apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I live on the 15th floor - folks have to work hard to see what I'm doing...
...and when I lived elsewhere on lower floors, I really didnt' care what folks saw - if they didn't like it, they could mind their own business and look elsewhere.

With the cold weather, we've been keeping the thermal curtains (original to the 1964 house!) closed most of the time in an attempt to keep the heat in. I like them open while I'm at home and it's sunny, but that rarely happens during the work week, at least this time of year.

as someone living in the very seasonal northeast: in the winter, we open them on clear days to let in some sunlight, and close them at night or on blustery days to hold the heat in. in the summer, they stay closed during the day to block direct rays, and open at night because the windows are open then too.

regardless of weather, if it's brighter indoors than out (bedrooms before bedtime, etc) the curtains are closed. if it's bright outside and you don't have too many lights on (as in that picture), people probably can't see you unless they really try.

we have some solar shades from target that we use in the bedroom. they filter the light during the day, but at night when the lights are on, i feel like i'm in a fishbowl. the neighbors behind our house recently remodeled & raised their house up about 5 feet... their newly elevated kitchen window looks right across to our bedroom, so i ordered some light filtering shades last week!

I can't imagine living somewhere and not letting the light in - how depressing! I often pass houses which are all closed up and wonder who lives there.

Perhaps you could install that film which you apply to the glass, either over the entire window or to a height which would allow you some privacy. That way you could still open the curtains and let some light in.

I live on the 4th floor, but my livingroom faces directly into the kitchen of my neighbor (about 5 feet apart on a 90 degree angle). He is a nice guy, but there is no way I leave my curtains open. I make up for it by keeping my kitchen and bathroom windows open all the time, since no one can see in there. :)

I live on the third floor and my windows look out into an air shaft and the next apartment. My curtains are always closed.

Lise - get some sheers! I bought some very inexpensive cafe rods / tension rods at Home Depot. They were $2 to $4 each and just pop into the window frame. Then hang some no-sew sheers from Ikea that have an iron-on interfacing that hems the bottom.

Another solution - in my bathroom I hung an antique stained glass window over the top part of the window there, and I put that plastic stick-on frosting on the bottom/moving panel. It's private, and it looks great!

I open my drapes as soon as there is morning light and they stay open until the sun sets. I love lots of light, so much so that I have no drapes on the sliding glass doors onto the patio. No one can see in from the back yard, but I really don't care if people do see in. My house is interesting enough that I would like people to see how I live.

i would be so extremely crabby if the curtains were closed when it was sunny out. a pet peeve of mine!

My apartment windows are (unfortunately) along a corridor, so I only open the blinds when I've finally changed out of my pajamas, and close them once the night sets in. I wish I lived in a high enough place to be able to leave them open at all hours!!

i have the ultimate sunlight/curtains conundrum: lots of sun, no privacy, and too much light at night.

the windows all look out onto the back of another, taller building w/roof deck. there's glare/blaring sun at midday, so, i need semi-private sheers to allow enough light, something from the top (bamboo shade) to cut the sun glare/stares from roof, and heavy curtains at night to provide enough darkness (roof lights are very bright). too much.

Our drapes are usually closed- the entire south wall of our house is windows. Not only do I hate the lack of privacy (seriously, we must be in a nosy neighborhood because it's kind of funny to watch their heads swivel just to catch a glimpse), but without the drapes in place the sun just makes the place TOO hot... and summers are insufferable. Literally, I cannot open the windows in the summer because the sun more then cancels out any breeze I might get. Of course, being a rental, it's exceptionally poorly insulated- so running the AC isn't really all that effective, either.

So, all you peeps who think that light is the most important aspect of a rental, have I got the place for you!

I open them during the day, but then, there's very little foot traffic that can see into my house. I might feel differently if there were more people able to peer in.

We live on the 4th floor facing a park, so we're pretty wide open with the curtains, only closing them in the bedroom when sleep is an issue.

I have sheer curtains that stay closed most of the time, unless our big Akita dog pushes her head past them to watch the street. The one window that is really close to the street, I pasted patterned rice paper over the windowpanes, diffused bright light.

In the summer, I have pieces of Reflectix (mylar bubblepack) that fit into all the (unshaded) east and west facing windows during the day, otherwise our house is hotter than Hades.

I am on the 3rd floor and only have two windows in my apartment. I can't stand them being closed when I am home. I crave the light. When I am at work during the day, I open the blinds so the cats can bird-watch.

Second floor bedroom-
Summer: Curtains closed all the time to keep the heat out (no AC). Leaving the curtains closed does keep it significantly cooler!

Winter: Open when I'm awake and dressed to let the sun warm the room, closed as soon as sun going down to keep the heat in, and prevent neighbors from seeing in.

Front room, which is shaded and street level so neighbors walk by, has vertical blinds. I crack them to let some light in, but make sure the blinds are rotated so that it is difficult to peer in, and angled so that any peering results in a view of the wall, not the room.

Kitchen: it is also street level and has mini-blinds. Right now, it is wide open, all the time! I took the miniblinds down to clean them for the cure, and they need replacing. I bought the new ones, but need to figure out how to install (the hardware is different from the old ones). When blinds are installed, I like to crack them to let some light in, but keep the position of the blinds angled so it is harder to see in.

Blinds. I can control the amount of light that comes in on hot, bright Southwestern days. I can let in light but block the neighbors. I can close them entirely at night. And I've got curtains (and blinds) in some rooms to block the cold air in winter.

when I lived in a second floor corner unit in NW Portland, my curtains were open every day, regardless of the weather. I generally closed them at night once it was time for pj's. in general, I'm not doing anything to be embarrassed about, nor do I make the assumption that I'm so interesting that people would want to watch me. however, there was one morning where I dashed out to my living room wearing some purely decorative undies... not realizing that I had left the blinds to the window that faced an adjacent apartment up. this resulted in me diving behind furniture upon realizing that my neighbor chose that, of all moments, to make an appearance...

I've always disliked sunlight, from when I was very young. I remember being the only kid in elementary school who hated recess because it meant I had to go outside & squint. So I keep my curtains closed and wear enormous sunglasses when I go out.

I live on a hill with a burm hiding my house from the street on one side and on the other, no neighbors in sight. I keep the curtains open during the day on the street side and the only close the kid's curtains at night. On the hill side the curtains are open day and night except in my bedroom when the moon is full.

I HAVE to have my blinds open during the day. No matter what. I live in a house, so anyone walking or driving by can see in my house, but I doubt there's much to see in the day time. At night I close the blinds.

Our house has no blinds and it is very modern... with lots of windows. The area we live is all old people, and so it really does not matter what they can see after 9pm. We have talked about curtains, but have yet to do it. Oh well. We used to have a garden apartment and we would leave the shades open, and we would find people looking in our windows. We lived in a very historic part of town and for some reason, tourists thought that our apartment was a museum or something because we would find old ladies with their faces pressed up against the glass trying to peer in. Imagine seeing that while you are watching TV.

I think it comes down to (a) what are you hiding and (b) who are you hiding from. We don't have any window dressing in our living room because (a) we have nothing to be ashamed of and (b) we like our community. If the neighbors want a peek a how we live our lives, so be it, they're welcome to. It's nice to be able to chat with neighbors, know names & faces and share a wave or smile. Granted we haven't always been so free in past residences but if your space and place allows it then embrace the open air and share a little.

These surveys are getting ridiculous! Come on, last week it was "How often do you wash your towels?" and now it is "Do you open your curtains?"
Why not ask everyone how often they buy a new toothbrush- I'm sure everyone is dying to know about me and my toothbrush buying habits.

It drives me crazy how homes in Central Austin, Texas leave their windows open 24/7. You walk down the street and you can see straight through every house on the block! I like to leave my back windows wide open (since no one can see it), but on the front windows I have a sheer curtain that lets in light but obfuscates any kind of ability to make out what's on the other side.

Unless you live in a glass house, it's hard to see inside during the day. Can you see in other people's homes during the day???

When I lived in the city one of my favorite evening activities was walking in the "rich" neighborhood and casually surveying the interiors of homes without curtains drawn. So interesting to see how people decorate! Now I live in the country with no neighbors in sight. My few shades are rarely closed. Let the sun shine in!

I'd like to extend a big THANK YOU to all the "swingers" and "shut-ins" next door to me. The fact that they keep their blinds closed means I can prance around in the "all-together" in my living room and not worry about being seen (I live on the 3rd floor and don't face the street).

Can't stand to have the drapes closed, even at night. It makes the space feel small and cramped, and I don't get a lot of direct sunlight, so I crave it. The only exception is the bedroom, where I'll sometimes close the sheers to keep the bf happy--he thinks the neighbors are standing on their back deck looking at our pupiks. Did I mention it's 15-degrees out?

I have a thing about privacy, so as soon as it gets darker outside than it is inside, I close the blinds. I just feel too exposed otherwise. On the other hand, I like to look into people's homes at night to see how they're decorated.

Obviously, this question is of interest to people; look how many posts there are.

We mostly keep them open. We went month without any curtains at all, so i guess we got used to it. Our back living room wall is solid floor-to-ceiling windows.

In Holland (where I'm living), most houses have giant windows in the front (think: storefront) and they are mostly open. I love walking around in the evenings and seeing families eating dinner together or relaxing in their living rooms.

I'm only home when it's dark. :(

And since I live on the ground floor, curtains (or ugly vertical blinds, in my case) stay closed.

I actually moved to this apartment because I was fed up with non-stop closed blinds. I was living on ground floor, with people walking by a lot. I am a rather private person, and I prefer when people don't have a chance to look inside.

Now, I can have the blinds open whenever I want, I have trees only on two sides and on the third side people could see something only if I got close to the window... I love that I can have bright sunshine in, or see sunset colors on my walls. Win!

I open the shades and curtains when I'm home and there's light out. I don't see the point of leaving them open at night--I wouldn't be letting in any light, but I'd be offering up my home to complete strangers, be they innocent passers-by, creepy peeping-toms, or worse.

That said, my building is on a steep hill, so while my living room is on the third floor, my bedroom window is practically basement level. A single small window at shoulder level (which happens to be right along the sidewalk outside) is all I have in there. I open my living room and kitchen windows on a regular basis, but I have never, ever opened my bedroom window, even on a nice day. It bothered me at first. A lot. After 18 months or so, I'm still not 100% happy with the situation, but the idea of opening that window bothers me more than the need to turn on a light.

Still, the bedroom in our next apartment (the hunt will begin this summer!) will definitely have nice big windows.

My regular curtains are pretty sheer, but I keep them open at important points so my cat can look out. I find myself closing them completely on days when I feel crabby/lazy/shlubby. On those days, I'd rather that no one be able to look in.

I couldn't stand not letting any light in even if I was on the bottom floor. I'd invest in sheers at least so at least light can travel in - or get the window film stuff.