Can people see me through the slats of my blinds?

February 29, 2024 2:17 PM

The apartment I live in has wood-style blinds, which are nice, but don't seem to completely close up, so there are still narrow slats. Can people from higher floors see through those and see what I'm doing in my bedroom?

I live on the ground/first level, and if my blinds are arranged, it seems to be impossible for others to see through, especially if they are looking on the first floor. However, I'm wondering about those on higher levels? My bedroom window faces a courtyard and the other side of the apartment community has higher levels. Can they see through those slats and see what I'm doing?

See a photo of the blinds, and close-up, to help understand what I mean a bit better. The blinds are closed as further as they can be in both photos. Just want to be sure that I'm not inadvertently showing what I'm doing to others on a higher level looking down towards my bedroom window.

Thanks!

posted by thoughtful_analyst to Home & Garden (11 answers total)

Can you rotate the slats in the other direction, so when you look out from the inside, you can only see down, and someone directly outside could only see up? I do this with a similar set of blinds. As a bonus, tilting the slats this way seems to make it darker when there's light coming in from outside.
posted by expialidocious at 2:26 PM on February 29 [27 favorites]

It looks like someone outside would need to be very close and high up, and even then could only see a small patch of your floor near the window.

To test this, check where in the room you can see out of the blinds from (you might need to get your head fairly close to the window and/or low to the floor), and what you can see. If you can see a neighbor’s window from location X, then the neighbor can potentially see location X from their window. I expect you’ll find that if there is any line of sight at all to a neighboring building, it will only be to a tiny part of the room almost touching the window and/or around ankle height.

You can test this with the slats at various angles to get an idea for how it changes the sight lines.

You should do this test when it’s darker inside your room than outdoors (to minimize reflections when looking out), but note that people looking in can see best under opposite conditions (when it’s brighter inside than outside).
posted by mbrubeck at 2:33 PM on February 29 [6 favorites]

The good thing about sightlines is that they work both ways. In the daytime turn off all the lights in your room and close the blinds. Then lie on the floor close to the window and try to look through the blinds. If all you can see is sky then you're OK. Work your way farther from the window until either you can't see anything or you can see an apartment on the other side. Then you'll know which, if any, areas of your room are visible from the apartments and might get an idea of how much they can see (probably not very much).

on preview mbrubeck beat me to it
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:35 PM on February 29 [7 favorites]

I mean maybe if the lighting were exactly right and someone were standing at exactly the right altitude and you were doing it on the floor directly under the window. Look at the direction the slats point. Follow the direction up and that's where the person would have to have their eye level and follow the slates down and that's where they could see. And again, only if the lighting were right. And would they be able to put together what they were seeing into an actual usable image to figure out what they were seeing? Doubtful. I wouldn't worry about it, but if it's freaking you put, point the slates upwards? But then people on the sidewalk could see your ceiling and points between window and ceiling which actually seems worse to me.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 2:35 PM on February 29 [1 favorite]

Can you rotate the slats in the other direction, so when you look out from the inside, you can only see down, and someone directly outside could only see up? I do this with a similar set of blinds.

This is what I used to do and I think you get better privacy that way anyhow, it just might not seem that way because when you're at the window turning the rod, you can still see out. But, the depth that someone can see into your place is fairly shallow, like maybe a 70-80 degree angle up from your windowsill, and people above you can't see anything. I suppose that holds true if the blinds are turned the other way, but I'd guess you spend more time on the floor within 3' of your window than you do on the ceiling.
posted by LionIndex at 2:36 PM on February 29 [5 favorites]

If you flip the tilt on the blinds, they will block out more of the sun than they do when they are set this way. That can be good (if you want your room darker) or bad (if you don't want to feel like you live in a cave when you don't open the blinds)
posted by metahawk at 2:48 PM on February 29 [4 favorites]

Is there an eave? You have window depth beyond your blinds which further blocks the view. How close is the apartment and how high is the window the other person would be looking out of? It would need to be very close across and very high up to get a decent angle and even then they’d only have a few slats they could maybe get a look through. Then they’d need binoculars to see anything of detail.

Short answer: no.
posted by amanda at 3:16 PM on February 29 [1 favorite]

I had this problem, and boy oh boy, was I putting on a show and didn't know it!
There was nothing I could do with the blinds.
What I did was put up curtains. Actually, it was a valance that was longer than usual. Perfect solution and it looked nice too.
posted by james33 at 2:28 AM on March 1 [1 favorite]

As others have said, most blinds close more completely if you rotate them the other way.
posted by oneirodynia at 7:19 PM on March 1

A lot depends on lighting inside your bedroom. If lights are off, you are not going to be visible to anyone. If lights are low, you probably won't be.

If the apartments on the other side of the parking lot have outside stairs, put something visible on your bed, set the lighting, and go there to see what others can see.
posted by yclipse at 7:46 AM on March 3

Echoing to rotate the blinds the other way. The only thing anyone will be able to see is the ceiling so, as long as you're not spiderman, you'll be fine.
posted by dg at 10:24 PM on March 3