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I’ve always had this creepy feeling about my master bathroom… The room itself is tiny and it is the only bathroom I’ve ever in any home I’ve ever owned in that has window. Wait, let me take that back. One bathroom had a window made of a whole bunch of coke bottle glass blocks but there was no seeing through that stuff for anything in the world…
So I’ve hated this window in my bathroom except when I’m putting on my makeup. Then I think it’s pretty nifty. But under normal circumstances, like, say, I get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night? I get creeped out. Are the blinds in such a way that someone could stand right on my porch and peep in? (Like somebody doesn’t have anything better to do between the hours of 2 – 4 am)
But then one day on Amazon I saw this stuff. It’s basically window film that sticks to a window much like contact paper and makes it go from see through and normal, to not so see through and a lot more private. Since the stuff was right about $7 a roll with free 2 day shipping (Amazon Prime, baby!) I tossed it in my cart and checked out without a second thought. Yup, one easy DIY frosted window coming right up.
Now here is my window before. It’s not a huge window but it’s enough for an imaginary peeping tom to get an eyeful. And, yeah, my window is dirty… window washing is one of my least favorite things in the world. Just behind folding laundry. And doing dishes. Don’t judge.
I measured out the window with my tape measure and cut my piece of vinyl about a quarter of an inch too big all around. I started in the corner and overlapped the film onto the window frame.
I used an old card to help push the bubbles out as I went along.
And I just kept going…
Rather than trying to trim up the vinyl I decided to shove the small bit of overlap into the frame. Now I didn’t have any problems doing this because my windows are 20 some odd years old. If you have a newer window, you may not want to do this, though.
And there it is. Now I went so, so carefully around to eliminate bubbles, but look up at that dang thing. As it turns out the bubbles came in because I applied when the window was really, really cold (it was our coldest day into the fall in the 40s or 50s, I don’t really keep track). So try to time this little project for when you have nice, moderate temperatures and when the sun isn’t beating down on the glass.
It’s amazing how much more private my little bathroom feels due to a roll of $7 vinyl. To be honest, I’ve been expecting that my best option was to have the window replaced. Silly me! This is a pretty awesome little project if you’re hoping to keep prying eyes out either on a budget or in a rental. Will you be thwarting peeping toms with this adhesive frosted glass vinyl?
And if someone wants something really temporary, the cheapest solution is a bottle of beer and 1-2 spoons of salt: dissolve the salt in the beer, apply it with a sponge and wait until it dries. It holds until the next time you wash the windows.
Thanks for sharing this! I was just researching options for making the bottom half of our patio window private, so our dog can still enjoy sun during the day but stop freaking out when anyone passes by. You can’t beat the price! Has anyone tried removing this stuff before? We are renting so when we move out, I’m going to have to try to get it off….
Okie, dokie – so I just went and peeled a little bit from my window to see what happened. This window is on the west side of my house that gets some serious afternoon rays and has been on for 7 months. The stuff peeled away like nobody’s business. It left behind a really sticky residue but some Goo Gone and that should be no problem to get rid of. I think that it will be absolutely fine in a renting situation!
You don’t need special window film. Ordinary clear Contact paper works perfectly well. It’s an old film location trick. The sliding glass doors of my apartment have been covered for about 10 years, as have the lower half of my bedroom windows.
That is very interesting and good to know, Robyn. Thanks for the tip!
Excellent! I love your writing, homest, simple, humurous & to the point! Great stuff! I have used the same sort in many apartment! But never at $7/roll! Course I purchased our last from Home Depot. It was $35.00 but, i saved every bit i could because it has bamboo patterns throughout. It was for my daughters bedroom–you know children have those fears too. BEST purchase i made and doesnt take away from natural lighting. These products are awesome! Great post. Its a good reminder and a tutorial i havent seen before.
Thanks much on all accounts! I had never seen a tutorial for it and figured “why not?” :)
There’s also spray permanent window frosting located in the spray paint section of your hardware store, for less than $6…works well
I need to do this sooo bad! I have a huge window in my bathroom upstairs that needs to be covered but I’m too scared to do something permanent! This would be perfect!
Yay! I’m so glad that this is going to be helpful to you. A big window would be a big expense to do just about anything to. Luckily this is so cheap you might get it done for under $15!