We moved from a suburban neighborhood where I could see into 5 other people’s homes from my back deck, out to the country where we have more than an acre of privacy and tons of trees (and if you can believe it, we paid a lot less for this house than the previous one). One of the perks is that I can’t see into anyone’s house from my backyard (and no one can see into my house). Because of the awesome privacy I was able to take the blinds down in our family room and not worry about any Peeping Toms.
I have enjoyed being blinds-free in our family room so much that I got a wild hair and took down all the blinds in the game room as well! (The fact that they were broken and completely disgusting made the choice a lot easier.) Our game room also faces the backyard, so we have a lot of privacy (I will keep the blinds on the front of the house though because you can see into our house from the street).
I think removing the blinds has made a big impact already. Here’s what the windows looked like when we bought the house. We quickly took down the curtains, but the blinds stayed up for several months afterward.
I am planning on hanging curtains in the game room though because it is nice to be able to make it darker to watch movies or play video games. Also, whenever we have people stay over, they sleep in the game room, so they might not want the sun to wake them up at 6am. I have to figure out what curtains to hang, but I really love the way these red curtains from ikea looked in our last game room when we staged the house to sell, so I might do this again. (They will need an extra black-out layer added though.)
Anyone else blinds-phobic? I never thought I’d be the type of person to remove all my blinds, but seriously, I love it. The sun just flows in freely now. And I don’t know about you, but the weather really affects my mood so the more light the better.
MUCH better.
That’s so fun you were able to remove all your blinds! We had the opposite issue – moving into a small neighborhood meant every window needed to have blinds added! But yours look so pretty and open without the blinds!
We recently moved from the city out to the burbs and I am LOVING it! We kept our blinds down 24/7 in the city due to the close proximity to other buildings. Our new home came without a single blind….instead of spending a fortune covering all the windows up I’ve left many rooms bare and absolutely love all of the light pouring in, and not worrying about neighbors. It’s pretty freeing, isn’t it?!
Our back door neighbors is a dairy farm so I don’t care if the cows see in. We never see people in the fields either just cows. So I never bothered to put blinds up. I really love the view and the light coming in.
I’m exactly like you with blinds but I do need privacy so I have hung my Roman shades higher than the top of the window so when they are open almost all the window is open to let in the light. Two rooms of mine have the slated blinds with the 2″ shutters and those I had to hand in the window frame itself but those are on my really big windows so they don’t block much light at all. Love your blog!
The only room with coverings is my older son/guest room for sleeping in past sunrise. Love no blinds and a sun rich feeling, plus being able to see nature on a broader area. This does require a home without people all around to see in. Plus outdoor shade for summer. I believe my utilities are less using sunlight, even though the standard is wrapping windows for insulation and am in snow country. We are blessed to be able to go window bare.
I hate blinds. There, I said it. That being said, I’m not American, and in both Norway and the Netherlands, blinds are hardly used. At least in the houses I’ve been to and have lived in. The only place we have blinds in our current home, is our diningroom/office, and that’s because I want new, bigger windows, so keeping what was in the house when we moved in. It doesn’t bother me if people look in. If I want privacy, I just close my curtains.
As much as I love how rooms look without any windows hangings, I can’t do it….especially for a game room. The bigger concern for me is the glare that comes across a TV screen when there’s light at the wrong angle. It’s not a big deal at night, but during the day or evening hours? Bleh. 🙁
The other good thing about not having or needing blinds is that you don’t have to clean them!
I hate blinds! My hubby loves them. We fought about them in every single house we lived in until we finally bought or own house early this year. It didn’t have a single blind on a single window! We have lots of curtains (which I rarely close) and I love the abundance of natural light in our home! We are in a neighborhood with lots of houses, but the way we are situated and the landscaping we have makes it so that we only have one window that people can see in! It’s magic!
I love it! I cannot wait until we are in the country & can do the same! I hate having neighbors so close…
We recently moved from the “city” to the “country” (honestly just from 1 side of I-35 to the other) and we replaced the blinds in my sons room with a grey roller blind from IKEA (they are also available in white). He asked that we add one over the new blinds in the game room so it will be DARK when he watches movies or plays games. You might look at them….they were an the least expensive and most effective option for his small wide window. I love the no windows on the back of the house. 🙂
My thoughts on this to to remember what the sun can do to your furniture carpet and hard wood floors really most anything that gets a lot of sun light will fade your things.I have seen first hand the damage the sun can do in a home…..