See Out, Not See In Glass Question

[ferlew]

My craft room is at the side of the house, I need good light.
The problem lies in the fact my nasty little weasel of a neighbour is always peeping in.
I recall I saw a shop somewhere, where from the outside, it looked like a mirror, but once you were inside the shop, you could see out.
Does anyone know what I am talking about, or have I imagined it all. LOL

[woofgang]

yes i do, its a film you stick on the glass. Its apparently tricky to install and you will lose a little light, although I have worked in offices that use it and the rooms were still bright enough.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?client=safari&;rls=en&q=one+way+window+film&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&;redir_esc=&ei=bSvXUYv_Aa-P7AbB74AQ

[Buenchico]

Woofgang has provided an excellent answer but I'll just point out one thing that you'll need to consider:

As with all one-way mirrors (or should that be 'two-way mirrors'?; the terms are, rather oddly, synonymous!) the person on the darker side can see through the glass/film, but the person on the lighter side can't. So, in daylight, you'll be able to see out but your neighbour won't be able to see in (because you'll be in the relative darkness of your craft room, whereas the other side of the film will be illuminated by daylight).

However at night your side of the film will be brightest (because you'll using artificial light), with the other side being darkest. So your neighbour will be able to stare in, without you even knowing that he's there (because the mirror will be reversed and you can't see out).

I used to work in a railway station's Customer Service office. We had no problems with the public seeing that we were inside; indeed, we wanted them to know where to come for assistance. However somebody 'up high' thought that it would be a good idea to install 2-way (1-way?) film on the windows.

During the day the customers couldn't see that we were waiting to help them (because they couldn't see in) but at night we couldn't monitor the drunks on the platforms (because we couldn't see out of what, from the outside, was now a brightly-illuminated 'fish tank', visible to all!)

[Nibble]

Crumbs, that's scary, chris

[hc4361]

Don't worry about night, ferlew - close the curtains or pull the blind

[Maydup]

I've just had a quote to fit this film on a window at work and it will cost about £180 fitted to a window about 200 x 150. I guess it can be a DIY job, but i think its hard to get the knack of applying it well first time.

Here's a link for the one way window film to apply yourself.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002QEVFFC

[Old_Geezer]

I wonder if it is significantly better than putting up some lace curtains then.

[ferlew]

Thank you one and all, good points to ponder.

[sunny-dave]

I think a sign in the corner of the window saying "Fluff off you nosy git of a neighbour" might work .... he can hardly complain can he :)

[bednobs]

personally i thing the louvred blinds are a better idea. I work in an office with floor to ceiling windows on 3 sides. On one of them we have that film it's quite dark on that side (i think) on the others we have the blinds. These have the advantage that we can louvre them so people cant see in, or wide open when we don't mind people seeing on (in your case, if your neighbour is on holiday or something), but can have them totally closed too

[woofgang]

sunny dave for best answer