How to Keep Your Home Warm Without Turning Up the Heating

Before you reach for the thermostat, there is a significant amount you can do to retain the heat your home already has and reduce how hard the heating needs to work to maintain a comfortable temperature. Most of it is straightforward and costs very little.

Here is where to start.

Does draught-proofing actually make a difference?

Yes, substantially. Draughts account for a significant share of heat loss in older UK homes, and draught-proofing is consistently rated one of the most cost-effective home improvements available. The places to focus on first: the gap under your front door, letterboxes, keyholes, skirting board gaps in older homes, and window frames on single-glazed windows. Self-adhesive foam draught strips are inexpensive and make an immediate, measurable difference to how a room holds temperature.

Start with your doors and windows

The front door is the single biggest source of draughts in most homes. Fit a brush seal or threshold strip under the door, and a flap cover on the letterbox. For internal doors to unused rooms, keeping them closed creates a buffer zone and stops cold air circulating into the rooms you are actually in. For windows, check that frames seal properly when closed, and use self-adhesive foam strips on any gaps. In rooms where curtains hang over window frames, make sure the curtain rail extends wide enough that the fabric clears the glass entirely when open during the day.

What does a rug actually do for warmth?

Floors lose heat, particularly solid wood, stone, and older suspended timber floors with gaps between boards. A rug adds a layer of insulation underfoot and makes the thermal experience of a room noticeably warmer. In the living room, a rug covering the central seating area reduces heat loss through the floor and anchors the space simultaneously. In bedrooms, a rug beside the bed means stepping onto something warm first thing in the morning, which has more impact than people tend to expect. For ideas on incorporating rugs into your autumn and winter living room, take a look at our cosy living room guide.

How should I use curtains to keep heat in?

Close curtains as soon as the daylight fades rather than waiting until bedtime. Curtains trap a layer of air between the fabric and the glass that acts as a buffer against the cold. Thermal-lined curtains make a more significant difference than standard ones, but even unlined curtains help when properly closed. Keep them fully open during the day so that any available winter sunlight can warm the room, then close them promptly at dusk. Curtains that hang below the windowsill and sit close to the wall on both sides perform better than those with large gaps at the sides.

How do I keep a room warm without a radiator?

If a room has no radiator or has a cold zone the heating does not reach well, a combination of rugs, draught exclusion, and soft furnishings does a significant amount of the work. Upholstered sofas and armchairs retain warmth better than leather or hard-framed ones. Heavy curtains or a room divider can contain heat within a portion of a larger open-plan space. For rooms you spend time in regularly, a plug-in panel heater used selectively is more efficient than raising the whole-house thermostat.

Layer soft furnishings across every room

Throws, cushions, and rugs are not just aesthetic choices: they add insulation to surfaces and retain warmth in the rooms where you spend the most time. A throw over the sofa that actually gets used, rather than one that is purely decorative, makes sitting in a cooler room comfortable. In bedrooms, the right duvet tog rating for winter (13.5 tog or higher, or a lighter duvet combined with an additional blanket) makes a meaningful difference to sleep quality in a cold room. For bedroom-specific ideas going into the colder months, our autumn bedroom ideas guide is a good starting point.

What temperature should I keep my home at in winter?

The NHS recommends keeping living rooms at 18 to 21 degrees Celsius and bedrooms at a minimum of 16 degrees. Heating rooms you are not occupying to the same temperature as the ones you are in is one of the most common sources of avoidable cost. Thermostatic radiator valves on individual radiators let you dial back the temperature in unoccupied rooms independently, which over a winter makes a noticeable difference to bills without any reduction in comfort where it matters.

Check where your heat is actually going

Furniture placed directly in front of a radiator absorbs heat before it can circulate into the room. A sofa pushed against a radiator is one of the most common and easily fixed causes of a room feeling cold despite the heating being on. Move furniture at least 30 centimetres away from radiators, and check that curtains are not hanging over them and directing heat straight out through the window. Rethinking furniture placement is also one of the most effective ways to make a smaller living room feel more comfortable.

Small habits that add up over a winter

Close the kitchen door when cooking: a significant amount of heat is generated in the kitchen that can warm adjacent rooms when contained rather than allowed to dissipate. Close internal doors to rooms you are not using. Run a bath rather than a shower on the coldest mornings: the steam warms the bathroom and adjacent rooms noticeably. Keep the loft hatch closed if you have one. These are small individually, but applied consistently across a winter, they reduce how often the heating needs to run and how long it takes to bring a cold room to temperature.