We are (hopefully) in the last stages of our home renovation. I haven’t been able to write the finished kitchen renovation experience yet because once that part was done, all the things from other parts of the house that were being renovated had to be put somewhere. The whole time we were just moving stuff from one place to another, and trying to do a bit of decluttering while doing it.
I repainted my bedroom walls myself, but since we were going to have the ceiling renovated as well, I did not put up the curtain rod yet. Even though my window faces the fire wall / airwell / balcony, other members of the household can still walk past there so privacy is an issue. My windows are clear glass.
Of course, I turned to Lazada and Shopee to search for inexpensive solutions! I filtered the search results to only show sellers from Metro Manila because I wanted whatever it was to arrive fast.
Lazada, Shopee and Japan Home have been the inexpensive solutions to so many of my home needs. I used to think the solution was Divisoria, but based on my last trip to 168, it’s not the case anymore. Things are actually cheaper on Shopee / Lazada if you know how to sort and filter search results! The Korean hair clips that I have been thinking about ordering are sold at P60 at 168 (ang tataray pa ng ibang tindera), whereas they can be as cheap as P15 at Shopee. I don’t have to go to each store and ask their usually mataray owners the price of the items.
Also, I don’t have the time to go searching the whole of Divisoria for what I need. So online shopping it is!
WINDOW PRIVACY STICKER
So I ordered the plain frosted privacy sticker. This was P150 for 5 meters. Other shops sold this but only sell 2 meters’ length.
My order arrived in 2 days. With the cheap price come low expectations, but it was passable. The material is thin, but it sticks and it does the job of providing privacy. The sticker still lets sunlight through so I don’t need to turn on the lights during daytime.
I ordered 2 rolls just to be on the safe side, but my windows only needed 1 roll.
The application is the tricky part! You need a lot of patience and the right tools, both of which I had none of 😀
I put the sticker on the inside part of the window glass so that when the window is closed, people outside can’t just peel it off to look inside.
Application
First thing I did was to wipe the glass clean. And then I started putting on the sticker a little bit at a time, trying my best to do a smooth application and remove air bubbles as best as I can. At first, I used a ruler to smoothen the sticker, but the ruler corners were too sharp and kept poking holes in the sticker.
So I ended up using an old protractor. Basically, I just raided my desk for stuff to use 😀 <— no patience.
I also needed a ladder so I can reach the top of the window, as well as a cutter and scissors.
First pane done! It’s not the best job, but, you know, I’m not an expert 🙂 Time to cut the excess sticker with the cutter.
Close up!
One down, 3 to go!
Comparison – With Sticker vs No Sticker
FINAL THOUGHTS
I only spent P150 + shipping to cover 4 window panes! The extra roll we just used to cover an MDF computer desk for extra protection.
P150 for what I needed is very inexpensive, and for an application where I am not looking for perfection, it’s acceptable. Application is easy, it just depends on how much of a perfectionist you are.
I feel like if I had the right tools and the patience of a saint, I might be able to apply it perfectly, but based on reality right now, that’s just impossible. But it’s passable, easy to apply, and only took me about one hour to finish everything.
I wouldn’t consider it a permanent solution, but for now, it works. Please excuse the peeling paint on the windows. Since it’s not a visible area and people rarely pass there because this is at the back of the house, it’s just not a priority right now when we’re renovating other areas of the house. Maybe we’ll get to it eventually 🙂
I will be putting up Pinterest-y extra long, sheer white curtains, ceiling height. I might add a second darker curtain for privacy, but we’ll see if that still fits my white & gold room style. In that case, then I might peel off the stickers. But in the meantime, I’m keeping them until I find a better solution.
Originally, I was thinking of getting blinds – I asked around and it’s a lot more expensive and also entails additional cleaning! Before this, I had mini Venetian blinds, which I removed when I repainted, and did not put back because I didn’t like them anymore. Blinds are also more difficult to clean when dusty! Window stickers just seem like no maintenance aside from just wiping them when dirty (super easy), or replacing them whenever I want to. There is no roller contraption to deal with.
A more permanent solution would be to change the window glass panes from clear to frosted, but I’m not that committed to going that route yet. I kind of like having clear glass for some reason, and with the stickers, I can just peel them off when I want clear glass again.
Hope you enjoyed reading this 🙂
For those interested, here’s the link to the product: https://shopee.ph/product/35257524/2010636200
