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Post by mellowyellow on Dec 12, 2009 12:06:50 GMT -5
I have tried to wrap my mind around this... My bedroom is always messy. Sometimes yucky with wrappers and newspapers on the floor and bed. Sometimes just cluttered with piles of clothes everywhere. But always messy.
Even when it is neat and clean, there is still a mountain of clean, folded clothing on the loveseat.
This is the only larger room in the house, except for the new basement family room. The problem is that it is almost totally uninsulated and I live in wintery Canada. It is over the garage and the cold air from below freezes the floor. Above, there is only the roof.. and the heat goes up and out.
The two closets are ice boxes because they are right under the roof. I don't like to use them for daily clothing because everytime you open the door, a blast of cold comes out. In the summer it's reversed, and it's hot air coming into the air conditioned room. So I just pile one closet to the brim with clothes and linen and stuff I don't use. And the other closet is quite organized, but I never ever use the stuff in it.
This bedroom is always much colder than the rest of the house. And in the summer, much hotter. I sometimes think that I pile the stuff to keep warm. Partly a mental protection from the world, partly a physical protection from the elements.
Sounds wacky eh?
If I could think of an inexpensive way to solve this, I would. And somehow if I could reclaim my closets, I think that would solve a lot of problems.
I have a very large window in the bedroom. I am wondering if putting that temporary plastic wrap would help a little, a lot, enough? My goal is to get new windows in the next year, but in the meantime, I want a comfortable living space that does not rely on heaters.
And deep down, I am afraid that if I remove the piles of clothing, I won't have that barrier to keep some of the cold out. Is that strange?
ETA: I live in a one storey, solid brick house but the part where the bedroom is, is actually ten steps or so up, above the garage... so it is covered with vinyl siding. The window is North facing, so there is not a lot of sunshine, and there is no sun warming that wall at all.
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toni
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Posts: 73
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Post by toni on Dec 12, 2009 12:57:22 GMT -5
Do you have a trash can in there? That might help with the wrappers and stuff.
Also, how about putting a portable clothing rack in your bedroom? You could put the clothes that you wear on a regular basis there, thus avoiding the closet, only going in when you need to switch out clothes.
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Post by mellowyellow on Dec 12, 2009 13:03:52 GMT -5
yes, the trash can has been a big improvement on things... definitely i can say there is no garbage.. but it's usually recyclable things like paperwrappers or newspaper type stuff that don't go in regular garbage
As for closet use.. I actually use the closet in a different bedroom. It's on the main floor of the house, beside the bathroom. So it's accessible, but seriously, I should not have to do that. If I could think of a simple way to insulate the closets I would do so. I have even wondered if it would help to lay that thick pink insulation stuff along the wall and staple it?? Hmmm How "make do" instead of "do it right", eh? Or could I do something simple to the ceiling of my garage? It is concrete but maybe I could attach something there?
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Post by DJ on Dec 12, 2009 14:45:11 GMT -5
when i was growing up the bedrooms were uninsulated.. 100 year old house.. drafty and cold.. we closed them off during winter, wasn't worth heating a room we only slept in.. lots and lots of blankets and sleeping there was alright... i get where you're coming from with the hating the blast furnace of heat or icebox radiating cold at you... putting blankets over windows works for me.. i still do that in rooms during winter sometimes.. heavy heavy drapes help block cold from the window.. hanging heavy drapes over the walls as well can help... i don't see why doing winterizing window tricks to exterior walls wouldn't help as insulation there was well.. in our bedroom.. since our heating system in this current place also sucks.. we put a space heater on a timer. you can also get timers with remote controls. and it's set to turn on the heat briefly before we go to bed and before we've set the alarm to wake up so the time we're awake in there is more pleasant...
if traditional isn't working for you maybe you just need to do something different.. put seasonal and infrequently used items in the closet... get an inexpensive hanging wardrobe pole to hang your clothing on, heck, even your linens directly in the bedroom.. you aren't living with anyone else so it won't bug them, you might as well use your home how it works best for you... it might be odd to have what looks like a retail rack of clothing in your bedroom but it'd free up your couch and make the room less messy looking... dunno just throwing it out there.. you don't have to arrange how other people arrange their homes though, something different just might work better for you.
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Post by razy on Dec 12, 2009 15:41:44 GMT -5
I 'double glazed' windows with light plastic wrap and double sided sticky tape and it worked very well and stopped heaps of condensation. Could you insulate your bedroom floor via the garage ceiling with polystyrene or fibre glass or wool material. And maybe you could do the ceiling of the closets. Have you tried googling DIY insulation? There is lots of options.
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Post by cosmic1 on Dec 12, 2009 15:55:29 GMT -5
mellowyellow, I hear you on the lack of insulation. Is there any reason you couldn't make the basement family room your bedroom? Then, you could make your bedroom the family room?
Or, you could keep the room as your bedroom and turn one of the other bedrooms into a walk in closet with portable racks and such.
I think the insulating plastic could help, as well as DJ's suggestion to hang blankets or heavy drapes to help block out the cold.
My pantry is like your closets. It's half of the original porch and is basically as cold as the outside. There's actually a cold breeze that gets generated when the temps go down. It also has a louvred door, believe it or not! So, in the winter, I have to tape garbage bags to the inside of it to block out the cold air, which pours into the kitchen. That helps somewhat.
I hope this helps. I know what you mean - my whole house stays very cold in the winter due to no insulation, 12 foot ceilings and radiator heat. In the winter, it's always very cold in here depending on the outside temps. If it is in the single digits, the temperature hovers between 58 and 62 in here.
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2009 16:20:31 GMT -5
I don't use my closets because it's hard to reach anything in there, the way they are designed.
I have a hanging rack of clothes in a spare bedroom, and everything else is folded in drawers or shelves in my bedroom. Before I had the spare bedroom, I just had the hanging rack standing in my bedroom. I don't think it looked messy or cluttered.
I live in a warm climate so I don't know how to protect against the cold-- but heavy drapes do help keep out drafts.
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Post by Rennie Ellen on Dec 12, 2009 16:53:16 GMT -5
Mellowyellow,
I'm in the process of reclaiming my bedroom, so I can relate.
My bed at the moment is totally useless to sleep on, as I found out a couple of days ago. The mattress is just old and worn out. I really need a new one with box springs. But being on a fixed income, it will probably be a long time before I can get one.
I do have a plan for my bedroom....for it to be a place where I can rest, relax, refresh, and recuperate at the end of a long day. But with a bed that I can't sleep in....
I was just starting to re-organize my bedroom last year when I was diagnosed with heart problems, so most of my time was just surviving and doing what I have to do from day to day. So my clothes were all on the bed, boxes and papers on the floor, and it didn't look very inviting as an oasis of rest and relaxation. Now with my yearly inspection coming up -- and now that I have an aide to help -- my bedroom is slowly shaping up.
Even when I do finish my bedroom, I can't sleep in there until I get another bed. I guess I can now use it to dress in (I'd been using the bathroom), but I'll continue to sleep in my recliner or on my little sofa. It's more comfortable for my back.
I'm confident that you'll reclaim your bedroom!
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Post by iprocrastinate on Dec 12, 2009 17:23:04 GMT -5
Rennie, we put a piece of plywood under sagging mattress and it firmed it up quite a bit
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panicked
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Post by panicked on Dec 12, 2009 17:47:24 GMT -5
Rennie, a couple years ago I thought I was going to have to buy a new boxspring and mattress, and I was not relishing the expense. As a last ditch effort to avoid that, I bought a 2 inch memory foam mattress topper for about $70 from overstock.com. Best $70 I ever spent. It's like having a new bed. I think I'll probably be able to get another five years out of my mattress now.
Mellowyellow, my bedroom is also over the garage, so I can commiserate. Plastic wrapping your window sounds like a good idea. Also, what is on your floor? I have wall to wall carpeting which is on one hand yucky, but on the other, at least is some barrier from the cold garage below.
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Post by yearning4order on Dec 12, 2009 19:31:36 GMT -5
Mellow, I grew up in Alaska, and I simply can't fathom having an uninsulated bedroom in Canada. Wow! That must be incredibly difficult.
Here in the US if folks are within a specific income range, often utility companies (those that provide electricity, natural gas) etc will insulate a home for free. I don't know if you might be able to check into something like that?
I'm with DJ on hanging blankets on the walls--it can make a huge difference to have even a thin blanket between you and the thermal mass of your walls radiating cold to you.
I was wondering if you couldn't repurpose your bedroom for anything, anything else? I'm not sure I could survive the situation you are in since I really hate being cold at night.
I too struggle with messy personal bedroom, but I think my issues may be less structural--and more just internal. I have a lot of childhood abuse stuff wrapped up in my bedroom, and also during the earliest days of separation/divorce my daughter spent a lot of time holed up in my room. So when I clean it, I'm also unearthing layers of that too, literally drilling down to a time when she was younger.
Sometimes it's easier for me to not clean this space than deal with the feelings. I don't assume this is the same for everyone--but I bring it up in case anyone finds they have the same struggle. Mostly I just try to limit my bedroom cleaning to when I'm in chat so I don't sink too fast or too far.
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Post by mellowyellow on Dec 12, 2009 21:11:13 GMT -5
Just to clarify in case anyone thinks I'm crazy. Or crazier than before thought. It IS insulated.. but very poorly. I am sure that there is some styrofoamy insulation at some point behind the walls of the siding. But I can't feel it. It doesn't feel as cold as my garage, so I know it's not totally bare of insulation, but it DOES feel many degrees different from the rest of the house. As soon as I walk in, it's noticeably colder.
Often I use the radiant heater (round parabolic looking object) and that works nicely, but it just seems so environmentally and economically wasteful.
I have gotten some good ideas about using bubblewrap. I made the mistake of mentioning this to my ex bf and he said "oh boy... just like an old lady"... with him painting images of impoverished, elderly people lining their walls with plastic and cardboard during the war. Great.
But the website I saw about the bubble wrap idea actually shows them using it on new/modern windows too... not just as a retrofit for old windows. I have placed it in a couple windows to see how I like it.. but only windows that are covered by curtains. I don't want it to look tacky. You stick the bubble wrap with sprayed on water.. that's it.. and it sticks.
I have place an extra carpet on the floor on top of the wall to wall carpet (that have no pile so it's not mooshy and cushy). It doesn't seem warmer yet. I have added one layer of fabric behind a curtain... It is a long wool tablecloth... Again, hidden so it doesn't look tacky. The experimenting continues.
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Post by mellowyellow on Dec 12, 2009 21:14:46 GMT -5
Yearning, I can't personally relate to your sad and serious trials as a child. I am sorry to hear it. I think it is more common than we'd like to imagine. *sigh*
For me I often unearth things that are special or precious. Tonight I found a pile of items that I had put aside one year ago when I was going through my adoption homestudy... Items intended one day for a future child in my life... *sigh* So I DO understand the idea that cleaning the room can stir up emotions and sadnesses...
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Post by Rennie Ellen on Dec 12, 2009 22:42:27 GMT -5
Iprocrastinate and panicked,
I've had this mattress since 1994. I've had it flipped and turned around twice when I moved. I don't think plywood or a mattress topper would help it now. It's time to get rid of it and get a better one.
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andromeda
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Post by andromeda on Dec 12, 2009 23:26:36 GMT -5
Please don't line the inside of the closets with open-face pink insulation. It's not good to come into direct contact with the fibers - installers use facemasks, gloves and a worksuit over their regular clothes. I'd hate to think of all those itchy fibers all over your clothes. I really hate being cold (used to live in New England); maybe it is hard keeping the room neat because it's just too darn cold in there to be comfortable? Websites like www.thisoldhouse.com (by the people who produce the PBS TV show of the same name) have lots of tips for do-it-yourselfers, and might offer solutions that you haven't thought of. Maybe your local utility company can offer inexpensive suggestions as well, such as caulking around the windows. Good luck!
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