how much privacy do you need?

[digitS']

In your home, how much privacy do you need?

I can come back to this. It isn't quite one of my "I can build that!" posts. But, sorta ... and maybe I could.

So, what do you think? Relate to family or reduce just to oneself, how much privacy do you need?

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

That's a private matter, none of your business!

A nephew who was raised in metro Houston, lives in Austin, and has an Architectural degree wondered out loud why we had shades on the windows. We are in the country, who is going to look in. Normally he is an intelligent boy. Normally. Sometimes city folk are hard to understand.

My need for privacy in the house from family members isn't related that much to privacy, not wanting to be around other people or keeping secrets. Not stuff like that. It's more that I don't necessarily want to watch the same shows she enjoys and we don't necessarily share the same tastes in music so we spend downtime in different rooms. It is nice to have certain areas that are not going to be cleaned or straightened up so I can't find things, but I don't consider that "privacy".

I have planted trees and done stuff like that to block the view from neighbors, even if they are a quarter mile away. I don't need to be looking at them when they are outside and don't see a need for them to be looking at us. It's not that any of us are doing anything we are embarrassed about, just that we don't need to be looking at each other when we are outside, either working or relaxing. I do consider that privacy.

Not sure this is where you wanted to go with this topic.

 

[NwMtGardener]

hah, we share our home with strangers (lock out mother-in-law suite we rent on Airbnb) but I would HATE having to share it with family members, except on a really short term basis. As far as my husband, I really enjoy the days I have off when he's working but we also enjoy our 2.5 days off together every week as well. Some space is definitely nice, and with strangers versus family members, there's a different sort of "space" that comes with strangers.

 

[Nyboy]

I love living alone. That said city house, is like living in a fishbowl. My small backyard can be seen by at least 4 other houses. The houses are so close together I can watch neighbor's TV if curtains open. I grew up in city house, so this is normal for me. Country house very different, I am only house on my side of the street. i do have neighbors, but they are all across the street, after city this seems like miles away. The old lady across the street sits on her porch with binoculars. That creeped me out in beginning, now i am let her look, one day she might see somethng that will give her a heart attack ( hot tub has been know to get wild)

 

[so lucky]

Are you talking abut "personal space" as in the imaginary bubble that surrounds you, or needing to close the bathroom door, or not wanting to be able to see the neighbor's parties? My DH has been so isolated until recently, he knew all the neighbors' comings and goings, their schedule and who visited. I was pretty sure none of them knew or cared that much about our lives. I couldn't even tell you what kind of car the neighbors drive.
But I did enjoy seeing the young single neighbor guy wander around his bedroom shirtless before he closed the drapes. (I was walking the dog one night, really)

 

[seedcorn]

Living in country gives me all the privacy I need.

Growing up playing sports, common showers, locker rooms, you either get used to it or quit. I prefer NOT to live in town, did it, could do it again but only when I can't keep up in country. I'd live with NO locks, no shades. Wife--would lock her locks, shade her shades-dang big city girl. Thinks everyone after her and whatever she has. As if anyone cares.

 

[digitS']

Well, I knew it was none of my business .

Generally, I like to share but I'd like it to be a two-way street. It bothers me that some people have an in-your-face attitude from their location on the landscape. Usually, they cover their windows, day and night just like they cover their yard with vehicles and weeds. I won't say "trash" because one man's trash is another man's treasure.

It's kinda cute to me that the house just a stone's throw up the road on the opposite side, never has closed drapes. There have only been 2 residents there over the last 20 years - a single woman and now, a single guy. The house is just enough higher than the road that a person would have to be standing in the front windows to be seen.

No, I meant privacy indoors. Here's something I've noticed in some apartments - the bathroom door in the living room.

In the first home I owned, the bathroom door was between the living room and the dining area. I bet that kept some buyers from making an offer but I was okay with it. In that home and another with the same layout, lived for over 10 years with a bathroom within arm's reach of the dining room table.

In a home of a couple, is a bedroom door necessary? One bedroom apartments sometimes only have closet and bathroom doors.

Steve

 

[NwMtGardener]

The bedroom door in my house (just my husband and I, upstairs) is necessary so we can lock the dang dog out when we're gone so she's not sleeping on the bed. Cause I'm mean like that

 

[Smart Red]

I really don't have a sense of NEED for privacy where there are mostly just the two of us. We have few curtained windows out here in the boonies. We seldom lock doors -- sometimes the front door, never lock the back ones -- inside or out. (coops are locked against predators not people.) Evidently the grands parents lock the bathroom door. I assured them that I would leave mine unlocked so they could reach me if needed, but that we always knock and wait for a response before entering a room with a closed door as a matter of respect. At first the grands locked their rooms here -- I suspect it was because they were allowed to unlike at home. Now they trust the knock first system and leave their doors unlocked.

Master bathroom has no door other than the bedroom door. Master bedroom door is the only one kept shut since DH began showing signs of dementia. He might go to bed at any time and may not hear a knock when changing clothes so the general rule is kids stay out.

Not close enough to neighbors to worry about prying eyes and don't give a hoot what they're doing.

When we had to live in town I disliked the fact that all of my yards were corner lots with zero privacy. I just didn't enjoy the situation even if I never worried about neighbors. Hm-m-m, perhaps that means I do need privacy and don't have reason to worry about it now because I have all that it is possible to have in south-est, central-est Wisconsin.

Alone time is different than privacy.

 

[digitS']

A friend has a new home with no bathroom door in the master bedroom.

We were in the house a number of times while it was being built and after. DW was shocked!

I noted that while the sinks are fully in view from the bedroom, neither the shower, bathtub nor toilet was. In fact, with the tub, you have to enter the room then turn around to see it. Only the shower and tub have a view of each other. Oddly configured room, odd corners ... too much bother went into that design .

The entire house is like that - too many odd corners, lost space, it's hard to clean. The owner came to seriously dislike some things. She's spent a fair amount of money making changes in a home that is only now about 10 years old. An attractive exterior but everyone comes in the backdoor, functional.

I'm inspired by simplicity. And, have to guard against giving up beauty to function. These interior designers who can turn old industrial area warehouses into lovely apartments dazzle me with their creativity. A bare naked room becomes beautiful ... and functional. Trivial little nothings aren't enough.

One thing that they are doing in some designs is providing the essentials of the home as a unit. The essentials of a modern home revolve around electrical, water, heating/cooling, cooking, bathing, privacy.

Steve