I know, way to throw that title out there, Mic. Kind of like when I told you to check out my rack. But it's true. You really can't watch me shower anymore... and neither can my neighbors! Let me explain.
When David and I renovated our master bathroom last year, we moved an existing window to the center of a wall (and actually made it larger in the process). Luckily, we had the skills of my handy dandy carpenter brother-in-law (hi, Nate!) because that process involved tearing down the entire internal wall, removing the exterior siding and essentially cutting big ol' holes in the side of my house. You can check out the whole window installation process here. Fun stuff.
BEFORE
AFTER
Aaaanyways, this space clearly became our double shower. Which provoked a ton of emails and questions from all of you about how we intended to keep our privacy and have a window in our shower??
I'm kind of embarrassed to admit it, but the answer for about six months was: a tarp. Yeah, we're kind of redneck around here. See, when we moved the exterior siding, we had to special order its replacements. So my brother-in-law and David added all of the necessary weather-proof elements, including the black tarp paper (or whatever it's called), to the side of the house and then further weather-proofed the area with a tarp. This little spot on our house isn't visible from the road, so it was no one's problemo but ours. I promise we didn't make our neighbor look at a tarp for six months. But even once we put the siding up, we left the tarp over the window because... well, like I said, we're kind of redneck like that.
But when we decided to put the house on the market, we realized the tarp just wouldn't cut it. Plus we had painters coming to paint the outside of our house and really had to get the tarp out of the way. Wop wop. Sooooo, long story even longer, we took off the tarp. And had a beautiful window which opened directly from our second-story windows into the trees. A gorgeous view. And, ahem, no privacy.
Here's the beautiful, tarp-free privacy-less window.
At the risk of sounding like a crazy person, David and I left the window like that for the last month or so... like I said, you can't see the the window from the street. And you can't see the window from our neighbors' houses. At least I hope. Plus I sound cool when I say I showered in front of the world, right? But at the risk of potential buyers thinking we were straight up exhibitionists, David and I decided it was time to get this baby covered up.
For those of you who are still awake out there (sorry, this is a long, slow saga... but I have received so many questions and emails about it, so I thought it'd be helpful to share!), we decided to use an opaque window film that we picked up from Home Depot for about $30 (for a whole roll). David installed it last weekend... apparently it took a couple of hours to ensure that the film was perfectly measured and applied so that no bubbles popped up behind the film. Doesn't sound like the most fun process ever, but can you see me shower now? No way, Jose.
Yes, I use cheap shampoo. I told you, we're redneck.
It was tough to get a close-up shot, but the texture is actually really pretty.
There's still a ton of light that makes its way through the film, so that's not a problem. But sometimes I miss the trees. I really bonded with them over the last month during my "hello world" showers. But then I just remember the beauty behind actually having a window in our shower and... voila.
This is clearly an invitation for my neighbor to watch me shower (again). I'm such a creep.
So that's our new window film story! Ever have to deal with creating privacy in your home?
