what is the distance between your exterior wall and their exterior wall?

I think I would be inclined to address it on the outside of the house rather then treat the windows differently form the inside. Japanese Pencil Holly is the plant that comes to mind ....

The distance between houses is about 12'. Also, there is a window well directly under the left window, which complicates planting there.

Brenda, I looked up Japanese Pencil Holly and it is a beautiful plant. I wish I could put one there, but the ground slopes off under the window so much that it may not get tall enough in our lifetime :-)). Thanks for the suggestion, though!

Is your window well like that white contraption at the neighbor's house? Perhaps you could circle it with a tall fence on which you hang a beautiful planter of trailing and other flowers - much like a window box that you see out your window. On the good view window, you could install an actual window box so the two windows could tie together visually when you look outside.

It would drive me crazy to have one window shut like that all day.....at least you have had THAT one shut instead of the other one. It looks like thre is a partial blockage now, but not enough. Maybe invite them over for drinks tonight and see if you can come up with a solution together, as they may be upset about the close location, too, and then they will also not be surprised when something goes up and it looks like you are trying to obsolete them or something.

Your room looks very attractive - and your view, not so. One quick thought - could the tree on the right move in front of the window on the left and block or at least filter the view? Similar to that - how about some glass shelving across the left window? You could fill it with small plants or colored glass bottles, etc. Similar again- is there room for a baker's rack that would fill up the window with your choice of items on the shelves? And again- how about a piece of stained glass to hang in the window?

If you go the outside route - how about looking for a really tall trellis to lean against the house and then grow a vine up it. Not sure what your climate is so that may only work during growing season. Some ornamental grasses get very tall the year they are planted - would that help any? Or a climbing rose bush up the trellis?

papillon -- I've seen Pencil Holly's at Home Depot that are 4 feet tall. If you went to a nursery you could probably get them even taller. And since they only get a foot or so wide, you plant them close together and get an instant tall hedge row. I think they might have more immediate impact then you think. you don't have to completely block the neighbors house, just their meters and view into your house.

Japanese Pencil Holly

Abbey jean and 2taniya are both right. Invite the neighbors over and solve the problem together OR move that tree right in front of the bad-view window. For added coverage, do try window film but don't waste money on the "application liquid"...lightly soapy water works.

P.S. the windows have no trim, so I would hang side panels with a short flat valance to make the windows look more finished.

There are some wonderful suggestions here! I wish I could move the tree, but it belongs to the neighbor and it's gotten too big to try to transplant. Actually, it's an Aspen that was not allowed by covenants here at all, but slipped through the architectural control team. But it gives us patio privacy, so it's a good thing.

Yes, the window well is like the one you see at the neighbor's house in the pix. I like the idea of circling it with a barrier and putting plants on the fence. That could be attractive.

Also am considering the trellis leaning against the house. We are in zone 5, Denver area, so climbing plants wouldn't be green all year, but maybe there is something that would stay green to put on a trellis?

Japanese Pencil Holly does get bigger than I thought--I'll look at Home Depot next time we're there to se if they have any big ones.

Thanks so much for stimulating my thinking!

or a custom built 'cover' for your window

papillon2 - I meant think about moving the potted tree inside the dining room (currently to the right of the windows) over to the left window to block the view (NOT the aspen outside). Or how about hanging a Boston fern inside in front of that window?

Or if you wanted to replace your blinds: install the cordless honeycomb kind that can open either up or down. Then you could draw them from the bottom about half way up the window ( to the sash) and have some privacy while blocking the view but still let light in the top. You could treat all the windows the same.

Would it be possible for you to raise the blinds so we can see what it is you see?

handymam....it is in her first post. There is a little reflection there.

I LOVE the idea of moving that plant from the corner over to that window area! It looks like it will fit? Can you try it and post back?

If you decide to go the "climbing plant on a trellis" route, take a look at my very favorite climbing shrub, 'climbing hydrangea'

abbyjean, thanks, don't know how I missed that!

Okay, I don't think it is a hideous enough view to leave the binds down all the time, lol. I think you should ask your neighbor if they would give you permission to plant something over in their yard that you will take care of and see that it doesn't get out of bounds. If it does, they are free to rip it out. Go research some plant choices and show them what you would like to plant.

I had a window in san diego that looked out into the side yard and the neighbor's window was actually their bathroom. Now they had glass block in their window but likewise - who wants to see that view. I had glass shelves built on my side of the window and then put colored glass bottles etc on the shelves. It didn't block the light but the eye was drawn to look at the stuff on the shelves and not out the window. I don't live there anymore or I'd post a picture! I don't remember for sure how the glass shelves were anchored - it may be that my window was deep enough that it was just inside the frame.

Trust me, handymam, you will be helping me the next time!

Here is a better pix of the view we are trying to block.

I tried the Ficus plant in front of the window, but unfortunately it's too big for that spot and interferes with the traffic pattern from the kitchen, which is to the left of the problem window.

MIchee, were the shelves anchored by suction cups, by any chance? We don't have much room there.

We do have the top-down-bottom-up honeycomb shades, and we do use that occasionally to get more light. The house next door sits higher than ours, though, so it enables the neighbor to look down into our house if the shades are very low down from the top.

At this point, hubby is liking the idea of some kind of a trellis or cover that goes outside, like several have suggested.

Thanks so much for all the thoughts!

I think (this was 6 years ago mind you) that the window box was "deep" and they were mounted on the sides on the inside of the window like a shelf would be. The glass was custom cut to fit in the window box. It was also above a counter so I wouldn't have been worried about anyone walking by and knocking anything off or anything.

Another idea is stained glass. Real stained glass applied directly to the window, or a stained glass stick on sheet thing that you can buy in the store. Again, it lets in light but obscures the view. I'm having a bathroom window done that way - using clear, black and milkglass so the view in is obscured (it's also on the 2nd floor) but the light still comes in. If you search in your area for art glass or stained glass you likely have some people who do that. They just glue it directly to the glass on your existing window. Much better than a trellis IMHO

Brenda, I just looked up "Climbing Hydrangea" and WOW, is that pretty! I can see why you like it so much! I researched it a bit, and it will work in our zone 5 climate also. It grows slowly at first, then very fast so it'll work in our lifetime, hopefully! :-) Thanks so much!

Shaking things up a bit. I still like the outdoor trellis idea but these could be easily removed for clearer viewing out of the other window or when you're climbing hydrangea is growing on the trellis ;)

Interesting ideas, Kelsea. Thank you!

For an evergreen climber try Clematis armandii - strappy leather looking leaves stay green year round and has delicate fragrant white flowers in early spring.

I had a similar problem in a bedroom. I put simple sheer curtains up so the light would still come through. I only closed the blinds at night. Not ideal but could at least retain privacy without resorting to darkness.

My view from two windows of the living room is of my neighbor's landscape--which he has apparently decided is weeds and blackberry bushes 6' high. Every neighborhood has one, I guess, and ours is next door. What we did is to put two tall 4"x4" posts anchored in concrete (as for fencing) on the property line. Got attractive, tight pattern trellis panels and attached from the back (aka "his" side). Put on decorative post caps. Stained everything. Used clematis armandii as referenced above (also called evergreen clematis). That's the view out the windows. In between we planted arbovitae. Love it. Just wish he would move. :)

I like einportlandor's idea about sheer curtains! This would be an easy and cheap way to solve the problem.

You could use the stainless cable that Home Depot sells, put eyebolts in your own eave and string just a few vertical cables from window well to eave - they sell all the hardware / turnbuckles to make this work. Then, grow a climbing vine at the base and watch it go - it would be open, but still screen . . .

Again, thanks so much to everyone for the added input!

Nwduck, I can so relate to your problem with your neighbor! Our neighbor is the nicest guy in the world, but is really casual and perfunctory about lawn maintenance. Plus, he as an affinity for rusty stuff, and he attends garage sales to find "antiques" (i.e.rusty stuff) and puts it around in the yard. HOA has reprimanded him, and helped some, but not enough. Also, love the idea of the Clematis armando, but sadly, it would winter kill in zone 5, Denver area.

Libradesigneye, that's a great idea about using the cables--I'd never have thought of it! Now I just have to search to see if there is a vine that is evergreen in zone 5, or use the climbing hydrangea idea.

Will consider the sheers also, to see if I can think of any that would blend with our decor.

Many thanks to all of you--you are all creative people!

How about a little lattice work just below where the leaves on the trees begin? That would block the view of neighbors electric box and A/C unit.

I would recommend going with a Cellular shade with a top down bottom up option. This will allow you to control your privacy and still have natural light coming in.

http://www.blindsdirectcanada.com/blinds-toronto/shades-toronto/cellular-shades.html