We got our groove on with the bathroom. Well, for thirty minutes or so anyways. Seriously, don’t you just love short, cheap, projects that don’t require “messy clothes” and yield great results? I need more of those kinds of projects in my life. This project totally fit the bill and it turned out great. Here’s a cheap and easy way to Add Privacy to Bathroom Windows!
When I first did our mood board for the bathroom, I planned on making a roman shade out of fabric. Once we got the lights installed in the right spots, we realized that the lights and wall color made the room pretty dark. That sent us back to the drawing board for a window treatment. Our backyard is pretty big and the family behind (and to the left) have a pretty large lot, so privacy is not a huge issue. I wanted something on the window to make it feel a little more private though. So, I decided to try a contact paper window cling.
I had tried it before in our master bathroom, but the results weren’t terrific. I was by myself trying to put it up and I ended up with air bubbles. So, I knew that I needed Luke to help out with this one.
I let him decide on the design. He went with gaps about 2″ apart and used the Fibonocci Sequence for the width of the stripes. Have you heard of that? Me neither. It’s the price I pay for marrying a programmer.
I pulled the backing off while he slowly smoothed the air bubbles out.
After getting it up, I realized that the window needed to be cleaned from the outside. Luckily, I only had to climb up on the lower roofline to reach it.
After (with privacy control but lots of natural light):
***Added 05/08: We just completed this project AGAIN in our master bathroom. If you want a video tutorial for this window privacy treatment, then check out my Bathroom Window Privacy DIY!
Total cost: FREE (gotta love that!)
We already had the contact paper on hand, so it ended up being free. I think the contact paper runs about $10 at Staples if you had to buy it.
The change is fabulous! It’s totally one of those things that looks 1000x better in person.
Pin For Later: Add Privacy to Bathroom Windows with this DIY!
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Julia @cuckoo4design@gmail.com says
April 23, 2013 at 6:00 amLooks great. I love the different sized stripes!
ashleymayes says
April 23, 2013 at 8:15 amThanks Julia!
Brandon says
December 19, 2017 at 5:44 pmHow did he figure out the spacing between the contact paper stripes? I know the stripes are the sum of the previous two (thickness wise), but how to get even spacing for a specified window length? It hurts my head trying to figure it out. 😛
Ashley Mayes says
December 30, 2017 at 3:14 pmThankfully, we didn’t have to resort to any fancy math (that’d make my head hurt, too). I’m pretty sure we just guessed on the spacing between stripes (we ended up using two inches), but the spacing above the top stripe and below the bottom stripe are not two inches. They’re actually, about, 2 1/4. So, find out, roughly, how many stripes you’ll want and cut them out. Then, hold two or three of them up to the window to figure out your spacing. With the spacing and stripes, you should be able to figure out the height of all the stripes along with the spacing. Center that whole thing on the window, and you’re good to go.
Brandon says
January 3, 2018 at 8:58 pmThank you for taking the time to reply, much appreciated! This will be my next project. 🙂
Whitney says
April 27, 2015 at 3:50 pmgreat idea! my room is so dark that this will work perfect. It will keep the light in but my neighbors won’t be able to see in. Where did you get the contact paper?
Ashley Mayes says
April 28, 2015 at 1:16 pmThanks Whitney. I ordered it from Amazon.
LaurieRae says
July 6, 2015 at 5:51 ami searched and searched for u inquest window cling ideas, so glad I found yours! Thank you!
P.s. I just signed up for your blog!
Ashley Mayes says
July 6, 2015 at 6:49 amYay! Hope you love them as much as we do.
Irma says
January 22, 2016 at 7:13 amHI, I have used this window stuff before and found it to bubble up. It is very difficult to get the air bubbles out. Why is this happening? which is the best way to apply to stop this happening. I love the idea and want to do it to my back door which has a clear glass. Any ideas?? Thanks.
Ashley Mayes says
January 22, 2016 at 8:34 amI think it’s really helpful to have one person laying the cling (only about 6 inches at a time) and the other person smoothing it out with a credit card. You just go a few inches and I really think the two people working together will fix it.
Ivory says
January 27, 2016 at 8:20 pmThanks for sharing, because I’ve always wanted to learn how to do this. Beautiful job you and your husband did.
Ashley Mayes says
January 28, 2016 at 2:29 pmThanks so much!
Janet says
February 12, 2016 at 11:55 amLove the idea and design. Is this a special window type of contact paper?
Ashley Mayes says
February 12, 2016 at 1:48 pmThanks Janet! No, it’s just regular contact paper. It looks a bit like it was ‘frosted’ but that’s about it. You should totally do it. It has been up for a long time and it’s still looking great.