Brrrr....Winter!

Winter is here and this house is freezing! I'm not talking a light-cardigan-across-the-shoulders temperature, I'm talking arctic, balls off a brass monkey situation.

It's been ridiculously cold in Brisbane lately anyway, but the fact that the house is sooo high, has only one layer of insulation, no floor coverings, limited window furnishings and NO heating means this house and everyone in it FREEZES!

Duh, I hear you say, why don't you just buy one of those cheap little heaters. Well, here's the thing. Electricity is really expensive in Queensland and I really want to try and be more environmental. So rather than just run the heater constantly, I am trying to do things in a more environmentally conscious manner.

Starting with downstairs. There is nothing but an open space underneath the house and you can literally feel the cold air coming up from under the floorboards in the downstairs space and in turn on the upper floor.

Josh has all his music equipment stored in the downstairs area on a small rug and the space is so, so cold. It's 3.5m X 4.4m and I looked at rugs to provide a buffer from the draught coming from under the floor, but for that size we were looking at $500+. Not ideal.

I was looking on Gumtree (yep, I've turned into one of THOSE people) and there was a carpet wholesaler moving to smaller premises so they were getting rid of all their stock, some for as low as $5/metre. I picked up this 4.0m X 4.0m remanent for $50. It's made from wool, in charcoal with a modern square embossing. It's a bit short on one end but that's OK. It's only temporary.

I think it's a *bit*warmer. It certainly hasn't made the place 10 degrees warmer, but every little bit helps I say.

It's school holidays too and the house has been full of teenage boys for the past 4 days :-/.  I've decided that this downstairs area will become a teenagers retreat. We can still fit a lounge (that can maybe convert to a bed) and cheap TV and I can throw them down there with all their noise and smell :-). Magic.