When Home Sweet Home Stops Being So Sweet

Discussion in 'Home Improvement' started by Babs Hunt, Oct 15, 2017.

  1. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    This used to be our view when walking out our front door. Now this is our view....
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    I can no longer take sunrise pictures from our front porch and I no longer feel like we have privacy if we want to sit on our porch and drink a cup of coffee. :( No one lives in this new Unit yet..but there are still workers in and out of it doing what they need to do to get it finished.

    At first I didn't think it was going to really bother me that our Landlord was putting up new Units. He didn't have to cut the Oak trees down to do it so I thought I would be okay with things. But once the Unit started going up and I saw how close it is to ours...my thoughts have completely changed and I find myself spending more time indoors with the blinds half closed now.

    Our Landlord has promised to put us up a privacy fence...
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    This is what the privacy fence will look like...I know this because this one is the one he put in place in the front Units yard when there was a troublesome and trashy tenant in another Unit that our Landlord does not own.

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    Our privacy fence would be put up behind the Oak trees which would give us a little more yard space than the front Unit has but the problem is the new Unit sits up higher than our Unit does...so when who ever moves in looks out their windows they will basically be able to see over the fence and into our windows if we don't have the blinds closed. :(

    We will have to get shades for the porch so we can let them down when we want privacy on our porch. I think of moving often now....but our little Home itself is perfect for us (or at least it was). I don't want to make any hasty decisions here but I'm definitely no happy with the "home improvements" going on here.
     
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  2. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    Oh dear...that's terrible news... I'm so sorry this has happened babs...that would be my idea of a nightmare.. to be so close to people opposite, and have them able to see into your home especially if lights are on and blinds are open , is rotten.

    Yes you'll get the privacy a little bit behind the fence...but you'll not only feel closed in and also it'll potentially block a lot of light , you'll have no view..and if anyone moves in with children...you may even have footballs being kicked against the fence..

    Oh I'll shut up now because I'm probably depressing you further...:(
     
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  3. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    No, you really aren't Holly. I started this topic because I wanted to let my feelings out about this...holding them in sure wasn't doing me any good. :)

    I needed to let the negatives out so I can see past them to the positives. And there will be positives even though I may not be able to see any except that the Oak trees didn't have to be cut down right now.

    Who knows...my new best friend maybe moving into that Unit. :)
     
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  4. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    Let's hope so Babs... :)
     
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  5. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Yes, going from a nice, pleasant and relaxing view, to looking at someone else's home, can be a pain. We all really do want to be happy where we live, as in, home, surroundings, city/town/state. We like the apartment we have been in since Jan. 2009. There are only four apartments like ours in the complex and there is a Waiting List to rent all four when current residents move out.

    Anyway, when people walk by our apartment and see our curtain and shades open, some get stunned.........why? Because many residents here don't open their shades at all and many don't have curtains either. Our curtains came from the house we had in Colorado. Privacy, unlike many residents here, isn't a big thing for us. We do pull down the shades and close the curtains when we go to bed or take a little Saturday or Sunday afternoon nap. If I kick-back in my recliner during the day for a few minutes, while wife is at work, I will pull down the shades, so there is less light in the living room.
     
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  6. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    really Cody??... why don't people open their blinds and curtains?... It must look like a ghost town with all the windows closed up and shades and curtains closed... how weird..

    No-one where I live does that...although tbf..in hot areas like in Spain we do have our shutters down when it's really hot as does everyone... , to protect the furniture from the sun...but here..first thing in the morning the blinds and curtains are open and windows get opened..and they stay like that until either we go out or it starts getting dark..
     
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  7. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    I'm so glad I "vented" about my negative feelings over losing our big yard view, etc. I actually slept better last night and woke up with ideas on how we could still keep our privacy as much as possible.

    That led me to checking out websites with privacy fencing ideas, etc. and seeing all the ways one can still have "privacy" when living close to neighbors...renewed my spirit and is bringing out the creative ideas in me.

    We are still blessed in so many ways to even have a Landlord who would put up a privacy fence at no cost to us to make sure we can retain as much privacy as possible. We can plant flowers and veggies and paint and decorate our "home" (that really belongs to him) without him ever having a problem with any of this. And we pay a monthly rent that is so reasonable it is hard to believe good people like our Landlord really still exist. We don't have to worry about crime here and even though we live in a small subdivision...it is like living in the country. And we are blessed that we have a nice front porch to sit on plus our home comes with a dishwasher, garbage disposal, washer and dryer, all other appliances and even an attic to store extras in. This is our home, and though the outside may be changing some...the inside is still the same. Change happens and can be good...I'm hoping this change will bring good things too.
     
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  8. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Yep, true! Seems that a lot of residents here simply don't want someone walking down the sidewalks, that go in front of the apartments, and taking a glance into the front window where the living room is. Some of these windows are bedroom windows and those I can understand keeping the shades/curtains closed. I mean, this is an apartment complex, not a house on acres of land where your neighbor is a few or more miles away. When I clean our firearms, I always shut the shades/curtains in the living room, because that's where I clean them. Don't want to shock anyone and have them call law enforcement because they seen me cleaning a firearm or, get some other stupid ideas in their heads.

    One guy actually has white cardboard over his front/sidewalk facing windows.

    Sometimes, as a local law enforcement officer told me, people keep their shades/curtains closed because they are doing some kind of illegal thing in the living room. Just like some folks will not rent an apartment that faces the management office. Even though we don't have any windows that face that way, we are right across the parking lot from the office.

    And, btw, it can get entirely too hot and humid here to open the windows during the summer months. A/C or ceiling fan is the only way to go.
     
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  9. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    Here's a couple of ideas that I really like for the privacy fencing in our yard and to add to our porch. :)
     
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  10. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    That looks exactly like our 6 ft privacy fence that we have along both sides of our back garden, we have shrubs and hanging plants on them to pretty them up ... ...we 're not overlooked from the front or rear but we do have neighbours either side of us....
     
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  11. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I also have fence on all three sides of me in the back...everyone does...the same style fence, the homes were built like that.

    I do have a 2 story house in back of me though so if it wasn't for the 3 very tall pines that were planted to hide the view of that house they'd be able to see in my backyard.
     
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  12. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    Same here, I have blinds and I barely open them a crack in the summer months...heats up the house too much even with AC.
     
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  13. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    At the back of my rear garden I have all very tall mature trees... and a 16 feet high by 30 feet wide Laurel hedge
     
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  14. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I have trees on both sides besides the pines in the back.

    I'm not sure what they're called though, kind of a tall tree/bush...it's twice as tall as the 8ft fence.
     
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  15. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    me too...trees both sides along the fences as well as shrubs ( which are 6 feet high the same height as the fence) ..and my neighbours have trees also ... we have Ash, Plane and holly trees as well as the Laurel hedge ...and 2 large choysia shrubs, red robin forsythia, and Bay trees... ... and except for the Bay tree which is about 5 feet ... all the trees are about 30 feet high ...we have quite a long rectangular garden which opens up wider into an L shape...
     
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