Interior design to save money on energy

Use interior design to save money on energy bills! 

Fall is the time of year when homeowners should be preparing their homes in anticipation of colder weather. In addition to clearing the leaves, sealing doors and cleaning the gutters, you should also be readying your heating and cooling equipment for winter. (If you haven’t started, yet, get a checklist of fall HVAC maintenance tips.)

Your Sensi™ Smart Thermostats has precision temperature control to help manage your energy bill in the upcoming months. But did you know that you can use interior design to save money on energy?

Carpets & Area Rugs

Hardwood floors, while beautiful, are not the best insulators. If you’ve ever had to walk in bare feet on floors in the coldest winter month, then you already know this to be true. A great life-hack is to adjust the temperature with your Sensi mobile app so it’s a little warmer when you awake. Another is to consider installing wall-to-all carpet. But carpet can get expensive, so if you’re looking to for a cheaper alternative, purchase large area rugs and place in high-traffic areas. Area rugs come in all kinds of designs and colors so they can contribute to your home décor and also keep the heat from escaping. Lower energy bills, stylish home, warm feet. Win!

Curtain Treatments & Tapestries

Other culprits that contribute to your higher energy bill in the winter are your windows. Especially if you happen to have a heating vent located nearby. Ideally, you should install energy-efficient windows, or at the very least, replace the sealing. But if this is out of your budget, window treatments and curtains are an inexpensive option.

When the weather starts to cool, replace those airy summer curtains with heavier drapes or curtains. Make sure they extend a little past the window sides, and ideally, have them go all the way to the floor. Other energy bill offenders are your walls. While not as obvious, walls can also leak heat, especially if they aren’t properly insulated. Take a tip from the medieval interior designer, and decorate your castle with wall tapestries. Curtain and tapestry fabric “seals” will help to keep the cold air out and the warm air in, give your home style and sophistication and keep your energy bill low.

Paint Color

The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that lighting accounts for 11% of residential electricity consumption. Replacing your light bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Bulbs can help to save money on lighting, but so can the paint color on your walls. Lighter colors reflect more light while dark walls will absorb more light and reflect less. So, to keep your lighting a minimum, lighten up the color on you walls. You can also look for the Light Reflectance Value (LRV) when you are picking out paint colors. The higher the number, the lower number of artificial light sources you will need. But this doesn’t mean you need to go crazy and paint every room color white. Perception is everything and the color of a wall can change how a person acts, thinks, spends and feels. Warmer colors like yellow, orange and red can influence people to perceive that the room temperature is warmer than it actually is. Contrarily, cooler temperatures like purple, green and blue will make people think it are colder. Don’t want to have to paint your walls twice a year? Consider updating just the entry way or hallway to let the first impression be that of warmth.

Using these tips for interior design to save money on energy will help your home to be both stylish and energy efficient.