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I’ve lived in houses where we needed window dressing whether it’s drapes, curtains, blinds or shutters; I needed privacy and was happy to have something up at the window.
image via Better Homes and Gardens
image via The Lettered Cottage ~ Paula Deen’s bedroom at Tybee Island
image via Elle Decor
The house we currently live in is not in need of window covering except in the bedrooms and even then its as much to keep unwanted morning light out (if you need to sleep in) not to actually keep anyone outside our house from seeing in…hubby and I rarely sleep in so we keep the wooden blinds open.

You can see the neighbor's wall (which is the side of their house, no windows on that wall allowed).
image via Garden, Home and Party
The reason for this is that we live in what California builders call “zero-lot-line garden home”. This is what they sometimes do to make sure they can increase the density in a tract of homes.
image via Home & Garden
What it actually boils down to is the side yard of our home (on one side) has the next door neighbor’s exterior wall as a fence of sorts. The neighbor’s house doesn’t have windows on that side so they are not able to look into our side yard.
image via Oliveaux
The other side of our house serves as a fence for the neighbor on the other side (again, no windows on that side of OUR house). Are you with me? In our case our back yard backs to a street but the fence supplies us with privacy so we don’t need window coverings on that back or side of the house. The builder created an atrium on the windowless side of the house to allow for fresh air in the bedrooms on that side and to provide natural light. It really is very pleasant…if it sounds claustrophobic to you it’s probably due to my poor description.
In any event, I’ve gotten away from feeling the need to put curtains up on the windows. We have French windows or doors throughout and it feels very nice to be able to skip this decision. I’ve seen some wonderful valances and Roman shades while perusing the internet, but IF I put them on the list of “wants” they will have to take a number…the list is long and possibly expensive at this point.
What do you have on your windows for privacy?