The Repair Shop's Sonnaz Nooranvary reveals the curtain mistake making your home colder

The BBC Repair Shop's Sonnaz Nooranvary, known for her upholstery and soft furnishing skills, reveals the curtain mistake you're making that is making your home colder.

With 2023 among us, many of us are probably looking to make some home upgrades, and with that may come needing to consider new curtain ideas. But amidst the browsing and shopping, be sure to not get caught out by falling victim to making this curtain mistake.

Sonnaz is in partnership with the National Residential Landlord Association's Home Bank initiative, which encourages landlords and tenants to work together to keep their homes cosy this winter whilst saving energy.

We asked Sonnaz what she believed to be the most common mistake people make when trying to save energy at home to which she responded, 'Curtains that aren't interlined. Interlining makes a huge difference or a thermal lining – it's a quick fix but will also make a big difference.'

Failing to interline your curtains is a surefire way for heat to escape your home in the colder months and is amongst the top things of what not to do when choosing curtains, so ensuring curtains are lined before purchasing will give you the best bang for your buck to keep your house warm in winter.

However, if it's too late and you're already sporting unlined curtains or don't fancy buying them new, Sonnaz reassures us that interlining them yourself is easier than you think and is a quick way to insulate a home.

'So there are two ways that you could do it. You could either buy an interliner that would hook onto the back of your curtain and hook into the hooks of your curtain rail with your curtain. Or with curtains, you've got the fabric and then you've got a lining generally. It's open at the bottom so you could actually shimmy an interlining up in between the fabrics and sew it in place from the back.'

'That would be a really easy, good hack for somebody to do at home where you don't have to be particularly skilled at needlework to achieve it.' 

After Sonnaz shared her curtain styling tip to make a home warmer, we can rest assured that we're in good hands following her advice to best maximise the way we save energy at home this winter.