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This article presents the process and results of a practice-based intervention aimed at facilitating the time and space required to experiment with and change home heating in households, to promote socially and environmentally sustainable ways of practising thermal comfort. A central feature of the intervention, called ENERGISE Living Labs and conducted across eight European countries, was that social practices were targeted, resulting in a focus on what 'heating is for' rather than the process of heating in and of itself. In this article, we concentrate on the three countries with the highest reported expectations of thermal comfort and describe how 113 households in Denmark, Finland and Hungary completed a set of challenges to reduce their indoor temperature to 18 °C for four weeks in the late autumn of 2018. To facilitate alternative ways of keeping warm, the participants were supported by reflexive interviews and group discussions, and aided by tips and materials. The results demonstrate how changes in skills, competences, norms, and expectations related to indoor thermal comfort (in addition to other daily practices) are essential for more sufficient energy use. Generally, the temperature level at which people felt comfortable was reduced by an average of 1 °C, and, more importantly, participants became aware of their heating-related practices, including the underlying elements of these practices, and learned how to challenge them. The results clearly indicate the potential of practice-based interventions to promote deliberation on and change in existing socially shared expectations of comfort. • Heating-related practices hold great potential for absolute reductions in energy use. • Using qualitative and quantitative methods, our study is based on real-life experimentation with 113 households. • The participants challenged themselves to reduce their indoor temperature, managing to achieve an average of 1 °C reduction. • Many realized that perception of temperature and comfort vary and used a combination of alternative practices to keep warm. • Practice-based interventions support changes in existing norms and practices of comfort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]