When we moved in January we always meant to put up some privacy film in the kitchen where we have a perfect view of the driveway and the neighbor's place. And more importantly at night with the lights on anyone on the street can watch us wash dishes (scandalous!). So when we ran across this simple (and inexpensive) idea for creating privacy we were hooked.
A Merry Mishap uploaded the picture to the Apartment Therapy LA Flickr Pool and explains:
"I made this with some frosted contact paper I had lying around the house. The whole thing to about 20 mins +/-. I covered the bottom window in contact paper-being careful to avoid bubbles. Measuring from the middle, I marked every half over and over until I had a grid of squares. I used a metal ruler and xacto knife to slice the squares in half, peeling off the top piece."
In some places privacy film makes a lot more sense than curtains and we had considered some other diy possibilities but this one seems the easiest to remove.
If you aren't looking to DIY anything but want a great film, check out some of these design-y films and his great roundup.
(Images: A Merry Mishap)
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Those windows are great for bathrooms. I have somthing similar (I personaly dont like it).
My neighbors actually put stained glass little pictures in their window in the kitchen.
I used clear contact paper on my back door. I didn't like my neighbors seeing my family in jammies every morning. I used a white out pen to draw lines on them. Worked like a charm AND looks good.
But... the 50/50 coverage doesn't really give much privacy. That's a lot of time, imo, for not a very good result beyond funky cool aesthetics, maybe. And even there I'm not convinced.
Great job. And I daresay it does, indeed, provide privacy unless someone walks up and peeks through the clear patches. I think the photo understates the amount of privacy this solution provides.
Another alternative is brush-on glaze. You paint it on glass with a paint brush. A little extra effort allows you to paint texture into it for a more or less artistic effect.
yuck.
I used a can of clear frosted spray I bought at a craft store to spray my floor to ceiling window in the bathroom. I even taped an easy design on the window. I did this over 4 years ago and the spray it still there. Plenty of light is allowed in and it provides great privacy.
I have the bottom part of all my windows covered. I brought mine from Home Depot. This is the one I have
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xqd/R-100616374/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
Thanks for the recommendation of window film. I've got a bedroom window that looks directly out to my neighbour's backyard. I've been contemplating putting contact paper on it, but didn't really want to deal with putting the sticky paper on the window and then possibly regretting it a few months later and having to deal with the clean up.
No likey.