Things I Like: Window Film from Across the Pond
Living in the city, your windows are usually smashed up against somebody else's windows, or a brick wall, or the face of a potential burglar gazing longingly at your stereo. That is why I like window solutions which let in light, but block the view. So, I'm always looking for new ones.
I have always been seriously disappointed in the selection of window film here in the states. Why on earth we can't stock anything that doesn't look like really fake stained glass, or Holly Hobbie's playhouse, or this (whatever that is)??
I'm not even going to get into stuff like this. Which is so awful, it would make the Baby Jesus cry.
I'm not the only one. Recently, my friend Jane emailed me about window film for her house. She is frustrated, too.
Jane: I'm finally getting my butt moving on some home decorating projects. I've ordered some samples of window film so I can test them out. As an aside, what is the deal with American design? We get Disney Princesses (TM) and awful stained glass windows, while the Brits get nice, clean design .
You called it, Jane. Ack! My eyes! MY EYES!!!
Her comment that "the Brits get nice, clean design" had me wondering about our friends across the pond and what they use for window film. And she is totally right. Their window film is a bazillion percent nicer. Tasteful. Subtle. Classy (instead of klassy, which is something else entirely.)
Purlfrost has some very lovely designs:
So does Brume:
design*sponge has a nice round-up of many window films here. Though she mentions the Gila products from the States, which made me shout "No, D*S! Nooooooo!" Et tu, D*S?
Sigh. Now if I could only get the big box home centers in the States on board with ordering their films from across the pond, I'd be set.
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Comments
With all the fancy cutting tools for scrapbooking, could you buy plain stuff and cut out your own designs?
Posted by: Anonymous | February 7, 2008 10:20 AM
I have a friend in Toledo who used glass etching tools to write Bathroom on her bathroom window door (like the one you have pictured here). Could you do that?
Posted by: foodmomiac | February 7, 2008 10:43 AM
Try looking up Decolite, Madico, or Solyx window films. These are manufacturers and you might have to contact them to find a installer or retailer in your area. But I use these companies all the time for residential and commercial work because they have very nice restrained patterns. And if you want to get real swanky, look up Lumisty Films here: http://www.glassfilmenterprises.com/lumisty.htm
They make incredible film that varies in opacity depending on your angle of view. So for example, a burglar looking up at a window from below may be unable to see anything while you looking out the window from a standard height get a completely clear view.
Posted by: Dave K | February 7, 2008 10:52 AM
I feel your pain sister! Thanks for poking around and uncovering this great resource for us. I have a few windows myself that have been waiting for some TASTEFUL obscuring. Bless you.
Posted by: Bungalow Monster | February 7, 2008 11:21 AM
I too am a huge fan of window frosting. I live in a row home with a back door that looks into an dingy alley. I wanted the light, but didn't want to see everything back there. A window film from Lowes did the trick, but I would have love to use some design patter for my back window...
I like their house numbers, but at $73 bucks to get them to the US I may have to take a pass...
Posted by: Corey | February 7, 2008 11:57 AM
Corey...I know! That is what is so frustrating. Shipping costs make it to expensive. Which is why I wish that some more tasteful designs were available over here.
Makes me sad.
Posted by: jm | February 8, 2008 9:03 AM
Jeanne--Thanks so much for posting these! So many of the houses I looked at in Evanston had the tacky stained glass film on interior glass doors and windows as well as the exterior ones. In one house, the guy had even built a light box above the fireplace with a gaudy red, green, and yellow church-like window film. These are so much nicer!
Posted by: Joanne | February 9, 2008 5:53 PM
I have the same problem - seems I'm not alone!
The fake stained glass is so tacky.
Anyway, I've had the same idea as "anonymous". I've got a roll of plain film and I bought some nice metal stencils of sort of arts and crafts leaves (as close as I could get anyway), Now I'm going to get up enough courage to actually do it! I don't have that much confidence in my artistic skills!
Posted by: Jane | February 10, 2008 11:21 AM
I love window film from across the pond. I was trying to find some here for a privacy window and yes, everything was ugly! I ended up just using etching spray paint instead.
I like what you posted here though, and would totally have bought film if those designs were around.
Posted by: Aimee | February 12, 2008 1:16 PM
Hi
In the UK there is a well-established business which will help with window film of all varieties and sizes:-
UK Window Film
I've never tried their domesti film but they did my local school!
Ben
Posted by: Ben Hardy | April 8, 2008 3:31 AM
Send for 4 free samples of the Solyx "cut glass" patterns online. They are prismatic, and if you put them on an East or West window the dawn or sunset sun will send flaming rainbows across the room--fantastic on a white wall ! Looking through a window with this film at midday, you see soft shifting pastel colors which are lovely--I particularly recommend the cut glass "Mosaic" "Atlantis" "Pebbles", but you may like the more traditional florals or ultra modern geometrics.
I have the "Mosaic" cut glass pattern in lieu of stained glass in the window of a meditation space / private chapel I made in an old shed with south facing windows. The "cut glass film" is perfect to ensure privacy but transmit white light to read by.--the light through the day changes the colors on the far wall from dawn to dusk. Even on cloudy days when the colors are muted, it is attractive.
If you want a formal "stained glass" pattern which isn't tacky, check out the "Venician" style--it repeats horizontally every 6" and if you cut it into strips and joint them end-to-end, it makes a magnificent border on an otherwise boring plain window, which you can leave clear or put one of the other translucent or cut-glass films in. Solyx isn't cheap, but the quality is superb. Also they have a narrow "bevel" glass tape which will make ordinary windows look like they have beveled edges: Suave !
Posted by: r Wenner | August 26, 2008 5:32 PM