Have we mentioned that our house has something lacking in the privacy department in certain areas? If not, consider this the first of several mentions. It’s nothing crazy, but coming from a home where we could practically strut around naked in the backyard (not that we did) to one where we can hardly go birthday suiting inside (not that we do) – let’s just say that we feel a bit exposed sometimes.
Case in point – our lovely “alley” (first mentioned here) which is a straight shot to our neighbor’s back deck (see their umbrella in the distance?).
The pic above is a bit old (from this post) and as you can see from the new pic below, nature has already helped us out in the filling-in department.
Though I still can’t help but feel slightly self-conscious at moments – like one recent night when the smoke detector next to the “alley” went off minutes after bedtime. Suddenly I found my boxer-clad self changing a faulty battery… while standing on a chair… in front of our floor-to-ceiling glass sliding doors at night with the light on. Yeah, um, howdy neighbors.
So not being vertical blind or curtain closing people when it comes to all of the common areas in our house (we’re weird, but we like our sliding doors and big picture windows unobscured to let in light and it feels like too much maintenance to walk around covering them all every evening – at least to lazy bums like ourselves) we figured that a better way to functional and long term low-maintenance privacy would be to block that shared sight-line between our houses with some fast-growing easy-care evergreens. We do like white faux wood blinds for privacy in bedrooms btw, but I guess since we were both raised in curtains-always-open-in-the-living-area houses that relied on nice wooded neighborhoods for privacy, it’s no wonder that we’re attracted to open curtains and wooded neighborhoods full o’ privacy.
So that’s the goal. Adding in more of that “wooded” adjective. Sure it’ll take some time for these little trees to grow in, but it’ll hopefully be worth it in the long run (and we’ll remember to toss on clothes if we’ll be standing on chairs in front of the slider at midnight before that point).
When it comes to the specifics, we got three Leyland Cypress trees on sale from Home Depot for $9.99 each (interestingly, they were $19.99 at Lowe’s, so we saved thirty bucks total by shopping around). They’ve been recommended to us countless times by local gardeners because they’re 1) fast-growing, 2) evergreen, (so the won’t drop leaves and ruin our privacy in the winter), 3) can become quite large, and 4) are pretty easy-care and hardy. Basically, the privacy screen trifecta fourfecta. And by quite large I mean 30′ tall by 10-15′ wide. Pretty amazing, right?
We arranged them in a triangle of sorts, so that we could plant them at least ten to fifteen feet apart (as recommended by the tag) while making sure they each would layer behind and in front of one another (instead of growing into each other) to help densely block the view.
And after cutting out some dead boxwoods…
… and making friends with a frog (or is he a toad?)…
… I was ready to dig in our new Cypresses. With no help from my frog/toad friend, I might add. Make that former friend (he didn’t die or anything, he just doesn’t deserve friend status for not helping).
Through the magic of television the internet, here they are all dug in. Not much to look at yet, I’ll admit.
But hopefully with a bit of watering, more of these sunny days that we’ve been getting lately, and a bit of time, this trio will go from this…
…to this. Though in real life they hopefully won’t have the weird blue-tinted discoloration (I added that to make my photoshopping visible).
Oh, and that frog wasn’t the only woodland creature that I came upon during my tree planting adventure. Notice anything else?
Yep, that’s a plastic duck just chilling on a log in a bush. Another fun discovery left by the previous owners (like Norman the Mailbox Squirrel).
The funny thing is that finding a random duck on our property is almost like a sign that the house was meant for us. See, when we moved into our first house, the previous owner had left a fake duck head (yup, just the head) on one of our fence posts. Needless to say, it didn’t last long after this photo was snapped, but it did make us smile.
Guess there’s something to be said for a faux duck (or part of a faux duck) to make you feel at home. I just left the full-bodied duck right where I found him in that shrubbery. After all, if things go as planned with those Leyland Cypresses he won’t be able to spy on us for long. And Clara will probably love discovering him for herself in a year or two.
Have you guys ever planted any Leyland Cypresses – or another fast growing tree or bush – in the hopes of gaining some privacy? Do you just use vertical blinds and curtains like normal people? Have you ever found the head of a duck (or an entire faux duck) somewhere on your property? Are you friends with a frog (or do you someday hope to be)? So many questions, so little time.
Kirby says
My parents planted them in place of a privacy fence when I was little. They did not, however, plant them 15 feet apart. Fast forward 10-15 years, and they pretty much had to remove every other one. You live, you learn! :)
L says
As I am a single female in a fairly close-together-houses neighborhood (with a busy street out front) I do close the window coverings, at least at night. And I’m not thrilled with just-for-show ANYthing (shutters that can’t close, for instance).
I am in process of planning some evergreen plantings in my front yard though. Arborvitae, holly, maybe a mulberry tree, and some (don’t know what yet) smaller, showier stuff, layered to a) cut down on grass cutting and b) buffer the busy street. So yeah, your Leyland Cypress planting is excellent!
Critters? My carport is always full of toads in the sumemr. Since everywhere is full of mosquitoes around here, I welcome the little insect eaters, and have also hung a bat house (that the bats haven’t yet discovered, darn it!). Yeah, somebody is gonna report me as a witch soon.
Wish you guys were my neighbors!
Jacki says
I have to open and close our blinds every morning and every night. Our house is so close to our neighbors. And yaay for leyland cypress! love those trees! We have two and they are growing fast! If only I can plant many leyland cypresses so I won’t see our dirty neighbors who grow their weeds so high, and don’t clean up their yard, ugh!
ELaine says
we use the fake wooden blinds. We live in a townhome complex so need to shut it all up at night :). Never used that type of tree but looking forward to any updates you post at they grow!
Mel says
We haven’t found any ducks heads, but a staggering number of baseballs.
I like the Leyland Cypress idea. Our neighbors dogs bark their heads off every time we go in our backyard. Maybe we could “hide” behind the trees so they won’t know we are there.
By the way, I get exhausted just thinking about all the projects you two tackle.
AmiDawn says
after a trifecta comes a superfecta. i looked it up once after 4 of my tech-gadgets bit the dust within a week of each other!
YoungHouseLove says
Love it. It definitely rolls off the tongue more.
xo,
s
Elizabeth says
I am SO going to use that term now…thanks!
Janet says
What comes next? An awesome-fecta?
Jen @ The Decor Scene says
We have to use shades of some sort because we are too close to all of our neighbors, so we need the shade privacy. ;)
Maybe you could use some Miracal Grow. The kind that you put into a water mix and then you feed the bushes. We use it on all of our plants for the season so they grow quick and full and big!!! We love it. We have also used it on some slower growing plants in the yard. Seems to work really well. Might give you that 6′ per year growth. Just a thought. GL with the little guys. :)
nancyo says
I just planted little princess spirea. Within a week, it latched on to the ground is rapidly expanding. crazy.
For those interested in little princess spirea, I live in Denver (zone 5?) and it’s doing well in direct sun and watering 1x a day. Supposedly after the first year, it become xeric which is cool.
Sally says
We planted 4 leylands between us and the neighbors 15 years ago. Watered them regularly the first few years. They are HUGE now. You made a good choice!
Corinne says
I have those awesome vertical vinyl blinds that were pricey back in the early 90s covering the two sliding glass doors in my kitchen. I used to keep them open all the time because they were so old they would hardly move without falling off! Then my step-dad put some Inox (way better than WD40) on the tracks so I could pull them closed to keep the heat out. I really do prefer letting natural light in, but sadly my patio doors are not energy efficient at all, so keeping them closed does help to keep the house cooler in the summer!
Melissa G. says
I wish I had room for those trees in my backyard. I did have some really nice plum trees/bushes whichever, that grew along and under the fence (which is a chain link fence) so they were nice for coverage. Then a family moved in on the other side of the fence and cut down all the trees on their side which meant no more plums because the plants were in shock. It also meant no more privacy, so now I actually have to remember to shut the blinds every time I go in the bedroom or their dog barks at me and they would get quite a show.
Wish they would have realized that before they cut down the trees. Funny though cause now they have tons of tree starts all over their backyard because they just left the cut down trees along the side of the fence. All that work for nothing.
Michelle says
no duck, but my husband did find a mummified rat in wall as he was gutting a closet. He thought the tail was an old wire…and out came the rat. He still has it and refuses to get rid of it and it creeps me out!
Suni says
I did plant 2 spruces in my back yard to gain some privacy! My house is just barely 10 years old, and while the previous owners had put in a cottonwood (which grows very fast) to obstruct the view of the trashy house/yard behind us, it lost all of it’s leaves (and therefore effectiveness) in the winter. I landscaped the entire back of my yard with 2 spruces and a handful of Diablo Ninebark (fast growing tall shrubs) which effectivly distracted from the lack of yard maintenance going on behind us. Those neighbors since moved and the new owners have done a great job of fixing it up, but those plants are great now in distracting our doberman from the bunnies that live under our deck and take refuge in the neighbors yard. It’s not 100% distraction, but it helps!
Kim says
Our friends just had the fortune of buying the empty lot behind their house (in part to keep someone from building a giant two story house that would loom over their rancher). They bought a Leland cypress at Christmas and used it for their tree, then planted it in their new yard. They are like you guys and name everything-so the tree was Leland of course! You might consider getting one at Christmas if you need to plant another one.
YoungHouseLove says
I love that idea!
xo,
s
Cate says
Maybe it’s just me, but from the photographs it looks as though your neighbors would have to be standing outside their house with a telescope in order to get any kind of view into your home–it’s not like your homes are 15 feet apart and a passing glance your way might subject them to a shot of someone in their skivvies. Chances are, if your neighbors are like most normal people, they are too busy living their own lives to put that much effort into peeping on you (unless you know something we don’t about them :)) That said, I think the cove of trees will look nice.
Sarah says
I thought everyone walked around their house naked…or maybe that’s just me?
Actually – the houses in my neighborhood are really close together and when we first moved in we covered all our windows so that, nobody could see in. When we met our next door neighbor he said that he knew everything the guy before us did in the house…kinda creepy considering they could see into our bathroom before we put up the blinds…also makes me wonder if the guy before us liked to let it all hang out. Oh well.
Happy Friday!
Monica says
Why do the smoke detectors always need new batteries in the middle of the night?
YoungHouseLove says
I know right? And half of ours are hardwired but we have some battery ones (they say it’s safest to have both) so it’s too funny to try to figure out which one needs the battery.
xo,
s
kim says
Reminds me of that Modern Family episode where the culprits were in the attic…
Gina @ Running to the Kitchen says
Cyprus are one of the few pine trees I like but the deer around here devour them!
Lindsey d. says
I continually curse the previous owners of my house, who decided that BAMBOO, fast-growing, spreads like the weed it is bamboo, would be the best thing to block the backyard from the neighbors. I HATE that stuff! It’s impossible to completely get rid of, save digging up the entire yard and, since it’s in the neighbors’ yards too, there’s not much hope of completely eradicating it.
Also on the worrisome list, the 75-year-old water oak just on the other side of my neighbor’s property line. It’s huge and presents a danger to my house if it comes down. But the neighbor insists it’s fine. At least it does provide some shade…
Yvette Kelley says
hahahaha on your comment about your own naked guy from friends. My roommate and I had one of those in our apartment complext when we studied abroad in Barcelona… except he lived above us and we could see his reflection in the window across the way…For a long time we didn’t think he realized we could see him.. until one day he waved back.. naked creepy wave = PSYCHO!! hahahaha.. Try it John.. maybe it’ll keep the neighbors from looking over.
Side note. Love how the plastic duckie is facing AWAY from the open area and into the brush.. he almost looks shamed.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh- I think if John waved I would die of creepy-factor. And the ashamed duck = hilarious.
xo,
s
Erin @ AroundTheFarmhouseTable says
We moved into a new a house a few months ago and have a huge window (11 foot) in our dining/kitchen area. I feel pretty exposed, but I really don’t want to put up blinds. Plus, we looked into blinds, and at 11 feet, they would have to be custom ordered. Custom ordered = out of our price range. So, we’ve been thinking about planing a weeping willow in the back yard for some privacy. I don’t know much about the tree, though. Guess I need to get on Google today to do some research!
Rachel Tatem says
I totally know what you mean. We live in an older neighborhood but when they built the house they tore down everything and planted little baby trees that are now mid-sized fruit tree size but we only have two to a lot… not the most private.
Melody says
I live on a main road, but I still find myself running past windows. Like if I keep moving, no one can see me, right? I also don’t like to close my curtains, but don’t exactly have room for a privacy tree(s) in my yard.
YoungHouseLove says
Ohemgeee. I do the same thing. I’m so fast no one can possibly make out my body shape. Right? Haha.
xo,
s
JoAnne Beck says
Leyland Cypresses are used widely here in Southern Oregon. We planted 3 of them and soon had to remove them because they outgrew the space QUICKLY. Looks like you have them in a space larger than ours, but just in case – here is an article by an arborist we did a consultation with. Too bad we didn’t actually talk to him before we planted. And yes, as someone mentioned earlier – they grow crazy fast. A good thing if you have a the room. http://www.mdvaden.com/leyland_cypress.shtml
Sarah says
Oh, we are looking at privacy tree options now.
We were told pine trees through off the pH balance (pause for Secret deorderant commerical to play through your head) in the soil… explaining why we can’t get anything else to grow.
Since they are evergreen, do cypress trees have the same effect?
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, now that the Secret deodorant commercial is done playing in my head, I wish I had an answer for ya. We have some evergreens in our current backyard along with other non-evergreen things and they all seem to happily coexist (we had the same mix at our last house too). Maybe it’s a regional thing or certain types of pine trees do that? Anyone know?
xo,
s
heather says
Grow berries! Berries love acidic soil and pine needles do the trick perfectly. We recently cleared a huge lot of dying trees to build an orchard on for the express reason that the soil would be absolutely stunning for berries and fruit. Also – natural privacy fences are where it’s at. Even after we chopped a bunch we still had a great “fence” between us and the neighbors.
http://www.likeacupoftea.com/secret-orchard-part/
Lauren says
I’m super jealous of all your greenery. We live in a big city so most of what we’re surrounded by is cement.
And I’m not surprised that toad didn’t lend a helping hand (or whatever they have.) I have never known a toad to be anything other than ornery.
Julie says
Have you ever tried Roman shades? We have them all over our house because we too like to let all the light in during the day but have the privacy at night. They come in so many different colors, fabrics, etc. and are so easy to open and close. They also give you the warmth that curtains can add to a room. Just a thought, I’m sure you’ve already considered it. :-)
YoungHouseLove says
We had a few of those in our old house and loved them! But we never closed them once. Haha. Old habits die hard.
xo,
s
Ashley @ DesignBuildLove.co says
aww… privacy… so underrated, but sooooo important! The boxwoods are going to look great and totally blend with the natural landscape!
christine says
I found your blog a few months ago and have been an avid reader since. I love that you guys are so creative, frugal and funny. Ever since we moved back to PA and into our house 3 years ago, my youngest son never stops looking for lost “treasures” in our 2.5 wooded acres. He once found a family of rusted, metal ducks which I lightly sanded and restored to life with a can of black spray paint – they now live in the landscaping in our front yard.
YoungHouseLove says
Cute! Spray painting Mr. Duck sounds like fun. Hmm…
xo,
s
cd says
As a Cali suburb resident, your privacy concerns amuse me. I think you would go INSANE in my neighborhood.
Lindsay says
I don’t have any myself, but my parents planted some when I was growing up. They took a picture of my brother next to them when they planted them and then periodically afterward to show how much and how fast they grow. It was really pretty amazing!
Rad Design says
Haha, i laughed out loud when you photographed the frog… so i am currently living with my brother and another guy which are both dirty, never-clean-the-dishes kind of guys. (i highly DONT recommend it) Anyway, so yesterday i came home to a clear glass vase in the kitchen with a huge frog in it!
“Umm, Justin… why is their a frog in the kitchen?”
“He’s our new pet! The kitchen is the best place to keep him”
This is what I have to deal with on a daily basis.
YoungHouseLove says
Hilarious. Your bother (and your frog) sound like fun.
xo,
s
Jenna says
haha “he didn’t die or anything.” That statement made my day :)
Mary Thomas says
We moved into our house five years ago and our back fence was falling apart. We planted some evergreen bushes in front(not really notable since we are in California- they are all pretty much evergreen- to hold up the fence as they grew, haha! They have been doing pretty well, and produce beautiful tiny white flowers all the time. But four of them are reaching for the sky, and the fifth one just sits there. The runt. We can’t figure out how to convince him to grow!
kim says
When reading (and re-reading) the last question of the post, I kept seeing, “Are you friends with a frog (or do you someday hop to be)?” I guess I really wanted to see that pun.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, how did John let that one slide through his pun-loving fingertips?
xo,
s
Laura says
We are actually in the process of removing six leylands from our side yard; they are simply way too big to be in the small space between our house and the neighbor’s. With that said, yours are planted in a large space and far apart from one another. Ours are literally 4 feet apart from the next one and require costly pruning every year(we’re not has handy as you guys!) to keep them in check. They do grow super fast and require no work if you want them huge so I think you will like them. Love your blog, by the way! :)
liz says
These trees are great! When we bought our new place last year, one of the first things we did is put in 7(!) of them along our property line (after we surveyed).
You see, our property is pretty small AND on a hill (which presents all kinds of problems), and our next door neighbors have an eye sore of a yard – we’re talking about an old stone shed that’s literally falling apart, a chain line fence, and some weird mish-mash paint job.
Needless to say, we couldn’t WAIT to improve our view. Our trees actually survived the Nashville floods last year (despite all their soil being washed out TWICE) and are now rocking along – they’ve grown about 1-2 feet since we planted them.
Hopefully 5 years from now we’ll have an awesome screen!
liz says
… And by “problems” I mean “delightful landscaping challenges” :)
Val says
Being in a much more urban neighborhood in a house situated quite close to the street, closed blinds are a must (at night anyway). But luckily the house came with wide, white wooden blinds that I like.
However, we do focus on privacy in the much larger backyard where we spend a lot of time. When our old apple tree died in snowmageddon, it was urgent that we put in a large tree to return our patio to its semi-private situation. It was an investment to buy a fairly large tree (a Japanese-Chinese hybrid Magnolia). I don’t want to shade out my vegetable garden (just the neighbors and the street), so the rest of my plantings are smaller scale, but I am slowly but surely creating my own little shangri-la.
Dani Yardley says
Random, I know, but where did you get those darling faux jean leggings for the babe? I’ve been looking for leggings for my 5 month old, but all the sizes I find are for older girls. Any wisdom?
YoungHouseLove says
We got one pair as a gift when she was a newborn (from Bloomingdale’s- fancy right?) and then fell in love with how diverse they are (they match everything, she can move in them, they stretch so they fit forever, etc) so we kept our eyes peeled for them in more mainstream (read: not as expensive) stores and ended up finding a pair in Old Navy and a pair in The Children’s Place. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Stephanie Phillips says
I got my girls’ jeggings at Penney’s! $4 each and they wear them out. They’re usually kept on the little table of infant clothes (not hanging).
heather says
Hahaha ohhh random animals. For years my mother and grandmother had a “hidden flamingo” thing going on. Whenever one visited the other, they brought this lawn flamingo with them and hid it somewhere on the property. You’d be surprised how hard finding a bright pink flamingo can be sometimes. To this day I smile, and cringe, whenever I see one.
Same grandma – driving down the coast of Maine, she sees a bunch of cool free stuff on the end of a driveway, hits the brakes and backs up. I quote, “DID YOU SEE THAT CEMENT DEER?!”.
The free cement deer, years later, is still sitting on the edge of my property. My now husband tried to get rid of it when we moved and I blatantly refused. That deer is here to stay. I love when people encounter it hidden near the corner lot of our property and look confused. It’s quite cute.
YoungHouseLove says
I love (and I mean LOVE) the idea of a cement deer. Amazing.
xo,
s
Suzanne says
nag of the day: concrete, not cement.
cement is the powder that mixes with water/sand/gravel to form concrete. it’s like calling bread “flour”.
Steph N says
I found a rubber duck in one of my flower beds when I moved into my current house.
Beth says
You should spray paint that duck and bring him inside. :-)
Maggie Rose says
Unfortunately our privacy issue has more to do with our neighbor’s bathroom window lining up with our hallway window at the stair landing. Their window is sort of frosted but you totally know what is happening – I hope to frost our window this year with the same film you guys used.
I’m laughing at the photoshopped trees because of John’s explaination: “I PURPOSEFULLY did this badly so you could see the photoshopping, otherwise my Super Ninja Photoshop Skills would have you all ‘which trees are REAL?'” LOL – no offense John.
Maggie Rose says
And when I say the windows line up, I mean the houses are about 4 feet apart. No space for trees!
Ellen says
Hi Sherry,
You did luck out! I just tried to call and wasn’t able to get the same discount :(. They were very nice, but didn’t apply the discount to the newer model. Bummer! It is still a good price for the newer model though…
YoungHouseLove says
Maybe try amazon.com? We’ve heard the same stroller is on sale though them as well!
xo,
s
KLL says
One, that fast-growing trees site was a great find. So, thank you Naomi.
Two, the fomer owners of my house also left behind a duck and a squirrel and a giant apparently concrete frog that I subsequently painted bright green. Now they live in my flower garden — except for the duck, which was apparently stolen over the winter. I was so sad, my neighbor’s toddler-aged grandson used to come over and pet the duck and talk to him. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to take a little plastic faux duck…
YoungHouseLove says
Aw man- now I’m sad I didn’t get a frog. Or maybe I just haven’t found him yet…
xo,
s
Melanie says
Hi J&S,
My husband and I can’t stand closing the shades every morning and evening either – we leave them open and just make sure we are clothed in the common areas. The back of our house is entirely windows, which we love for light, but during the winter, the two story house behind us must think we watch an awful lot of DIY and HGTV.
I feel like our windows (not floor to ceiling) need some treatments though and I feel think light and airy white roman shades would be a great dressing for them. I noticed you had some in your old house in an old post. Where did you find them? I’ve looked into making them, and I think it would be much more expensive to do that than to purchase custom roman shades.
Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Those were from Ikea. So cheap (maybe $5 a pop). I don’t know if they make them anymore though. Here’s hoping!
xo,
s
Jamie M says
We recently moved into a crowded suburb so are neighbors are really – in your face. But the builers on all these house make HUGE beautiful windows in the living rooms (like they were meant to be put on a few acres instead of a suburb) So we large arched windows that can’t be covered! I feel like every time I walk up our stairs I should be waving at the neighbors behind us. (cause i can see them upstairs too!)
Anyway, we had to cover our whole house in curtains the day we moved in (signed & moved in 1 day) so that we wouldn’t be putting on a show for the neighborhood. Curtains were WAY cheaper then the custom size blinds we would have to buy. Now I feel like I have to make due with the split second curtain decision… ??
carolinaheartstrings says
Those trees are the perfect choice. They grow fast in this part of the country. It won’t take long and you can happily walk around in your altogether.
Kate says
Our new house is quite close to our neighbors without much privacy. We have fairly small yards and there isn’t a ton of room between houses (it’s definitely a decent amount, but it’s a situation where I can watch the family next door eat dinner if I’m washing dishes, etc). The bigger problem is that our house is a ranch that’s set on a hill so that the basement is a full walk out, which is awesome but it means that our main level is more than a story above our back neighbor’s main level. Nothing a privacy fence or trees would help for that situation. Also, our neighborhood doesn’t have a lot of privacy fences/trees in general so it would make things feel a bit uninviting, though I might consider doing something (anything!) to at least feel like I’m in my own space when we’re hanging out in the backyard.