Blanket blind

So I've done a bit more thinking about this blinds business for draught-proofing the front door and sought some advice from more experienced friends.

No more Roman blind idea. I'm going to use one of the lovely 100% wool, New Zealand made (some are at least 45 years old and were given to my mother by her grandparents when she went to boarding school) blankets which we have the good fortune to own. I'm going to sew tabs on the top so it can slide on to a piece of dowling and hang over the door. During the day, I'll take the whole thing down and store it. During summer, it won't be necessary to use it.

It will most likely start it's life out very plain. But I'm mindful of an idea from this pub, where they have some beautiful new patchwork covers on the bar stools and a gorgeous kind of quilted blind/curtain on one of the windows. I'd ultimately fancy edging the blanket in sumptuous red and perhaps adding applique in the middle. When in my life I am going to acquire an enthusiasm and skill for making applique, I have no idea, but I love the idea of transforming a found object from our over-cluttered home into an object of functionality and beauty and history.

Roman blinds

Roman blinds, ladies and gentlemen. Am I up to the task of creating a more effective cold and draught block on the front door than the current venetian blind which only covers the glass panes on the door, not the whole door?

Myself? Using instructions like these? I'll need to get something out of the library to stare at for a fortnight at least. We do want an insulation improvement and paying for them to be made is absolutely out of the question financially. Something like the picture below would be very gorgeous except obviously we wouldn't put the couch in front of the door. The wolf ain't knocking that hard yet (I'm not the only one who grew up with a Dad making comments about the wolf being at the door when referring to hard economic times am I?).

I'm planning on having a good look through the remnants bin at our local curtain shop (yes we still have one and by crikey I'll be supporting it rather than go online or mail order). I doubt I'd be able to get a remnant large enough and I need to learn lots more before I'd know whether I could sew several remnants together and still get the blind to hang properly. Our home is not beautifully decorated and nothing has to match particularly. If I see something totally gorgeous in a small piece perhaps I could just use that with plain stuff above and below it. A splash of gorgeous is something I like a great deal. Just doesn't have to align with everything else in my world.

I'm not sure I should even be having such adventurous thoughts. But it does sort of look like if I measure things properly, the actual sewing might be straightforward. I'll ask my tutor at the sewing class on Thursday night. Assuming I remember to sign up for it and pay tomorrow. At least everyone appears to have had chickenpox.

home insulation progress

Blackout lining is on the curtains of all three windows in the lounge. Now we need to finish the last of the ceiling insulation. I'd also like to enclose the front porch and have two doors to get inside at the front, like many houses had in England. Our back entrance has two doors and I find it very effective at minimising draughts.

Insulation

If you want intellect, sophistication, or anything interesting which doesn't read like a rambling version of "Sandra learns how to housekeep" (I do have to face how boring I am getting), then go elsewhere. I have a bad case of boringness and need to read some poetry and go for a walk soon.

But for the moment, insulation. The first year we lived in this house, our first home we have owned, Favourite Handyman installed thick (above minimum requirements) pink batts in the ceiling. I think he's installed ten batts and we only need to purchase 3 more to complete the area above the kitchen and laundry.

My Mum is making blackout lining for the lounge curtains - possibly even as I write. I've paid for the material and I really appreciate her doing the making. Each year she makes some for another room - we already have blackout lined curtains in our bedroom and in Fionn's. They should help stretch our firewood further as they block the heat from floating through our single thickness windows.

I've been trying to work out where a few drafts have been coming from. There is a cold front coming off the window above our bed on windy nights. The blind is not enough (curtains with blackout lining are only on the large window). So I have a curtain of reasonable thickness which Mum made for us for the rental we were in (the coldest draftiest place in the West Coast it seemed at the time). I need to buy some track and hooks and install it. Then I need to scour the Sallies and second hand shops for a headboard for our bed which will move the bed out from the wall a little. Hopefully any remaining draft from the bottom of the curtain will go downwards behind the bed and miss our faces this way.

I put a blanket at the base of the front door last night but that draft didn't completely disappear. More research needed on that one.