Every city has at least one crazy window. Whether the window contains an ever-growing owl collection, or a holiday-themed display of troll dolls, it is sure to be loved and/or hated by neighbors, gawked at by visitors, and maybe even end up on a tour of the city. So my question today is: would you ever fill your window with who-knows-what, just for the surprise and delight (or shock and dismay) of passers-by? And what would you fill it with?
In his article for The Bold Italic, Alex Koll highlights a few of San Francisco's iconic and infamous window displays, and speaks with their creators. I can't believe I've never spotted the Troll Doll Window, but the Owl Window above (captured by The Camp Fires) is a staple. Do you know of any notable windows in your city? Details, please!
There are a few reasons I don't think I'd ever do something like this. First, I am very greedy about sunlight and would hate to have even a tiny bit of it blocked. Second, I am very shy, and would not want to encourage everyone to stare into my apartment, sometimes even taking photos. Third, I don't like lots of stuff, so I think a big grouping or display would stress me out.
However, I love the idea of making one's window beautiful and interesting to your fellow citizens. We spend a lot of time thinking about how our curtains and blinds look on the inside, but what about the view from the outside? I don't think troll dolls will ever be my decorating medium, but if Confetti System starts making curtains, I would love to have monumentally eye-catching, legendarily sparkly windows. Bring on the double-decker tour buses.
(Image: Kitschy in San Francisco: Put A Bird On It! from The Camp Fires)
Ellen's Thirties Style Small Space
Juan's Garage Turned Modern Guest House
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Commercial Flour Sa...
How to Cook Moist & Tender Chicken Breasts Every Time
Recipe: Thai Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry
There is a farmhouse close by with a window of big blue glass vases and bottles. Also on the way to Gettysburg another person has done it on Route 30...a major thoroughfare. There's someone in town that has three stuffed cats in the window. That one is a favorite! :)
I would do glass bottles of some sort if I had the type of window you could pull the blinds or curtains with the stuff in it. The ones I see look pretty going passed but I want my privacy at night.
There's a house around the corner from our old apartment with a life-size cardboard cut-out of Elvis in the window. It was a jolt of personality and fun in our neighborhood full of beautiful, historical but a little too tasteful (for my taste) houses.
When I was little, I remember a house in the town my grandparents lived in that had a big attic window. They kept a mannequin in the window, and dressed it up for different holidays, and I used to beg my parents to drive by when we were in town so I could see it. They'd leave the light on in that room at night, and it was like looking into a life-sized doll house.
I don't mind a pretty if somewhat off the wall collection, but all too often they look like hoarded junk more than a display.
There's a house at the end of our street with an attic window, and sitting in the window is a Halloween type skeleton wearing a cowboy hat with his arm raised to "wave" at the passing cars. The funny thing is I didn't even notice for about 6 months after we moved into our house.
I wouldn't, but I love it when someone else does!
We used to hang a pirate flag from our window but we took it down when I frosted the windows to let in more light while keeping privacy. There was a house down the street from my old home that would do a holiday village in their picture window at Christmas. I liked it, but it was on a curve at a busy street, I'd always get distracted looking at it so it seemed pretty dangerous to me.
I'm often freaked out by the houses with a wall of plants in front of their window.
That picture reminds me of the "Owl Shop" we created for the Harry Potter Party we held at my Library!
I'd only do this for a shop, never a home. I don't mind what people can see from the street, but it's just going to be the interior of the rooms where draperies are left open.
In South Philly, it's a tradition to display a large-scale tchochke or two (usually not a collection) in the first-floor window of your row house. You can literally see "white elephant" statues as you walk around the neighborhood. I just bought a house in the area and will soon begin looking for just the right thing to display. Maybe a big, crazy cactus.
There's a house in my neighborhood that people call the "dollhouse" - it's a pretty Victorian home in which a creepy porcelain doll is displayed in each and every single window. It is terrifying.
I totally get this notion...especially if you have a ground floor dwelling where people are walking right by all day/night. I imagine you have to come up with something more frisky than dark and boring privacy curtains. It is always a fine line between collection and hoard...
@ WMJR - wow your neighbors seem paranoid! I can't believe they had the audacity to complain about where you put your furniture in your own home. Crazy!
Here one story homes with high ceilings are common so most people decorate the windows that are at the top of the ceiling. (There is always one above the door and usually one or two more.) I don't put anything in our lower windows because the cats knock it over and it blocks the sunlight.
I've always loved this post. I'd do that in a heartbeat.
I'd go shopping there, never mind stare at it.
Shudder. No problem having a neighbor who fills a window full of cra...er...treasures. But me?
I wouldn't do it for the reasons stated by the OP - apart from the shyness aspect. We have no window coverings in our ground floor apartment. This is so we can see OUT! Sure, others can see in, but that's fine.
In Halifax, a couple of blocks from where I lived was an apartment that had three of those robotic Chimp busts, each wearing a different coloured lei and in various stages of dishevelledness. They were funny at first but after a while they were creepy as hell.
http://www.thegreenhead.com/2005/10/alive-chimpanzee-by-wowwee-animatronic.php
THESE. DUSTY AND PEELING AND CREEPY.
I would do something like this in a heartbeat, but we are the only house on a long driveway, so no one would get to see the magic that would be my crazy lady window.
theres a house near me that has a huge stuffed donkey kong and winnie the pooh tied to the upstairs varandah/basketball hoop... i think they occasionally change them (outside in the weather.. yuck) but they stay up for years.
a friend of mine always lovingly remembers her childhood town in holland where people decorate their front window for christmas and they always went on walks looking in and admiring everyones displays... I think that is lovely! so maybe as a once a year thing.
Rampant (always creepy) in Chicago, especially in Rogers Park. I saw a window completely filled with yellow smiley memorabilia (?) in Logan Square though. Not as bad.
I just moved to Portland and there are couple of windows like this in my neighborhood. One is entirely sugar skulls and the other is dismembered doll parts. I love them both!
A leg lamp at Christmas is enough for me.
Ha! I always walk by that apartment on my way to the park or Bi-rite. One time I was staring at all of the owls in the window and then saw a pair of human eyes staring back...yikes!
Love it!!! One of my windows holds my vast collection of antique cobalt blue, yellow, & red medicine bottles (which are also the colors of the Ecuador flag). Maybe it's too much for some people, but it feels like a stain glass window to me when the sun shines through. It's so pretty & besides, I didn't feel like making a curtain. I get a kick out of the AT posters who freak out about American flags hung in windows as curtains. At one place I lived I had hung my Ecuador flag in a side facing window & a neighbor (turned out to be the adult version of school hall monitor- LOL!) flipped out on me about how disrespectful I was being for hanging ANY OTHER flag but the US flag (he also informed me that I could go back to Mexico if I didn't like the rules. I informed him that I'm from Ecuador & he responded "Same thing". Sigh...). So, I hung a US flag in the other window & a DIFFERENT neighbor flipped out on me about THAT! LOL! Some people worry too much about how their neighbors choose to decorate their homes.
South Philadelphia bay windows are a source of pride. Traditional windows have at least one Madonna statue, but most often they're decorated for every holiday.
Here's a video of inside the Owl Window apt. There's more than just the owls... The owner must be a collector of sorts. The bathroom is way more interesting than his window display. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYT-Ko62r54&feature=player_embedded