The Naked Truth

Recently, Jane, one of the talented and delightful women from Attic Mag and I had a fun conversation about windows and window treatments.

It started when she made a comment on a post I did about a friend's home and how her bathtub was surrounded by windows with no blinds.  Here is the picture that sparked the conversation between Jane and me.

After seeing this "naked" window Jane left me the following comment...

Ok, I must ask...
for those of you who live in the country, woods, in the middle of nowhere...do you really step into the tub with no window shades? LOL Just one of those weird thoughts that goes through my mind when I see a tub w/a gorgeous view and no one (supposedly) around for miles.

Jane T. 

I wrote Jane back and told her that I don't have a blind, curtain or shade on ANY windows in my entire house!

I think this freaked her out even more and she sent me a cute message back that read...

OMG.  I just don't think I could do that!!  Maybe I watched Rear Window too many times.  Visions of James Stewart with binoculars in hand, LOL.  Even if he lived in the next county I think it would still feel so eerie. 
Scardey-cat Jane ;D

We continued our conversation via email and had a good laugh about the possibility of deer, peeping Toms, or whatever might be lurking outside my windows and I think we both concluded that it's not really so much about whether or not someone can see in, but just the sense of security that you get from being able to cover up your windows.

Now, I understand that if you live 3 feet away from your next door neighbor, then of course you'll want blinds, curtains, or something to block "their" view of you!  But here in the country, that really isn't much of an issue.  We have one neighbor who is close by, but our home sits further back and we have large evergreens that block the view into one another's houses.

This is the view out of one of the windows in our master bedroom so you can see that aside from a few field mice, there isn't much chance of someone taking a gander.  Plus with two big, noisy dogs that tell us when the wind is blowing...much less if someone is creeping around outside...I think we are safe!

Another view from the same window.

When we first looked at our house it was owned by an elderly couple.  Every window was covered with dark, heavy drapes and the shades were all drawn.  They took the draperies with them, but after we moved in we took down the shades and installed mini blinds.  Knowing a renovation was in our future, I didn't even bother to put up curtains in most of the rooms.

"Before"

This is how the old family room area looked shortly before the renovations began, see the bits of the blue painter's tape on the walls...we put those there to show us how big the new windows would be!  Even before we purchased the house we knew that this area would need to change dramatically.  We knew that the kitchen would need to change, and that we wanted lots more windows in this room, which has some of the best water views in the whole house!

Living in a brick house is great, except when it comes to expanding windows!  We had to have a much bigger header installed and the dust made by cutting bricks is unbelievable, it makes drywall dust seem like a walk in the park!  There were clouds of pink brick dust floating all over the inside of our house and that was with plastic on the walls to help minimize the mess!  Our brick mason, Ronnie Trossbach, did an amazing job of matching the old and new brick.  After the mortar dried you couldn't even tell that any brick work had been done.

Here you can see what a huge difference it made to add just 2 extra windows to the room.  That's Richard, our hard working contractor, doing what he does best...hard work!

"After"

And here is a picture of the windows today.  It's partly cloudy and a little dreary outside today, but even on a cloudy day these windows make a huge difference in brightening up the space!

During the renovation we replaced every single window in the house.  Along with the expansion of the family room windows, we added more windows to the master bedroom and the kitchen.

"Before"

The kitchen windows were widened, raised up, and box bayed to accommodate the new cabinetry.

"After"

"Before"

Even the sliding door was replaced.  I really wanted french doors but the slider takes up so much less space.  

"After"

I chose prairie grills on the slider to help maximize the views.

Our bedroom had just two windows when we first moved in.  After the renovation there are now 4 windows.

"Before"

Above is a picture of how the bedroom looked with the previous owner's furnishings.  They used this room as a TV room.

"After"

Adding just 2 windows afforded us wonderful water and field views.

Now when we wake up each morning we have amazing views of the creek.

And when I do my make-up each day I have views of both the creek and the fields.  I get to watch deer, birds, and just a few days ago I even got to watch a red fox.  It must have been a mother fox out looking for food for her babies.  It's unusual to see a fox during daylight hours, but in rural areas, and when they have young, they will often hunt during the early morning hours for extra food to bring home to their "kits".

Maybe one day Mr. Tide and I will want to put up seagrass blinds, plantation shutters, or install some pretty curtains, but for now we are going Au Naturale!   I don't think I've been able to convince Jane at Attic Mag that this is the way to go, but I think I have convinced her that if she ever comes to my house for a visit, that she'll be safe.  And hopefully she won't get the heebie jeebies, but will relax and enjoy the sunshine, stars, and summer breezes from my very naked windows!

Don't forget, there's still time to enter my latest Giveaway.  Click HERE to find out more!

It's time for Metamorphosis Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch.