My 9 month old's bedroom is the front room of our house. From the outside, it sticks out the most-- 3 walls are brick outside, so she has only one wall that is shared from the interior (make sense?). And there are 4 different types of windows on the wall that faces the street--one big center one, 2 skinnier long ones on either side and the arched one above the big center one. the room faces the northwest...so in the summer it's really hot and now it's really cold and we haven't even gotten into the colder weather. Currently on the window we have the bigger blinds and curtains lined with window darkening liners (that didn't work). I don't know what else to do to make it warmer for her. We've turned the switch on the fan to make the colder air rise. I do not want to put a space heater in her room. I have bought her several warm, fleece typer sleepers but i don't think they are warm enough. Does anyone know of something that I can put on the windows? I don't want it to show on the outside since everyone that drives by can see it. I don't care what it looks like on the inside, as long as it helps make her room warmer. Any ideas?
thanks!
J.
I have the same problem or Had the same problem... what i got were hunter blinds, there may be other brands... they let the sun in but you cant see threw them for saftey. That is the best thing other than a heater that i know. How are you a stay at home mom and work? L.
We are in a situation that is very similar to J.'s, except that we live in an apt that we can't make any changes to. I have been sleeping in the living room with our 2 1/2 year old for the past year, because his room is too stuffy and hot, and my bedroom is too cold, no matter what! We are trying to get our money saved to get into a house come spring, but it will also depend on whether or not I get disability, because I'm not able to work full-time due to varying health issues.
J., I completely understand what you're feeling!! Is your bedroom any warmer than the baby's? I would consider moving her crib into your room, or possibly into her sibling's room, and turn her bedroom into the kids' playroom.
~J.~
How about solar screens. Not sure if it will help, but you may check on it. I have the same problem with one of our bedrooms. We bundle our daughter.
my daughter has a heated mattress cover on her bed and it stays warm, you can get them at any dept store, I think i got her at Kohl's. Of course my daughter has a full size bed, so I don't know if they make them for cribs or toddler beds, but its worth a shot to see! Just my suggestion.
B.
I saw that at Walmart they sell (in the blind dept) a shutter. It's kind of like a roll up liner that reminds me of the maps we had in elem school or even now the projector liners. They sell them in like a beige color. THis is all I can think of. We bought a Homel space heater for our son's room becuase like your house his room just gets cold. the heater is a cylinder so it sends out heat all around. I also remember leaving the doors open at night so the warm central air could circulate to his room. I hope this helps.
I would buy one of those heater fans. My sister has one for her travel trailer and it works great.
I remember when my mother in law lived in her other house many years ago, there was some type of plastic that every winter they applied to the windows and then used a hair dryer to get that tight shrink wrapped effect. It peeled right off when the cold season was done. She said it really helped keep the house warmer because it kept any heat from escaping through the windows. If that sounds interesting you might could try Home Depot or Lowe's, I'm sure they would carry it.
For the arch windows in my house, I used a curtain rod from Home Depot that is flexible. You put the curtain on the rod and then bend it into the hooks inside the arched window. You can get fancy and create your own curtain (I did, one white side one colored side) or you can just purchase a regular curtain. Once installed, any excess curtain can be bunched up and tied with a rubber band or it can hang loose.
For my daughter's window, I bought some extra material that matcher her bedding, sound proofing material, and blackout material and sewed it all together. The curtain is very thick and does block out a lot of the cold.
So those are the fancy options. Now the quicker and really not fancy ideas: For the arched window...by the plain accordian paper at Home Depot that you can cut to length for the window. It's like $5 per window. That's for the outside appearance. Then stuff throw pillows on the inside for insulation. They can also be removed during the day to let the sun/heat in. For the bigger windows, cover them with old thick heavy blankets. You can drape them over a curtain rod, or if you don't care about the walls, you can thumb tack them in place temporarily.
We have a rent house and I guess the back patio door is not well insulated. It never bothered us when we lived there, but our last renter said she always felt cold in that back room during the winter so she just thumbtacked a thick quilt over the sliding glass door to keep the cold out. She said it worked well.
I know you said you don't want to use a space heater, but have you thought about one of those heater fans? When we used to live in an old rent house and our washer was in the garage, we used a small heater fan to keep the pipes warm so they wouldn't freeze when the temp got real low. We chose the little table top heater fan over a space heater because we figured it would be safer.
And I second the fleece footy pajamas. Those are nice and toasty. :-)
Have you ever thought of a humidifier? I use one for my son's room (which has the same problems as yours) for his excema (to keep his skin moist). I find that in the morning the room is warmer with it on. Just a thought.
The fleece/blanket sleepers or PJs are pretty toasty. We used those in the winter when ours were little because neither child will keep a blanket on. Of course their little hands and faces would be cold, but the rest of their body is warm.
As far as your windows and coverings...an expensive fix might be to look into replacing the windows with ones that offer some insulation. Also, there are cellular blinds that are supposed to help insulate windows. Check them out at Home Depot or Lowe's. They're made of fabric and look like a honeycomb from the ends.
Also, check your A/C duct work. You might be able to add an extension and a new A/C vent/output in the ceiling of her room.
Our bedroom is actually the one that is coldest or warmest and when we had an A/C guy come out for a minor repair, we asked him about temperature control in our room and the extra vent/duct extension is what he suggested. We have a rather large room (17 x 15 maybe), but there's only one A/C outlet in the ceiling.
