If one of your windows looks out upon a brick wall, your neighbor's A/C units, trash cans, a parking lot, your neighbor's house, a construction site, a back alley, a driveway, utility meters, or anything else unattractive, then you should find a way to disguise the view instead of closing your curtains and blocking out all of the light.
Here are a few options for hiding a bad view out your window.
photo courtesy of Becky Stern flickr.com/photos/bekathwia/2191612500Strategic Placement of Furniture and Décor
One of the simplest ways to obscure a less-than-ideal view is by strategically placing furniture.
Position chairs so they do not directly face the window so you or your guest is not staring out the window at your bad view.
Sheer Curtains
Sheer curtains allow light to come into your home but block out much of the view.
Some sheers are more sheer than others, so you will need to test the sheer curtains in your home during different times of day and lighting conditions to ensure that it blocks out the correct amount of view for your situation.
Cover It
You can cover your windows with an object that is translucent or something that covers about 50% of the view.
Such items include a stained glass window, a large translucent object (like a vase), or a large plant.
Window Film
Decorative window film #ad comes in a variety of patterns, designs, and opacity levels that provides privacy while letting in some light.
Options include translucent, frosted, stained glass, or patterned films.
Installing window film can be a DIY project if you have a small window, but you might want to hire an expert if you have a larger window.
Replace Glass
You can replace the glass in your trouble window with glass that is more translucent, textured, or art glass.
You can use a more distorted antique looking glass, a patterned glass, frosted glass, or whatever glass texture you can dream of.
Block the Bottom Part
You can block only the bottom part of your window from the bad view (about 5 foot off the floor and below) while allowing light to come through the top part.
You can block the windows using opaque curtains, shutters, a screen, top down shades #ad, or any of the methods listed above.
Indoor Greenery
Adding plants in front of your window will block the view yet still let some light in.
Your plants will love the sunlight and you will feel like your indoor plants are your outdoor view.
Outdoor Landscaping
If you have an outdoor area outside that window, add landscaping to cover the bad view.
You can plant a tree in the ground or in a pot, use vines on a trellis, use an empty trellis or pergola, plant fast growing shrubs to create a hedge, plant fast growing clumping bamboo (not running bamboo that is very invasive) in a rectangular pot to create a screen, or use any other tall evergreen landscaping that will screen the bad view in during the summer as well as the winter.
Outdoor Architectural Elements
You can add architectural elements such as window boxes, trellises, or awnings to hide your ugly view.
It is much more effective to block the view from outside than from inside.
Another benefit is that outdoor architectural elements might also block some noise coming from your ugly view.
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