Paper Blinds - I never thought I'd use them

Ok, so I put up paper blinds and now I understand why people put them up and then never take them down again. How did this happen to me?

After getting my windows replaced, I was left with a lot of beautiful windows but zero privacy.  This was a bit of a bigger issue in my kitchen, where I have floor to ceiling windows that face my neighbour's house with a shared walkway and in the principal bedroom which also has a huge window with an unobstructed view of the alley and the east side of my neighbourhood.

I decided to not re-install the previous blinds as I didn't want to drill holes in the new vinyl windows (there goes the warranty) and I knew that in the future, I would be trading them in for a different style anyways.  So what do you do when you don't want the entire neighbourhood seeing you in your pig-patterned pyjama pants?  The answer to that came as I strolled the aisles of Home Depot frantically looking for something that would allow me to turn on the lights in my bedroom without creating a mini red light district in Bridgeland.

Redi Shade available at Home Depot

Redi Shade is designed as a temporary solution when you need something on your windows to filter the light and add privacy.  The key word is "temporary" as these are made of paper and aren't a long-term solution.  I was really surprised though by the quality of the paper and how nice they actually look and now I definitely understand why people may keep them up for longer than intended.

Installation was easy-peasy.  All you do is measure the window, cut the shade to size, peel the backing and stick. So quick!

All you need is a measuring tape, pen, utility knife, cutting edge and a cutting board.

You want to make sure you have a fresh blade when cutting so that you don't tear the paper.

Once that's done, all you do is peel the backing off and stick the blind along the inside of the window.  No holes to drill!

I went from this.

To this!  Huge improvement and not an unattractive solution.

The blinds also comes with plastic clips that you can use to clip up the blinds rather than leave them down all the time.  Very convenient.

I now have four windows with these temporary blinds which gives me a bit of breathing room to figure out what type of window treatment I can design for these spaces.