If you’re anything like most, your windows were open for the duration of the scorching summer months. Even during the dead of night, most of us can’t get to sleep while it’s hot out without at least cracking the window a little. Opening your windows was also probably the first thing you did the moment you got home on summer days. This is an obvious way to keep things cool. More importantly, it brings the benefit of keeping our homes fresh and staving off stale air and the risks of mold.
But, now that the cold days are settling upon us, keeping windows open doesn’t seem very appealing. Far from cracking them open as soon as you get home, you’re running to your cupboard to crank up the heating. And, that can make for all manner of trouble when it comes to keeping the air in your home fresh.
The fact is that stale air is a risk to both your health and your home. Hence why there are many guides out there which tell you to open windows for at least ten minutes a day even during the cold months. But, let’s be frank; you would need to be crazy to open your windows when there is snow outside and ice on the panes. Besides which, doing so means letting all that heat out, and thus wasting no end of money on your heating bill. It’s just a bad idea all around.
But does that mean you’re doomed to stale air and health complaints the moment the weather turns? Is there no escape from damp walls when winter rears its ugly head? Of course there is. You only need to consider that some people have to cope with windowless rooms. They seem to manage through nothing more than finding alternative ways to keep things fresh. So, before you go letting all your heat out by opening windows, consider the following alternatives for freshening up while your house stays sealed.
The Materials In Your Home
Okay, so renovating for the sake of keeping warm during winter may be a little bit of an extreme step to take. But, if there are renovations on your cards anyway, it’s well worth considering the materials you use here. Opting for porous choices can work wonders for keeping things fresh. Materials like these work to improve airflow, and stop things from getting stale regardless of shut windows. Even better, many of the materials you could benefit from using are on trend right now. Bricks are fantastic choices, and exposed brick walls are all the rage.
Wood is also a good bet, and using natural materials in your design is another top trend at the moment. Bear in mind that even cement is a porous material. That frees you up to get stuck into industrial designs. That’s a whole load of options to play with. By comparison, you want to steer clear of things like glass (funnily enough), metals, and varnished wood. These will each work to reduce airflow. That’ll leave things stuffy in no time.
Getting Minimal with Furniture
Speaking of trends, jumping on the minimalism bandwagon can also work wonders for freshness. The more furniture and clutter there is in your home, the less chance air will have to move through your rooms. Instead, your spaces will fast become stagnant. Furniture also works to capture things like smells and moisture. Both of which work against freshness. Stale odors can leave the whole space feeling horrible. Equally, furniture up against walls can trap moisture and provide hiding places for damp. But, these are all issues you can kiss goodbye to if you turn a little more minimalist with your design.
By reducing your furniture, you ensure that smells don’t have anything to stick to, and damp air has nowhere to hide. Far from feeling stale when you enter a room, designs like these make every space fresh and welcoming. Even when your windows have been shut up for days. So, focus on decluttering. Research some minimalist design inspiration, and get started. If you don’t use a piece of furniture, get rid of it. If you have multiples of one thing, give them away. While this sounds like a significant job, it doesn’t need to take long at all. If you’re willing to get ruthless, you’ll have a fresh house before you know.
Fans
Given that freshness comes down to keeping air moving, fans needed a mention on this list. By literally moving the air in any given room, these can work no end of wonders for winter freshness. Admittedly, some fans do make things a little colder than they would be, but that’s an easy issue to get around. All you need to do is switch fans on when you aren’t in the room in question. This certainly won’t let heat out on a wide scale as your windows would. Of course, fans come in all shapes and sizes, and a whole variety of them could help you here. Investing in a ceiling fan like those found at modernfanoutlet.com could be your best choice here.
The height and size of options like these means they’re the best bet for moving large amounts of air. If this isn’t an option, bear in mind that handheld fans can also work wonders. Plus, they have the benefit of being able to work in a few different rooms. And, of course, fans in the traditional sense aren’t your only option here. You’ll also want to use extractor fans in rooms like your kitchen and bathroom. If you already have these in place, make sure you turn them on when you enter these rooms. They’re fantastic for clearing the moisture from showers and cooking. They also work well to keep air circulating. If you don’t have them in place already, don’t hesitate to get some installed before the real cold weather settles in. With these, you’ll never need to open a window in winter again. Even in the rooms which are the worst offenders.
Plants
Though we’ve left them until last, few things are better for freshening the air in our homes than plants. While other options on this list help to keep air circulating, plants purify the air in confined spaces. You can’t say that for any other option we’ve listed. In many ways, this is a logical step. It’s the plants in the natural world which keep the air outside fresh. So, go figure that putting plants indoors can have the same impact in our homes. Yet, so few of us consider this when it comes down to it. But, it’s past time you did. Not only do they look fantastic, but at least one plant in each room can work wonders for keeping stale air away. While all plants bring this benefit to some extent, others are better for the task.
There are many guides, like this one at https://greatist.com which can point you in the right direction here. But, some to look out for include spider plants and peace lilies. Even if you aren’t good at keeping houseplants alive, easy to care for options like aloe vera could serve here. When you consider this plant also brings plenty of further healing benefits, you would be mad not to give it a go. So, go out plant shopping, and make sure you have enough to see you through winter. This pointer alone could be enough to see your windows shut up until well into next spring.
These are all great tips. Where I live it doesn’t really get real cold so I can open the windows usually once it actually gets cool enough.
Thank you for these great ideas. I finally had to close my kitchen window two days ago which I have left open since spring to get some fresh air into the home. I need to look into getting more plants.