Windows Privacy

Jude Wright asked:


One of the most important tasks in home decorating is choosing window coverings. Your window covering choice depends on several factors: how much natural light you want in the room, whether you need privacy from the street or neighbors, the colors that will work in your room and how much you can afford.

Here are the eight steps that need to be taken in choosing a window covering:

1. Choose the color of the draperies. Do you want them to blend in with your wall and furniture colors or do you want them to “pop.”

2. Decide on whether you need sheers with your drapery and the weight of the fabric (for privacy). You will also need to determine what type of fabric that you want. Silk draperies would work for a more formal room. You may also want to consider using window shades or wooden shutters depending upon the style of your room.

3. Do you want a plain or a patterned fabric? Choose carefully because you don’t want large patterned draperies to clash with the fabric you may have on your furniture.

4. Decide on whether or not you need insulated draperies. Insulated drapes make your draperies hang better and help prevent cold air from entering a room in winter months. Insulated drapes are also used to block out light in a bedroom for people who like to sleep in or for city dwellers who have a lot of light from street lamps and traffic. They can also mute the sounds of city living.

5. Measure your windows. Be sure to add six to eight inches for the hang from drapery rods to the top of the window and from the bottom of the window to the floor.

6. Choose the appropriate drapery hardware or curtain rods that will fit your window. Other drapery hardware you may need, are tie-backs, curtain rings and finials.

7. After you have determined the type, color and size of the draperies that you need, decide on whether they will be custom made or ready made. Ready made draperies are much less expensive than custom draperies. They can be found in many different styles and colors. Ready made draperies are also pre-made in different weights of fabrics. Some people use ready-made sheers with custom draperies added over the top.

8. Once all of the above decisions have been made, it’s time to go shopping. You can purchase ready made drapes from department stores, custom draperies from home interior design shops or just purchase the fabric and make them yourself. It all depends on the cost and the creation difficulty of the style that you have chosen.

Whether or not you use an interior designer, your choices for window coverings determines a lot about how your room will look when it is finished. Choosing window coverings and hardware is an important part of your home decorating projects.



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Carol Freyer asked:


Many homeowners find that, while they like the convenience that society affords them and their families, that they do not like the lack of privacy that comes with living closely with other families. It can be difficult to effect changes in a place that is already built or where local zoning laws have to be circumnavigated before one can put up a fence. Plants are an effective solution to many privacy woes and here’s some ideas that you can use to put them to work for you.

Trees are very good natural barriers and shields. They can provide shade and, in the case of some varieties, fruit or edible bark. Trees can add value to your home as well. Unfortunately, if you don’t have grown trees in strategic locations on your property, they are expensive to buy and have planted. Some adult trees cost more than even a relatively expensive fence, but if you want insta-privacy via trees, they are probably your best bet.

Another method of gaining some separation from the outside world is a hedge. Hedges can be cultivated to grow quite tall, but even a lower hedge can prevent people and animals from wandering easily into your space. They also can provide some natural light while still forming a barrier. Many different plants can be used to create hedges; people who want quick privacy might naturally gravitate toward the faster-growing varieties, but the celerity of growth also means more frequent pruning to keep the hedge looking good.

Planting a line of ornamental grasses can decoratively screen some areas of your property from prying eyes. There are many varieties to choose from that suit different climates and soils. They are fast growing, transplant easily and many are not tasty to local wildlife. Also, they are pretty cheap to buy, making them a low-cost, tasteful option for the homeowner on a budget.

Bamboo is a plant that may not come immediately to mind when thinking of ornamental grasses, but it is a fast growing grass that can be used to create an unusual barrier. Be sure to look for “clumping” bamboo, as the “running” version will try to “run” away and grow in every available area around the original planting. Some people use barriers to prevent inadvertent colonization.

Terracing a garden by creating various levels can be another strategy that gives you the maximum enjoyment of a slope and maximum privacy due to the varied heights you can create to work with. If you place tall plants in the highest terrace, you can create a verdant “wall” that slopes into your property or towards the street. Terraces also provide measured space between your property and the public area, something that sloping ground is not effective at.

Trellis plants, like ivy, can be used to cover up places on a fence or standing structure without seeming artificial or garish. If managed properly, they can even provide a green curtain in front of windows that can be hung in front or tied back as inclination dictates. Climbing roses can provide a sharp deterrent to not-so-casual onlookers.

Inside your house, you can use plants to screen windows while allowing light in. Hanging plants can be used to screen windows or even create private areas within the home. Some ornamental plants, like cacti, provide a barrier of thorns in windows that can deter idle hands from entering.

Plants require regular maintenance, both to look good and to stay healthy. Depending on the type of plant, they may be expensive or difficult to procure. Some plants require special treatment, either to stay healthy or to keep the area looking tidy. If the maintenance isn’t an issue, especially if gardening is a passion of yours, then this could be an ideal way to gain a little bit more privacy out-of-doors as well as in.



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Arvi asked:


Transparent decorative window film is a useful choice for windows where you want privacy but still want to let the sun shine in. Available in many patterns, decorative window film can add the rich look of stained glass windows to your building, be it commercial or residential. Decorative window film is an excellent option when thinking about installing stained glass windows. Decorative window film will give you the look of stained glass windows at a fraction of the cost.

Decorative window film is ideally suited for applications that require day or night privacy without sacrificing the natural light levels in both commercial and residential applications. Commercial films are found in banks, restaurants, health clubs, hotel foyers, conference rooms, and are used as office partitioning. Commercial buildings are dramatically increasing the use of internal glass walls as partitioning which brings natural light into offices, creating greater work productivity, as well as the illusion of a more spacious room with privacy.

You can bring color and texture to virtually any glass window, door, or room divider. Subtly or sensationally, decorative window film tinting puts multiple colors and patterns at your disposal: red, yellow, green, blue, bronze, white, black, matte, frost. Combine any or all to splash on virtually any color. Achieve any hue. Diffuse, focus, or block light completely.

A decorative film window reduces glare and offers UV protection. It is scratch resistant and very easy to maintain. Sometimes fingerprints and other marks can never be successfully removed from etched glass; this is not a problem with a decorative film window. Both the window and the film can be cleaned with common commercial cleaners or with soap and water.

Decorative window film offers the following advantages:· Adds privacy · Enhances the door or window design (or any glass surface) · Increases window safety · Rejects harmful UV rays · Cuts window glare & protects interior, without reducing ambient light · Easily maintained        · Makes glass surfaces clearly and beautifully visible · Delineates passageways · Enhances safety in public spaces · Adds flexibility to displays



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Richard Rogers asked:


When you browse the web information is continuously collected by the websites you visit and by your own computer. For example, websites at a minimum collect information about the web browser you use the operating system of your computer and the geography you reside from. However, what surprises most users is the amount of information that is collected on your computer from your surfing habits and daily use.

Your web browser stores a lot of different types of information which is designed to improve your internet surfing experience but nevertheless poses a privacy risk. The sites or URLs which you visit are stored in the browser’s “history.” Search results are saved when you enter a search term into a search engine like Google. Web content and images are stored in the “temp” folder. Files that you download are stored in the download manager.

Websites also place “Cookies” onto your hard drive. A cookie is a small text file and is used by websites to offer advanced features. Some of the information that cookies store include shopping basket items or log-in information for a membership site. Cookies can also store information about when you visited the site including date and time.

Given all this information being collected above you can easily see why this could become a privacy risk. It would not take someone who knew what they were doing too long to figure out what websites you visit, what you have bought online and what search terms you are looking for. This is unfortunately not the end of it.

If you are a user of instant messenger or chat programs like AIM, MSN Instant Messenger or even Skype then it is important to be aware that the programs saves your chat history. Most programs allow you turn this feature off.

There are number of other places besides your web browser where information is stored on your computer. This data can allow people to figure out what you have been doing on your computer. Media players like RealPlayer and Microsoft Media Play store audio and video playing history. Microsoft Office like Excel and PowerPoint applications store information about the most recently accessed files.

Another important thing to remember is that when you delete a file it is not necessarily permanently erased and can be recovered with the right software. When you first hit delete the file is moved to the Recycle Bin. Even when you empty the Recycle Bin the file still exists on your hard drive until Windows overwrites it.

Here are two things you can do to help reduce the privacy risks from your computer.

Use a free software tool called “CCleaner” (http://www.ccleaner.com) to clear information collected by your web browser and Windows’s Temp Folder. This software automates the manual process of using your browser options menu to clean out cookies, URL history etc. Try to run this tool once a week or more frequently if you are a heavy internet user. If you work with sensitive data files on your computer then you may want to consider investing in secure file “shredder” software. This type of software actually overwrites or “bleaches” the file you want to delete which means that it cannot be restored.

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