Home Privacy?

ClassicRockr

ClassicRockr

Well-known Member
For us, when we are at home, our living room curtains (facing the sidewalk) are open and shades are half-way up the window, plus our shades in our dining room (facing the back area/buildings) are half-way up the windows. I think some folks, who walk by our apartment during the day, and can see me on our computer, are really shocked that we have our living room curtains and shades that way......open! At night, people could see us sitting in our recliners watching tv. Don't bother us. However, when we leave our apartment to go somewhere, we close all of our shades and when we go to bed we close both the curtains and all of the shades. A neighbor across the drive from us, have their shades closed whether they are home or not........all the time. One older guy that lives in their building, has white cardboard covering all his windows except for one and that one is 1/2 covered.

During Christmas, anyone who drives by or walks by at night, could see our Christmas tree lit up in the living room.........we love it!

To me, that's like living in a jail! We do believe in some privacy, like when we go to bed. But, living with all curtains and/or shades closed all the time......I just don't get it. But, then again, there are a lot of younger people here that get their vehicle windows tinted very dark. It makes some folks wonder what the heck those people are doing in their vehicles!

So, are you the type that keep your front window curtains and/or shades completely closed all the time, or are they open when you are home?
 

When we got new windows put in our house we decided to just dump the living/dining room drapes. No blinds/shades either, just open. We aren't on a busy street though, and just get a few hikers, dog walkers going past. Nothing across the road except a loch. We close our bedroom drapes in the summer so the sun doesn't shine in our faces at 4am. Otherwise, we leave them open. We have a stone wall and hedge so no one can see in the bedroom, except when the double decker school bus goes past. I've nearly been caught getting dressed in the morning!
 
I live in a 3-storey house; which is also 3 steps up from the road.
i never drop any of my blinds.....if anybody can look in they have to be 7foot tall; even to look into the kitchen!
 

We have all our curtains and blinds open during daylight hours.. But when it gets dark and we turn the lights on, we close the curtains and blinds. Except for the back kitchen window, because our back yard is private and no one can look in the window. I enjoy the natural light, but don't really want people looking in at me after dark. We live on a busy street and there are lot's of folks walking and driving by.
 
Our shades and curtains are usually all wide open. They are only closed in extreme cold to keep the heat in. Our house sits in the woods 1/8 mile from the road so we have plenty of privacy.
 
Although we have moved several times since then,we have not lived in a house where we needed curtains or blinds since 1977-until now,that is. We have blinds in the living room and our bedroom because we get the morning sun from sunrise until afternoon. I hate it-I like being able to see my donkey out there and the scenery is beautiful,but that sun is a killer!
 
We open the front curtain early in the morning, when we let the dog out for the first time, around 6AM. We like the morning sun to come in for the plants, and the dog's chair is there, so he likes to look out, also the cat's scratcher/napper. When we get up, all the other curtains/mini blinds open for the rest of the day, home or not. Like QS, when it starts to get dark, and we have the lights on inside, our front curtains close. Our back yard is pretty private, but before we go to bed, all shades are down.

I do like to see people who have a large decorated tree in their front windows at night, very nice and Christmasy! :christmas2:
 
The exterior steel shutters are computer-controlled and roll up at 7AM (8AM in summer). The thumb-print and retina scanners also come online at this time.

We put the timberwolf/shepherds back in their runs at 9AM.

In the evening, the shutters come down at sundown and are hermetically sealed. The wolf/sheps are released to roam the property and the drawbridge is reeled in.
 
I live in 1st floor apt. Blinds open in daytime, closed at night. Im like Rockr, can't understand why some folks never, never open their curtains or blinds, even a little.
 
I leave mine up most of the time. But sometimes when I sit up by myself late at night when hubby goes to bed I get shivers at the back of my neck and feel like someone is watching. I won't go out on the enclosed front porch to smoke, but bring the ash tray inside (where I usually do not smoke). No curtain there. Then I let down the curtains. Am I the only one with this premonition? or do others also do this. We live in the country, within the two mile town radius.
 
I live in an upstairs apartment. Typical with sliding glass door out to my patio (with solid enclosure so I can even put my clothes drying rack out there in the summer and no one knows) There is a large bush that has grown past my upstairs patio and a tree in the parking lot which makes my area even more private. I have my blinds in the bedroom up during the day and the vertical blinds open on the sliding glass door. When it gets dark I close everything. When my cats were still young, I couldn't close the vertical blinds without my one cat attacking them for play. Luckily she outgrew that. My patio is private and my only TV is in the bedroom anyway.

If I had an area I needed more private, I like lace curtains or sheers but I know not everyone likes those. I like light. I couldn't have everything closed up.
 
Here's my admission... When DH and I walk our dogs at night.. (weather permitting)... I like to look inside houses with curtains open and lights on. I just look at what they have.. furniture, layout, wall decor, colors..whats playing on their TVs.. and if there are people inside, I look at them too. NO... I do NOT sneak up to the windows and press my nose against them.. lol! I walk by on the sidewalk and look in. So I know people do this.. it's human nature.. That's why I close my curtains and blinds.
 
I like light in the house so I open the vertical blinds when I get up and only close them when I go to bed. The regular opening and closing of blinds is one way the neighbours know that we are alive. If a few days went by without the blinds changing I'm sure they would come to see if we are OK. That's why we have to tell the neighbours when we are going away for any length of time.
 
I have got to be able to see outside during the day. My living room window..front of house, the blinds are open and most times are pulled up part way, and the curtains are drawn to the side.
I have neighbors whose windows are always covered with blinds and curtains.
That would drive me crazy.

I also love to see Christmas trees in the window :)
 
I have a tendency to take a peek into some ones living room, if their curtains and/or blinds are open. Like already stated, "human nature". Obviously, Christmas is a really neat time to take that "peak". I've seen some folks walk by our apartment, take a short look, and I'll wave "hi" to them.

A lot of people just don't like to have their curtains/blinds open, b/c they know that some people will take a peak in. They get a little scared that someone might be "casing out" their stuff with that "peak". Some people are just simply very, very private. Actually, I think those are the same type of people that would never buy anything online.
 
I have a friend like that. Her curtains and blinds are closed 24/7 and the electric lights on. I've asked her why.. She says it's a privacy issue.. To each his own.
 
Then again, that "Privacy issue" has been linked to doing illegal things in the home. Yea, a "drug lab" home sure wouldn't have their curtains/blinds open! Having a Marijuana Plantation in a home would also qualify for curtains/blinds being closed. Just thinking.
 
I doubt anybody who lives on my road keeps their blinds/curtains shut! Otherwise, what's the point of living on a coastal road if you can't see the view?!
 

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