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 🙂 

The internet and I this month

October was a busy month for me [not complaining] and while I wasn’t able to stick to the unhealthy level of pressure I put on myself to blog 3 times a week, I was busy so I’m going to make like Taylor and shake it off and possibly cut myself some slack. October was great as I was given the opportunity to be part of a wide variety of features and blog posts. I thought there was no better place to share them than here …
– I [somehow] made it onto Plumworld UK’s 100 Interior Design Blogs you MUST Read! list. There are proper people on that list. Emily Henderson is on that list. Design*Sponge are also on the list. I don’t know how I managed to get in there, but I am excited to be on it.

– I was interviewed by Floor Coverings International based in Alberta, Calgary, over on their blog. They asked me a quite tough question that I’ve never been asked or had to think about before. Until now – how would you describe your design style? I had to enlist in help to answer that because brain fart. 

– Then Me and My Home were featured on the Image Interiors website including all sorts of little details about our home and how I like to put my spin on it. It’s crazy to see how much our apartment has changed since I submitted those photos! Also, in my interview you can see which Instagrammer gives me the most interiors inspiration, and it’s not someone you’d immediately think.

– I was asked to team up with Harvey Norman for a trio of posts for their interior design and tech blog. Yes please! My first post was about 6 of my top tips for how to Love Your Rented Home, as it’s safe to say I have a few tricks up my sleeve for making a place feel less rented. I then wrote about Using Colour to Update Your Space where I created a collage of 3 different looks – bold and bright, country cottage and retro geometric. Which would you say is your favourite? I know I probably shouldn’t pick, but the Country Cottage combo was for sure mine … 

If I could start my design all over, I wouldn’t hesitate to go for this style of decor. I grew up in cottage country in Canada so this colour palette mixed with natural accessories really hits home for me. Fishing on the lakes, skiing along the local trails, lazing on the beach in the summer in the park and general just being outdoors. Very different to how I am now, but it’s a huge part of me growing up.

– And last but not least, I was asked by the lovely Nathalie for my thoughts on hygge in yesterday’s Sunday Independent business supplement [hygge – the Danish concept of comfort. And lord knows I love to be comfortable] …

I haven’t been able to blog as much as I’ve wanted in October as I had a few plans and projects on the side as well as some ghost writing gigs too [unfortunately, it’s not as spooky as it sounds!] It’s been a while since I worked on a DIY project of my own for our home and I can definitely feel it. I’ve had a couple of ideas for projects rolling around in my brain that I’d love to make [one of which = knitting a hat], so fingers crossed that in November I’m back in my usual swing of things. 

#DirtyThirty

I don’t usually share when it’s my birthday online, but seeing as today is a bit different as I’m now IN MY THIRTIES, I figured now would be the best time to buy some obnoxious balloons and write about it.

I’m not worried about turning 30. I’m actually quite looking forward to it. Most of my 20’s were spent worrying about what other people thought and doing what other people expected of me. In the past year I’ve notice my priorities change and I’ve started doing things I want to do and what’s the best for me [politely, of course]. It’s probably what most people consider a normal level of self esteem, but I for one am looking forward to feeling a bit more confident in my decisions. Dare I say, attempting to adult. 

For the day that it is, I thought it might be fun to share 30 random things you may not know about me. Fun, or it’s boring. Terribly, terribly boring. You be the judge …

– When I was 15 I had my nose broken at my brothers baseball game, needed surgery and had to wear a cast on my face for a month [you can hear more about it here].

– There’s only one thing that terrifies me; ET.

– I was on the grooms side of my friends wedding in high school.

– In high school I gave myself a smilie piercing, but had to take it out for said friends wedding and then it healed over. Welp.

– I was a dental hygienist assistant and a dental assistant in my teens. I know how to extract a tooth with the least amount of bleeding.

– 98% of my friends throughout the years in high school were guys. I think I have them to thank for my potty mouth, nothings-off-topic sense of humour and the inability to understand makeup, fashion or traditionally girly things to this day.

– I graduated high school on the Ontario Honour Roll. Meaning, my overall average was above 80%.

– I was the biggest Lord of the Rings nerd in my teens. I made costumes, wore them in public and wrote in Elvish.

– When I moved to Ireland at 18 I had no friends so I passed the time by teaching myself Russian, playing The Sims and walking to the library.

– The first conversation I had with Robert when we first met was I taught him how to say hello in Russian [“zdra-stvu-ee-tyay”].

– We met at a cinema where we both worked [in the Blanchardstown Centre]. He was 18 and I was 20.

– Seven years later, we honeymooned in St. Petersburg, Russia.

– While talking to my grand-aunt at our wedding I found out my grandmother always wanted to go to Russia. It makes sense as my dad [and subsequently I] have Russian names.

– I have a crippling fear of heights. Even standing on a chair terrifies me.

– People always think I’m a vegetarian. I guess I just look like one?

– I’ve been approached to work on television a handful of times in the past year, but have politely declined. I just can’t. Yet. We’ll see. I’m getting ballsier.

– I can wiggle my ears.

– I’m becoming more introverted as I get older and realise it’s perfectly okay to stay at home. As Anna Dorfman perfectly puts it, “I don’t have social anxiety on the Internet.

– I used to have two microdermal implants in my chest. I nearly fainted getting them, would get them caught on everything and they got infected many times [sorry], but I loved them. Unfortunately, my skin eventually rejected them.

– I’ve never been able to spell ‘definately’. I just can’t.

– I have an ultraviolet tattoo the length of my left forearm that can only be seen under a black light.

– I’m not afraid of insects or ‘creepy crawlies’. I’ve caught wasps with my hands to rescue distressed men, and once [when I was getting said black light tattoo] rescued a snake that got out of its cage in the tattoo studio. A grown man covered in tattoos basically standing on his chair in fear.

– Hypodermic needles make me faint. Every. Time.

– To date the only sectors I haven’t worked in is the military and agriculture. I’ve worked in everything else. The health sector, child care, education, security, laboratories, food preparation, hospitality, animal services, publishing, construction etc. I could go on but this post is already quite long [that’s what she said].

– My hair is naturally blonde. I dye it every 5 weeks otherwise I look like a skunk.

– I’ve always been fascinated with darker things. I was never a princess or anything pretty for Halloween; I was always something that involved a black wig. Now I have one permanently attached to my head.

– I’ve had pneumonia three times and swine flu once.

– I have a lot of anxieties about things I can do nothing about. At the moment I think a lot about over population and over consumption. It’s where my mind goes when it’s idle.

– I can move my eyes independently of each other.

– If I wasn’t involved with interior design, I’d probably be working in astrophysics or the likes. The only thing stopping me is going to university full time.

And there you have it! 30 completely pointless points about me. I don’t know about you if you’re also 30, but I don’t feel anywhere close to it. Maybe just a slightly more responsible 18 year old, but definately not 30. I can barely adult.

I’m going to finish this now as I have cake to attend to and a messy afternoon planned with family. See you on the other side! xx