I have had both. I think an infrared lamp is a good choice and may be more energy efficient because it's "instant on" and you will only have it on when you need it. A heated floor is nice, but it's not an "instant on" item like the lamp. Also, the floor takes a little while to heat up unless you have it turned on in advance or all the time...and you won't feel as warm as you will with the infrared on you. Just bear in mind that the infrared will be warm only when standing directly beneath it, but you will feel cool as soon as you step aside from the area it projects down to. If you have a big bathroom and will be moving to different areas, you may want more than one.

"...the Northern region...." and "..cold winters...." are not very specific. To people in Florida, Virginia has cold winters. Additional information about climate and your gas and electric rates would be useful in advising you.

Could it possibly be a decent option to partially close the vents themselves? I'd read last year that it wasn't an energy efficient option, so I didn't do it, BUT I just discovered yesterday that the ducts going to those vents can't be more than a few feet long. I can't see the ducts (or whether they have dampers) because they are in the ceiling, but the vents are right above the furnace, so it has to be a pretty short line. All of the questions that were asked earlier, I am going to try to answer, but I'm sort of overwhelmed with knowing how much I don't know! I'm going to look for the supplies for the duct joints. That seems like something I can do. I went crazy with the insulation on the ducts in the crawlspace last year, and I don't feel ANY heat blowing, though I can feel a small amount of radiant heat when I touch the insulation around the ducts. The insulation I used is Ayr Foil Reflective Insulation. The landlord...he's a nice guy, but he's not very quick about making repairs that aren't emergencies. If I buy some materials, he would probably reimburse us, BUT I don't want to nickel and dime him, as we have an *amazing* rent rate for this neighborhood, and I'd like to keep things positive. kwim? I looked up supply plenum- is that the big square duct-like thing coming directly off the furnace? If so, it comes UP from the furnace, goes up to the ceiling (THIS is where I think the ducts going upstairs branch off), turns a corner, runs about 10 feet along the ceiling, turns to run halfway down the wall and into the crawl space. Immediately inside the crawlspace, it branches into 3 round ducts. Each duct is from 10-15 feet long before it reaches it's vent. Those are the ducts that I insulated last year. There are no vents in between. It seems to be just a very inefficient system, due to how far the heat has to travel to get to it's destination. Or maybe that's not necessarily inefficient? But if it is, then maybe using something to help heat the living room, while turning the furnace down a bit, would be useful? I guess I need to focus on weather proofing the downstairs/living room area. I am NOT going to put plastic on the windows that will cover the windowsills (that's where my plants live), but I'm open to pretty much any an all other suggestions. Even if they aren't especially pretty to look at. Here is a link that might be useful: Ayr Foil

I forgot to mention that we have natural gas and this is in Arlington, VA / Metro DC. Walls are insulated to R-17 total and sill plates, etc. are all air-tight. Floor is bare (painted) concrete.