camping department) and sandwich it between 2 layers of fleece or fabric cut from an old (or new) blanket to hang over windows. It really helps to keep the heat in. I even sewed one to fit over our through-the-wall air conditioner.

 

[Beekissed]

I just convinced the Ol' Bat to invest in thermal Roman shades to block out sun in the summer time~her biggest problem~ and keep heat in in the winter. We priced the heavy linen material and liner materials, the accessories to make them and it all came to more than actually buying them at Lowe's~way more. We are buying two shades per month until all windows are covered. They look great and they really, really do the job well. She was surprised and pleased!

We also bought some bead trim on sale and dressed them up a little...it made all the difference.

 

[Britesea]

I like all these ideas. We have lots of doorways with no doors in our house and I think I will make some heavy curtains for those this winter. I would like to keep the heat from the woodstove in one room, when that is the only place we hang out. I am thinking of using velet, vevetee or cordoroy. I will have to find it on the cheap though, hopefully at the goodwill outlet!

That is what I'm doing, but I am using an embroidery style called "Swedish Weaving" to make it purtier. Here is one of the door hangings.

I have one more to do, and then a couple of matching valances for the windows. I'm planning on making some of the Roman shades like I saw on the forum a while back for the windows themselves. I also might make some indoor storm windows (saw the project on Mother Earth News). With all that, I think we'll be toasty warm this winter!

 

[hqueen13]

We had to do something about the windows here in the trailer we live in that leaks like a sieve. My mom saw an ad for Anna's Linens, and they had a really good price for thermal panels. We ended up buying 14 panels, and I cut some in half and sewed them to other panels to cover the wider windows, and they work GREAT.
They still have them, though the sale isn't quite as good (I think we picked them up for $9.99/panel last year), but they're worth it.
This is what we have: http://www.annaslinens.com/product/...anel.html?utm_source=gcs&utm_term=10084-47326

 

[Emerald]

In the summer I have two windows that the sun just cooks us as it shines in and I bought the survival blankest and hang them on the little spring rods in those windows and it does keep the heat out very nicely. I will have to buy more tho as we had to remove some bushes and now two more windows will be in full sunshine in the afternoons.

 

[~gd]

Not trying to change the Subject but a few years back I bought some magnetic roller shades evidently there was metal in the shades. and they came with a flexible magnetic tape that you placed on both sides and the bottom of the window case. When you pulled the shade down it clung to the magnetic strips and gave a very tight seal. I would love to have them for this house but haven't been able to find them. If anyone has a source sing out on this thread.~gd

 

[Marianne]

And while you're buttoning up the place, don't forget to cover the attic opening and whole house fan vents.

Cut your square to the size you need (a bit bigger than the opening), attach one side of some velcro to the material, glue the other side of the velcro to the trim around the opening and place your 'cover'. Then you can take it off when you need to, fold it up to store, or easily put it back over the opening.

We have Pella double hung windows in this house, but they're still drafty when the wind blows. The little 'cavity' where the window channel and window slide against each other is the culprit. I took small pieces of that foam pipe insulation and poked it in the opening at the top of the window. There's enough to grab to remove it, but the window still slides up with no problem if I forget it. I just slide the insulation back down after I close the window.

~gd, I know what you're talking about. Last year I found roman shades that had magnetic strips, horrendously priced for my windows, like $90+ each. I don't remember seeing roller shades, though. I hope someone comes up with a source.

 

[~gd]

And while you're buttoning up the place, don't forget to cover the attic opening and whole house fan vents.

Cut your square to the size you need (a bit bigger than the opening), attach one side of some velcro to the material, glue the other side of the velcro to the trim around the opening and place your 'cover'. Then you can take it off when you need to, fold it up to store, or easily put it back over the opening.

We have Pella double hung windows in this house, but they're still drafty when the wind blows. The little 'cavity' where the window channel and window slide against each other is the culprit. I took small pieces of that foam pipe insulation and poked it in the opening at the top of the window. There's enough to grab to remove it, but the window still slides up with no problem if I forget it. I just slide the insulation back down after I close the window.

~gd, I know what you're talking about. Last year I found roman shades that had magnetic strips, horrendously priced for my windows, like $90+ each. I don't remember seeing roller shades, though. I hope someone comes up with a source.

Well I am a man and don't even know what a roman shade is. If forced to guess I would say the slats that hang perpendicular to the ground? The thing I am talking about looks just like a regular roller shade with magnetic tape attached to the jams and sill.
I wondered where the draft was coming from the halll of this house, never thought of the attic opening, in my old place it was in a walk in closet [truly a bad idea.] this has a hatch cover, something needs doing, weather striping the hatch will be my first attempt. I wish I had a whole house fan but they aren't used much here since it doesn't cool enough at night to be confortable, everbody has the kilowatt chewing central air conditioning. `gd