apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Curtains permanently opened here.
Although I'm on the 15th floor, the folks in the towers across the way can see into my windows and I into theirs...

...and I don't care - If people don't want to see what's happening inside my home, they don't need to look.

Being a native New Yorker, I find my sheer curtain widow situation to be rather unnerving. When the sun goes down, I agree, I don't anyone to see inside and take stock of what I own and how people are present. I plan on adding a second, more opaque layer. That way, when I turn off the lights in my apt. while wearing only my skivvies, I won't have to hunch over or crawl from one switch to the other :o)

Another curtains permanently opened. I'm on the 7th floor and technically there aren't any other buildings near me that high...but sometimes I wonder if the town houses a block over can look up and see me. I do my best not to walk around naked, but whoever can see me has gotten quite a few bra/half naked shots of me over the past year. C'est la vie!

Eh I live in NYC, like most here I pretend no one can see in.

I'm trying to think how many times I've seen into other people's homes at night (thousands?) and how many naked bodies I've seen (none, actually).

That said, I put some of that frosted window film on my back door because the view from my dresser through the back door glass gives me a nice view of my neighbor washing her dishes. Since I put the film up 6 years ago, tree branches have grown to obscure the view in the summertime. But I like the film on the glass and the filtered light that comes through.

Blinds at night, everything open during the day.

I avoid flashing my unfortunate neighbours, but I don't care if people walking by can see my furniture.

I live on a suburban street where the only likely people walking by are my neighbors who know me quite well. I do make a habit of closing my curtains when the sun goes down - mainly in the bedroom window, and the living room. The bedroom is on the back of my house so the neighbors on the other street would be able to see in when I'm changing and the living room is on the front of the house and the room where I hang out the most. I'd just rather not have people peeking in personally. However I must admit that when I go on walks in the evenings, I find it fascinating looking into people's homes, not to peek at the actual people but to see what kinds of interiors you'll find in houses close by...

I have no curtains and don't lower the blinds.
There are no busy streets near, but the neighbours from the house opposite could look into my flat.

Even when I had a house more much closely opposite my (old) flat, I didn't bother - they could easily looked into my flat during the day, so I would have had to cover the windows permanently, at least with sheers, and I LOVE looking out.

Apart from that, I could look into the flat opposite, but how interesting is that? Even if you could get a glimpse of someone, how often are they going to pass the window?

The only thing I do when I am running around in a bra with no shirt is watch out not to pass close to a window when my neighbours children (or my neighbours) are down in the garden.

Until recently I was in a typical NYC apartment where the alleyway between us and the next building was about 6-feet wide. The other building had frosted windows in the alley, ours had clear glass, but of course all tenants wanted to open their windows. My husband "won" the window war (more than once) by just walking around naked whenever someone opened the windows across the way. Totally worked. Doesn't matter who is looking or how good your body is, no one wants to see (or get caught looking at) their naked neighbor a few feet away. And if they do, then you probably have bigger problems anyway.

http://gigapixelphotography.com/vancouver-yaletown-condos

^^Zoom in to a fairly unnerving extent. I bet the girl in the white hotpants (middle building, middle of the cluster of turned on lights) didn't think anyone could see her either. Although on this site I'm sure most would be more interested in looking into the windows to criticize the decor/vertical blinds rather than trying to find the half naked girls.

The wonders of gigapixel technology.

In my old house, I had huge sliding glass doors to the patio that had no coverings. A line of trees provided some screening from the people directly behind me, but people driving on the street behind me might have been able to see if they were going slowly and looking between the trees. Some of my friends found it creepy, but I didn't mind and didn't assume anyone would go out of their way to look in. All they would have seen would've been the dining room anyway. All of the other windows in the house had blinds and drapery panels.

Another curtains open for me, except in the bedroom when I go to bed as I like my bedroom as dark as I can have it.

Being that I live in a high density neighborhood where there IS an apartment that may well see into my bedroom window, I never bother to close the blinds most of the time, even when there is a vis a vis going on as the window sill is rather high so once on the bed, I imagine it's not seen and the building is NOT right directly across from mine and while some may be able to see into my room, probably can't see too much but I CAN see into many of their apts however and I live on the 4th floor and that and whomever is on the roof of a 2 story apt building directly across from me might be able to view in my north window in the living room, even there, I generaly don't care unless I happen to be naked, which is extremely rare.

In my home office, which faces our (very narrow, winding) street, I just have sheers and don't worry about people seeing in. During the day, you can't see much through the sheers and after dark I spend very little time in that room.

In our living room, dining room and bedroom--rooms where we spend most of our time after dark--we have sheers and pulled back linen curtains during the day . At night we close the linen curtains--you can see light and maybe some shadows, but we feel that gives us enough privacy.

The windows at the back of our house are actually placed well above the roof-line of our back neighbors' house since we're on a steep hill. Those windows we leave completely uncovered or use cafe curtains that only cover the lower half. I suppose the people on the neighboring hill might be able to see us, but they'd have to be certified peeping toms with binoculars and all.

Some of our neighbors have completely uncovered HUGE picture windows facing the sidewalk. I'm sure they feel quite secure, but I can't imagine living with such a lack of privacy.

Ten story building I'm on the 3rd, lots of "no curtain" windows in this building. I do not ever intend to cover my 3, 90" windows. Let them look!

I hate not being able to look out my windows; I'm like all those cats that spend their days sitting on the windowsill. I also don't really mind people seeing into my 2nd-floor living room. But we're across the street from a popular restaurant with sidewalk seating. After enough friends and coworkers joked about seeing in our bare windows when they ate there, I gave in and got Ikea panels that block the view just enough to make a difference. I'm sure people still think we should have real drapes that would keep them from seeing in at all, but this compromise works for me.

well ... i guess you should just get over it and pretend it's not an issue. i have no problem walking around naked or just in my boxers with my windows open.
most of the time, people aren't looking and minding their own business. and chances are, they are either your neighbor who already know you, or they are strangers that you will never see again.

I have sheer curtains on most of my windows and they're usually open. There's privacy film for the bathroom, since it faces directly into another apartment. My kitchen window also directly faces another apartment, and my bedroom and living room windows all face some university buildings.

I'm not too concerned about privacy. The thought that someone might see me in my skivvies is less bothersome to me than keeping the windows and curtains shut all the time.

I went for thin line venetians - whilst i love heavy curtains you can play with the light more with the venetians.

Oddly enough, since moving from a fairly busy street in Chicago to a quiet suburban neighborhood in the south east I am MORE diligent about keeping curtains closed.

In Chicago I was in a raised first floor courtyard apartment with a highrise across the way, right next to the sidewalk. Living there my curtains were open all day and most evenings except in the bedroom. I'm sure neighbors and passersby got many glimpses. Actually when I was in the sunroom people would often wave and say hi! Somehow the general anonymity of city living (and lack of central air) made it okay to be so exposed.

Here in the burbs my house is closer to the ground (no basement), and I'm TERRIBLY self-conscious about having the curtains open. In fact, they are pretty much always closed (heavy curtains, not sheers). I guess I'd rather have strangers peeking in then the nosy suburban neighbors I see every day! I do really miss the sunshine indoors though...

Heh. I just read the other comments and it seems that city dwellers/apartment residents aren't too concerned about privacy/being glimpsed by neighbors. I wonder if people living in houses or in the suburbs or rural areas feel differently?

@tarsengreen -- wow that gigapixel technology is great as is the site. got caught up looking in everyone's windows. arc lamps sure are popular in vancouver.

Open except in the bedroom. You wanna look, then look.

Our street has the shape of a "C" with only 6 houses on it BUT we are on the corner AND across from the golf course. It is the one with the best view as well as the one with less privacy. We keep the curtains open during the day and as soon as the sun goes down and we have to turn on the lights, I close the living room sheers. Small town, friendly neighbours but nobody need to see what I'm doing, through the picture window.

nobody *needs*..

I have no curtains, and i don't plant to get some, im happy with the light!!!! and i don't care when neighbours see me naked

Right now I live on the top floor of an apartment and they are always open.

In one week, I will live in a house...and this issue was one of the first to cross my mind! Kind of creepy in a house, for some reason.

The other night, my boyfriend and I were walking to the grocery store. I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye through someone's window, stopped short, and backed up a few steps to take a closer look....

My suspicions were confirmed! Sure enough, some dude was watchin' internet porn right in his living room, with a very clear view in from the sidewalk. :)

Our house is set back relatively far from the road with enough of a wooded barrier to allow us a lot of privacy. We've got many large windows; none have curtains or blinds. We took whatever we had down when we had the interior repainted months ago and haven't gotten around to hanging anything back up yet. So we're sort of in a fishbowl and usually, we're absolutely fine with that. But it's true that we're up with the sun (which we try to rationalize with the fact that we've got two toddlers), I've been caught off guard and occasionally unclothed by visitors (like our UPS guy), and, yes, I get a little creeped out at night if my husband's out of town. This last part is odd to me because before this, I lived alone (and curtain-free) in a tiny cottage on a mountain--there was no one to peek in except for the bears--and it never bothered me. Maybe the kids have turned me into a nest-protector. In any case, I also miss the color that curtains can bring into a room and the way they move with a breeze.

We just moved to a first floor apartment on a very busy city street, so our front rooms blinds are always closed. I plan on getting some sheers for the day time, but at night those blinds have to come down.

Blinds AND curtains, always closed beginning at dusk - less of a privacy issue and more of a security issue. Being on the first floor mere feet from a busy street with lots of the foot traffic and more than our share of weirdos, it just makes sense.

The most I put up on any window are sheers.
I thrive on natural light during the day... and at night I don't want to feel closed in... I want to see the sky and the street lights and feel a part of the larger world.

I figure if anyone is trying to see in - let 'em.

And - as a bit of a voyeur myself... the most I've ever seen of anyone else is people at their desks or eating dinner. Big whoop.

One apartment I lived in - was furnished with those horrible thick, heavy drapes with a pull cord - I never ever closed them until one roommate moved in and did so - at night - and I felt all clausterphobic!

I was friendly with the neighbors in the two houses across the street and they once pulled me aside to say that they could see into my apartment at night. I asked if I was naked or something at the time - they said - no but in my bathrobe and I thought - SO?

In another building, one neighbor told me he saw me kissing my boyfriend (we were abstinent) and again I thought.. SO?
Now if I saw people having sex, that would be an issue - but you know what - If I ever get married, I'll close the blinds for whoopie time. And frankly, the visuals would be the least of the neighbors concerns!!

With blinds open, I can see straight across into the next building - not that I try, but I have realized over time I can. I don't think the lady there realizes that after I unfortunately had looked up at my desk and saw a sight I didn't want to see - her without a shirt or bra.

After that episode, all blinds are shut until me and the fiance are dressed in the morning and we shut them as soon as it gets too dark to read by. The bedroom blinds sometimes get shut sooner so we can undress in ease.

My curtains are somewhere in between sheer and solid. They let in the light, but I know that at night, no one can see anything distinct. That's the best of both worlds, to me.

The street our house is on has a lot of pedestrian traffic, and the neighborhood is less-than-entirely-safe, so we tend to keep the front windows covered. I don't want to tempt fate by leaving laptops, speakers, whatever, visible from the street.

Upstairs windows, though, are almost always open. The houses are very close here, and no one has air conditioning, so I've been able, at times, to see what my neighbors are doing in their bedrooms -- whether that's naughty things or watching movies. We all just pretend the windows are opaque.

I used to live in an apartment where my kitchen window faced the apartment building next door. Unfortunately those neighbors had a window at the top of their shower. I was so embarassed for them when I was with guests in the kitchen and we glanced over accidently making eye contact with a soapy lathered head.

Chicago, third floor dweller. Heavy, opaque thermal blackout curtains set into the window frames, with longer, sheer curtains on the outside of the windows. Just like a hotel!

I leave the heavy curtains open for most of the day (we mounted tie-backs, those metal brackets that hold curtains to one side) and into the evening, so I can enjoy the lights of the city. An hour or two past dusk, though, I let the heavy curtains down. I don't think anyone can see in, but when I'm backlit I can't see out, either, so.

Sheers on the windows, with blinds underneath for privacy when I want it. I like to make sure the sheers are just thick enough that it's not super-easy to make out what's inside the room. I don't think I could ever live with huge windows and no curtains like some McMansions have.

Lol, our apartment is all windows on one side (bedroom and living room walls). Our nearest neighbors are pretty far-- basically you could make out that a person is in the room, but not the features of the person, etc. None of them seem to have curtains either, and I have to say I've never seen any of *them* naked, so that probably goes both ways. That said, my attitude has always been that hey, it's a free show. =) Either people don't want to see, so they'll look away, or they do, which I'll never know about so whatever. In terms of safety, we're the third floor of a gated building and our windows face other homes, not the street (we look out over all the backyards, which make sort of a large square between the houses), so I don't really worry about people looking in... we don't have any nice electronics anyway, just big heavy furniture and large pieces of art!

The worst I've seen is that my best friend's (rather large and low, and not very well frosted) bathroom window faces directly into her neighbors' (large, always open) kitchen and living room windows, about 6 feet away. I always feel really awkward flushing her toilet while they're cooking/eating dinner-- I'm sure it's quite audible... and of course if you forget to close the window...!

I'm on the street level, but the back of the condo (living room) is all windows with trees, lawn & more trees, then the street. No problem for me without any window coverings there, but I don't like the black squares the windows become at night, so I might get some cellular blinds this winter to solve that.

Bedroom & kitchen, which do face my driveway & a street have cellular blinds - bedroom also has some great, copper-colored silk drapes that I love, love, love. I close those at night.

My apt is right in front of the main stairs in our complex, allowing EVERYONE to pass in front of my only window. So, unfortuntely, I have to keep my blinds closed at all times. It's a drag cause I have a nice view of the mountains and that window is my only source of natural light in the room. Still trying to figure out solutions. Since living in this apt, I'm now paranoid about people looking in for any reason. Like anyone really cares what's in my place, but I just don't want someone looking in. It's creepy and I'm allowed privacy in my own home. Plus I like to walk around, cook in my skivvies. Beats running the air conditioner in the summer.