Placemats as Window Screens

A few months ago, a friend moved into a ground-level studio apartment that had a window in the kitchen that faced out to a somewhat busy street with a lot of foot traffic. After the first few mornings of waking up to the dulcet sounds of someone rifling through her recycling bin outside her window, she decided to add another layer of privacy in addition to curtains: plywood.

Bluntly put, her initial solution didn't do her place any favors: not only did it make her building look abandoned, it also blocked a lot of the sunlight coming into her studio. Then, after seeing this idea of using laser cut plywood placemats in Living Etc, she found some faux wood-grain placemats that had a lacy pattern cut around the edges at the World Market. Using fishing line, she stitched the panels together to cover the lower half of the window and hung it from two hooks. The placemats are thin enough so that light can come through, and the lacy pattern keeps this particular barricade from seeming too obtrusive.

[ Photo from Living Etc., placemats shown in photo are from Hygge ]

Comments (10)

i just did something similar in my house! i just used a different placemat. :)

posted by MoxyThunder on August 4th 2008 at 2:19pm
view MoxyThunder's profile

beautiful!

posted by *heather leaf* on August 4th 2008 at 2:19pm
view *heather leaf*'s profile

This is so smart.

posted by Eric D M on August 4th 2008 at 2:38pm
view Eric D M 's profile

This is the best thing I've seen here in ages. I love this. How sturdy are the mats? Could you wire them together for a room divider?

posted by Palmetto on August 4th 2008 at 6:21pm
view Palmetto's profile

great idea

posted by LaDonnaNichole on August 4th 2008 at 6:57pm
view LaDonnaNichole's profile

A great idea and it seems to fit the window just perfectly.

Love when that happens ...

posted by EAM on August 5th 2008 at 12:29am
view EAM's profile

in general a good idea, BUT it still looks like plywood in the window which doesn't seem too appealing to me.

posted by Daily Nuance on August 5th 2008 at 5:58am
view Daily Nuance's profile

this is a fantastic idea-- but i'd paint them so they didn't look so much like plywood. she could even stencil something cute in the middle to make it even more un-plywood like.

posted by karenwog on August 5th 2008 at 6:18am
view karenwog's profile

Absolutely amazing

posted by ChrisToronto on August 5th 2008 at 6:19am
view ChrisToronto's profile

Lovely solution! I thought about doing something similar in my bathroom with a Matte Stephens placemat but haven't figured it out yet.

posted by jen_g on August 5th 2008 at 7:15am
view jen_g's profile