Winter is coming; the right way to tilt your blinds

It may be a distant memory for some [ahem, me], but some of you may remember that in day one of science class in primary school we are all taught that hot air rises. This may seem like a passing thought, but when it comes to keeping your home warm in the winter this is an important thing to remember. Believe it or not, the direction that your blinds are tilted will either help keep your home warm or act like a giant wampa and steal all the hot air and life from a room.

It’s a very simple trick – one that we’ve been doing for years. And while I cannot guarantee a substantial increase in the temperature of your home or a difference in the cost of your heating bill, I can say that it’s a small step you can take to keep your home warm this winter … 

BLINDS TILTED DOWN = BAD

If you tilt your blinds down, as hot air rises from your heaters it will be drawn to and encouraged to escape through the gaps in your blinds. From here, it will meet a fast and painful death as it hits your cold windows and will never be remembered. Ain’t nobody wants that. To somewhat better explain what I mean, see my badly executed diagram below … 

BLINDS TITLED UP = GOOD! 

However, should you tilt your blinds up as shown below, as the hot air rises from your heaters [or if you’re a lucky bastard, from your underfloor heating], and having your blinds tilted in this direction will continue to direct the hot air up and keep it circulating within your home. Yay! o/

I know it’s not a groundbreaking tip, but it’s one of those things I think of far too much and when I see people’s blinds tilted the wrong way, especially leading into the colder months, I scream internally and want to knock on their door and help them. We then have a nice hot drink by the fire and share stories about our cats. We then become lifelong friends and go on skiing trips together

So there you have it! A minuscule change you can make to help keep the hot air in your home this year. I hope it helps in some little way. Happy heating 🙂 

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14 Comments

    • November 10, 2015 / 00:37

      I literally was just going to say the same thing as Linda. You're a smartie-pants, you know that? (those are my favorite type of pants… ;P

    • November 12, 2015 / 16:05

      Hahahaha! You two! #SmartyPantsFTW

      p.s. PAT DID YOU CUT YOUR HUR? CANNOT CREEP ENOUGH FROM THAT THUMBNAIL! Too small!

    • November 13, 2015 / 03:15

      About 8 months ago. I keep forgetting to change my photo. I also stopped dying it about 4 years ago. The grey streak is in full force now.

    • November 13, 2015 / 10:26

      I am jealous of that streak. I do remember admiring it for some time now. Hand on heart – I was (and still am) considering dying my hair grey. But with all the black in it now, I think I'd have to cut it all off first. Sad face.

    • November 13, 2015 / 15:24

      Great minds think alike Pat! Or, well, not so much "great" in this case 😉

    • November 13, 2015 / 16:11

      Ha! Ya, we suck.

  1. November 13, 2015 / 20:21

    OMG why have I never thought of this. You're a freaking genius you are. xxx

    • November 15, 2015 / 16:04

      And to think I wasn't going to publish this! I thought, who the actual is going to benefit from this. This is stupid. Kind of glad I did after all 😀

  2. November 19, 2015 / 07:24

    Hmmm this is interesting – it has never occurred to me!! I always thought the cold-windowy death way was the RIGHT way!! If anyone puts them the other way in my house I'll go and 'correct' it as it looks wrong to me! (Like how I say 'anyone' – as if there are flocks of people roaming my house closing blinds willy nilly – who are these people?!) This is a dilemma now – I want to keep the heat in, but I like the look of them the other way round… argh, what's a girl to do?!
    Good post – it always comes back to the science!! xx

    • November 22, 2015 / 10:46

      I know exactly what you mean Maria! I too preferred the look of blinds tilted the other way for years! And as with some blinds, they're actually curved so tilting them down does look like it would make more sense.

      One thing to think about is the privacy side of it. If you have your blinds tilted down, if someone was standing outside your window, they can see everything directly under the window and even further into your room depending on how tall they are. However, if they're tilted up, all they can see is your ceiling. Peepers can't peep.

  3. Daniel M Rose
    March 18, 2022 / 19:34

    Yes but what if the “forced” hot air enters the room from a ceiling vent over the window?

  4. Joan A
    July 1, 2022 / 11:13

    It took me an obscene amount of time to find your site. I could not picture: Which way is Inside? Outside?…Round-side out? Round-side in? Which way is in or out? I’m looking to keep out the heat so I’ll flip the directions of my blinds to allow the hot air in my room to join its hot friends outside. The old saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ sure rings true here. Thanks.

    • July 21, 2022 / 17:31

      Well Joan I’m glad my blog post from 2015 has helped you! And especially for keeping the heat *out* in this instance (I feel your pain – we’re going through a heatwave here).

      🤘