7 Ways to Keep Your Bedroom Extra Warm and Cozy This Winter
There’s nothing worse than hearing that early morning alarm and just not feeling like getting out of the cozy covers into a chilly bedroom. Most bosses aren’t feeling the “my bedroom was too cold so I slept in” excuse, so it’s time to remedy this situation. Having a toasty bedroom can be a balance — it’s hard to fall asleep if it’s too warm, and the Sleep Foundation recommends that for a good night’s sleep the ideal temperature is 60-67 degrees. But nobody wants to wake up to a freezing bedroom, either.
If you’re struggling to keep your sleeping area toasty this winter, check out these remedies to make sure you actually feel like getting out of bed in the morning.
Set your thermostat with a timer.
Maybe you can have the best of both worlds — a cool bedroom for falling asleep and cozy one for waking up. By setting your thermostat to raise the temperature in the early morning hours, your bedroom will warm up enough that you can change out of pajamas without freezing. According to Marla Mock, VP of Operations at Aire Serv, you may consider an inspection of your thermostat to ensure it’s reading the bedroom temperature accurately as well.
Even more accurate? Additional temperature sensors, which will ensure your thermostat isn’t just taking the temperature of the zone where it’s located. The Nest thermostat, for example, can be supplemented with temperature sensors that you can place in rooms that are farther away from the thermostat — such as your bedroom.
Clear the way for your vents or radiators to work.
Do you even know where your vents or radiators are? If not, there’s a good chance they’re hiding under big furniture, causing your bedroom to be colder than other rooms.
It seems counter-intuitive, but placing your bed right over a vent or heater actually won’t make your room any warmer, since the air needs to circulate.
Another culprit of less-than-effective vents: dirt and dust. “If homeowners don’t clean vents in bedrooms as frequently as they clean their kitchen or dining room vents, it can lead to dirt buildup — thus not allowing the warm air to reach the room as it normally would,” Mock says.
Change your HVAC filter if you have one.
If you have forced-air heating, one of the cheapest and most effective ways to warm up your bedroom is to check — and change — the filter on your HVAC system, according to Mark Dawson, COO of One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning.
“A dirty or clogged filter makes your HVAC system work harder and less efficiently,” but luckily he calls this a simple and low-budget fix. Change your filters monthly, and in between those times you can vacuum off the surface of a filter for an immediate fix. “It’s a quick and cheap step that can help stretch the life of your filter a few more days.”
If your home’s on a boiler system, you’re in luck: There are no filters to change, though you should still make sure that any radiators are cleared of debris.
Pay attention to the floor.
The first thing your feet hit when you wake up in the morning should be something luxurious, warm, and cozy. If you don’t have carpeting, this could mean investing in heated flooring. Kevin Busch, VP of Operations at Mr. Handyman, says that radiant heat sources underneath the flooring have “become more popular in recent years.”
These days, “it’s easier to install, distributes the heat evenly throughout the floor surface, and reaches the desired temperature in 30-60 seconds,” he says.
This is a big project, though, so if this option isn’t doable for you, simply add or replace your rug. Mock calls these “blankets for your floor,” explaining that throw rugs act like insulation in the colder months. The more of your floor you can cover up with rugs, the better. Don’t forget to use a rug pad underneath, which increases the thickness and softness of any area rug you use.
Use the sun to your advantage.
Are you keeping your room all bundled up, even throughout the day when you are gone? That could be making your bedroom colder. The fix: Open those curtains. Dawson calls the sun a free heater, even in winter.
“When it’s shining on your bedroom, open the curtains and blinds on your room’s sun-facing windows to let those warming rays right into the room. Remember to close them again after sundown, though, to preserve that extra layer of insulation,” he says.
If you have thin curtains that don’t sound like they should even be in the same sentence as insulation, switch to thermal ones instead. Mock calls them a simple and budget-friendly option for sealing in warmth at night.
Reverse your fans.
Warm air rises, right? So push it back down. Busch says that the “ultimate budget-friendly hack” is reversing your fans, pushing warm air down to the actual living space in your bedroom. “This will supplement all other efforts to insulate and warm your room,” he says. Usually, this just requires flipping a small switch on the fan, but can be a bit more in-depth in some situations.
Check out your windows.
If you are lucky enough to have big beautiful windows streaming light into your room at sunrise, consider what else might be leaking into your room. If your windows aren’t properly insulated, or don’t have solid weather stripping preventing cold air from coming in, you can solve this. Brad Roberson, President of Glass Doctor, says that applying foam tape along areas that have a draft, then insulating them with a window film will warm up the room. If you want a more permanent fix, you can also consider double-pane glass instead of single-pane in your windows.
“The glass in insulated windows is double-pane glass, also known as insulated units (IGUs). Insulated units are typically made of two pieces of glass with an air space in between,” he says. “This space creates a better level of insulation, resulting in a better-insulated home. Single-pane units do not have that insulation.”