Hi! This is our house. To the left of the driveway are some very nosy neighbours and our bedroom windows face the driveway and their house. we have that little strip of land between the driveway and house.
I need some sort of privacy so we can actually open our windows without giving them a show. The soil is very sandy. Shrubs? A fencing line? I am a bit lost as to what to put down. Ideally it would be the other side of the driveway closest to their place but our driveway is right on the property line.
More concerned about sight than noise!! NOSY not noisey lol
by Embarrassed-Stay2176
34 Comments
Instead of shrubs, I’d put up a latticed wall. Use pots or planters with climbing vines for more privacy.
I would recommend a fence, right on your property line. I would build the tallest fence allowed by the local codes/zoning.
Check with your town, my guess is because there isn’t a fence there already there isn’t enough room to put one in. There may need to be a certain amount of setback.
I wouldn’t do bushes because now you’ve got a maintenance issue. What about the interior blinds that you can pull down from the top or up from the bottom? That way you could open the top window but have the bottom shade covering the view or vice versa? Our neighbors across the street from us have them and they seem to work really well.
Shrubs will take many years to grow large enough to provide privacy. A wall, as tall as building code allows is the quickest way to get sound reduction plus privacy. Inside, using a white noise machine will help a lot to make the sound less intrusive. Another option is to install a vertical, solid panel a few feet away from the house that blocks the view (light can still get around the edges). An attractive privacy screen made from wood could work.
So there are a lot of landscapping grasses or plants like Nandina that would probably do well as partial privacy
However, it looks like you might be in a high fire risk geography: so I would be cautious about anything flamable right on top of your house (i.e pampas grass or quick growing pine)
what about putting a fence up on the property line and moving the driveway closer to your house. Then planting a line of shrubs along that fence. Dont know what part of the country or zone your in so cant say which shrubs. Arborvitae might work if you can keep them watered the first summer. Not Emerald Green though, get one of the other narrower types. Then do some lattice right along the house and plant lots of climbing roses with a shorter hedge in front of them along the driveway. There are some more aggressive climbing roses that can go nuts quickly and just mix in several cultivars because one will definitely always do better thant the others. I have a Darlows Enigma that is bright green and shiny leaves and small white flowers non stop all summer. Ramblin Red, Peggy Martin, William Baffin, Zepherine Droughin
Well if you want plants we need to know your growing zones. But I see a white pine in the back so I will assume 3a-6b kinda thing. But i would say a fence is probably a better idea
Could always use a one sided, reflective, film on your window
A lot of wall recommendations so far, but I don’t get it. There are plenty of shrubs that are fast growing and will get big enough for privacy. They are also easier on the eyes that close to a house and that tall. I can’t imagine a wall looking anything but ugly.
I would get some of those narrow arborvitae… block the sun that will teach them.
Both!
r/LandscapingIsNotAPrivacyFence
What kind of nosey? I make friends with nosey neighbors because then they will watch your house for you when you are gone and get all the tea of the neighborhood. But that’s me 😂
But I get wanting to open your windows. Is that a shared driveway or only yours?
Not a landscaping idea but what about privacy window film?
Consider a slotted fence section like the one below. If town ordinances prohibits a fence, them insert the posts into planters filled with cement so it can technically be moved.
Then out some hanging flowering plants on it. Some climbing ivy. And maybe a little bench at the bottom.
This way when you look out, it’s pretty and full of nature. And the slots avoid feeling like there a wall outside your window, but with the plants, it will still prevent them from seeing anything. And it is mobile if needed to adjust.
Also If you go this route you can also plant shrubs that will grow tall over time on the other side of the fence (the neighbors side). And down the road if the shrubs are great you can move the fence or get rid of it. But if you lean in and make it really nice, with a bench, it could be a great permanent feature.
[wooden slotted wall](https://veikous.com/products/veikous-wood-privacy-screen-with-metal-stake-for-air-conditioner?variant=46756874223768&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Google+Shopping&stkn=fb22468c15b3&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23562426433&gbraid=0AAAAACOKhA3JBK8noFCRaHcplTt0rZT4S&gclid=Cj0KCQjws83OBhD4ARIsACblj18DGK0WuIyGK04FSkryhonmbwzTjn0D_P4VXJC2QmN_mmcwsN5MrUAaAkdIEALw_wcB)
Could you move the driveway that leads to the back to the other side of your house? If not, the cheapest, easiest, and fastest would be a trellis outside your window – Taller than your window and wide enough to just block their view. Climbing vines could cover it to give YOU a view.
In the short term, I’d get one of those lattice fences with Fake plants in it and just stick it in their line of sight
Talk mature potted plant under each of your windows
I was just wondering, have you ever considered buying your neighbour’s house and land, just to get rid of them?
We have a fence unfortunately the loud neighbors are also AH so they keep breaking the fence.
Wall and then shrubs on the inside of it.
Omg I thought that said REDRUM not BEDROOM!!
I don’t know enough about how to manage in your type of soil, but another option would be light filtering honeycomb blinds for daytime and solid or light blocking curtains for bedtime. That way you can let the light in during the day and you have privacy at night.
Shrubs take a while. A row of lilacs are wonderful if you’re in the right climate but they loose their leaves so if you need year round screening, there are some fast growing varieties of arbor Viste. It took mine a year to get established but one of them grew 3 feet last year. Now that new growth is pretty skinny and bare but as it puts on another 2-3 feet this summer, that growth will fill out. I’m going to give it a few tree feetilizer stakes this year.
I don’t think anyone said blinds/curtains. Seems obvious, cheap, immediate, easy, lots of styles to choose from.
Put up a camera inside your window facing them. Then they will install the privacy fence and landscape between properties for you.
100% read that as Nosy and Pepperoni and had to double take.
I need more sleep.
I feel your pain, had a similar situation with noisy VRBO, it was so bad we ended up selling
Curtains and shades are your friends.
Thin arborvitae grow them close so you can make a living wall
Hear me out here – Paint that side of your house the brightest/ ugliest/ neon/green yellow/ tacky/ garish that you possibly can. Make it the ugliest thing ever so they don’t want to look at it during the day. Then install some bright lights that face thir direction at night. If they complain about the lights, You are highlighting your artwork.
Edit, Bonus points if you cover it with eyeballs so they feel like they are being watched!!
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For right now, planter boxes in front of each window with climbing vines going up strings. Morning glories are easy.
If i were you id put some lattice and clematis or something viny, if not plants could you do shutters? I used to have shutters in my old houses bathroom they were cute i liked them and might be cheaper/easier than landscaping
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