The cost of energy is high and only getting higher, and when you’re living on an energy budget, winters start to feel like they’re getting colder and colder.
It’s time we start revisiting some time-tested ways to save on energy. Before central heating and air conditioning, our ancestors had a plethora of tricks up their sleeves for heating and cooling their living spaces.
Let’s first establish some basic science facts:
- Hot air goes up
- Cold air does not
So, when you turn on your heat and it starts blasting from your vents, which are generally near the floor, the heat rises up, and while the top half of your room may feel toasty, the bottom half still has that chill. And —if you have the honor of living in a hundreds-years-old farmhouse with wood slat floors — cold air can come up from underneath and contribute to the cold floor problem.
But there is good news! Our ancestors had ways of dealing with this that we long abandoned with the advent of central heating, and one of those ways is to cover the floors in rugs.
Simple, right?!
Covering your floors in rugs will help to insulate each individual room, helping to keep the heat where you want it. Or, like in the case of my very-old-farmhouse, it keeps the cold in the dirt basement and creates even more barrier between the basement and living areas.
Tips for added insulation with rugs:
- Putting a non-skid mat beneath the rug will not only increase its energy efficiency, it will also lengthen the life of the rug itself.
- Never cover floor heating vents with rugs, you will be blocking your heat source and making your problem worse.
- Any rug can be hung on the wall as a tapestry, you do not need to buy something marked “wall tapestry” to use it as a tapestry. Tapestries can help to insulate your outside walls, especially on windy days, in the very same way rugs insulate your floors.
Terra Conserva rugs are durable and beautiful. My rugs are also far more affordable than the average rugs you find online or in department stores.
I have rugs designed to be "area rugs," the typical rectangle rugs people adorn their homes with. I also have round accent rugs and "water-resistant" rugs. My "water-resistant" category includes rugs designed for outdoor use, but any outdoor rug can be used indoors as well. My outdoor rugs come in larger sizes than my area rugs do, so check them out if you have a larger room you want to add some rugs to!
Here is my full collection of rugs
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| Area Rugs | Round Rugs |
