A Drafty Stairwell Solution

You remember that proverbial fire that was roasting our tooshies into finishing our closet renovation at the speed of light? Well. It seems that things like employers and the basic need for sleep are slowing us down just a tad. There’s also this thing about our house being over a century old and apparently crooked.

Old crooked house + amateur carpenters = :(

Rick was feeling a little crooked as a result, so I suggested what any good wife would: a trip to Joann Fabrics.

Old crooked house + amateur carpenter supervisor and her husband + Joann Fabrics = :D

It was possibly the shortest Joann Fabrics trip we’ve ever taken, clocking in at just under one hour. (Husbands everywhere just died a little when I said that, I know.) While there, we bought 2 1/2 yards of this snazzy stuff called Warm Window. Why? Because the stairs to our attic currently have no door, and even though building the walls around the attic stairs did help a little, a huge draft was still coming down…hence the need for that fire I mentioned earlier. Or something.

We initially planned to put an actual door there, but the litter box is in the attic (no different from it being in the basement, right?) so we would have had to carve out a kitty door for easy potty access. Instead, I decided to just make a fabric curtain of sorts, which is where Warm Window came in.

It has 4 layers of super sonic insulating powers, or something, so it’s designed to block a draft like the one we were dealing with. We got it for about $12/yard on sale and with a coupon.

This is what it looks like when your cat sits on it:

For the front of the curtain, I used 54” Robert Allen fabric that I got for $3/yard on clearance on a different marathon trip to Joann’s. (It’s back in stock now at $39.99 a yard. I’d say I got a good deal, no?)

I sewed the two sides and the bottom inside out so that I could then turn the whole thing right-side out and the edges would be nice and neat without foil hanging out.

The bulk of the Warm Window plus the size of the curtain itself (over 8’ long) did cause everything to slip around occasionally while I was sewing, so I enlisted a small kitten to weigh it down and keep it from moving.

When those 3 edges were sewn together, I flipped it right-side out and added the rod pocket out of just fabric so that the bulky Warm Window didn’t have to wrap around the tension rod. Here’s the final product:

And here’s the nice neat edge and what it looks like from the back:

Is that a peek of built-in closet in the background? Maybe, maybe not. I’m sworn to secrecy.

So far, so good. I no longer have a need for earmuffs, boots, and a Snuggie when passing through the stairwell. Should I submit that statement to Warm Window? They can add it to these “customer” comments that are already on their packaging:

Dear “Lois”/Editor of Lois’ Comment: That is a run-on sentence. Dear “Jackie”: Not really, unless your pillow cases generally include layers of foam and foil. Dear “Susan”: I am wondering why you compare heating bills with your neighbors.

Revived from our exhilarating trip to Joann Fabrics, Rick is putting the final nails in the coffin built-in closet as I type, so I’ll have full pictures of our latest progress sometime this week. Until then, we’ll be basking in our Snuggie-less existence and high-fiving each other about being in and out of Joann’s in less time than it took Jackie Trute of Michigan to sew her latest pillow case.

Happy Monday, everyone! :)