Stay in the shade.

Last spring, we stripped all the gauzy, useless, annoying drapes off our main floor windows and they have been bare ever since. My mom has been visibly and audibly appalled by this every time she's been over (which, during the kitchen project this summer, was often), and loudly worried about our privacy and energy bills. I like honeycomb shades, but not enough to actually spend hundreds of dollars on them anytime soon, and making my own Roman shades is, frankly, at the very bottom of my to-do list. So it was unsurprising and, actually, kind of cool when parents came over for dinner the other day and handed me a pile of paper pleated temporary window shades.

Though they have a lame name, Redi Shades are pretty handy. You can cut them to fit any size window and they attach to the top of the frame with a simple adhesive strip. They don't look as trashy as they sound, and are actually pretty subtle.

The upside: They only cost $5! The downside: To raise and lower them, you have to use little plastic clips, which look kind of cheesy. However, I don't think it'll be too hard to replace them with something a little less noticeable.

Our next-door neighbors can now breathe a sigh of relief—we are finally out of view.