Oh I am such a home voyeur. When my kids were small I used to take them out on Halloween to this gorgeous neighborhood just so I could get my share of (eye)candy. LOVED to walk my son to the door and peek in while they admired his costume.

I think people who live in homes like that you've mentioned are very comfortable with the 'consequences'. It's like homes on the Oregon coast...the beaches are publicly owned, so if you have a home on the beach, anyone can walk past your windows if you build on the shore.

Would I live in a place like that? Probably...I don't mind, and frankly, if I could afford a place like that, I'd be thrilled to show it off. But my DH would HATE it. He doesn't even like the blinds open in our bathroom, which would require someone on a ladder peeking through 20 foot tall shrubs to see more anything more than waist high through that window.

No we had a really nutty neighbor when we built our first home,You know the type burns garbage when you have company or 3 in the morning.We moved to 40 acre farm with no neighbors and views love it.

No....I'm with Bulldinkie...we live on a farm and love our privacy. The view may not be a million dollar one, but it sure is beautiful :)

Oh my gosh, pesky1, I'm not alone in my Halloween voyeurism! That is the best time to sneak a peek! My other favorite is walking my daughter in her stroller around dusk when the lights start going on in people's homes. After all, you can only walk so fast pushing a stroller, right? Hee hee! There's just something about seeing a small sliver of how a home is decorated. I always like leaving the blinds slightly open with lights on in my own home. Personally, I think from the street it just seems homier that way.

I love my privacy way too much that if I had such a view I'd have the type of privacy screens we have now. Unless you are lit from behind no one can see in. And even at that it's just shadows. Maybe it has to do with when we were building and people would come right up and stare in the windows to see what our home looked like inside. I mean our vehicles were in the driveway, they had to know we were here.

I think you can have both a beautiful view and privacy. I have a friend that lives in Galinberg right next door to where Jim and Tammy Baker lived. And most of the homes there are wall to wall glass. But they are in the Smokey Mountains and no one can see.

I like to look in people's homes if they have the drapes open, and in some way I think they like it too. Or why else would they have the freaking drapes open?

When I lived in a downtown highrise...oh gosh, many years ago now. I lived on the 23rd floor and there were highrises all around me. I didn't think anything of walking around naked because I thought I would appear the size of a pea. That is, until I bought a pretty powerful telescope for decorating. I looked in the telescope and everyone practically had a telescope and that was the end of my nudity. But it was surprizing how many people walked around nude and could of cared less, but it was 1973.

It takes all kinds of people is all I can say and I guess that makes the world go round and makes it interesting I suppose.

....Jane

Not me; I live on a large farm and I just love that almost all I can see, we own. I wouldn't even swap it for a view of spectacular mountains or water. I'd be fussed that changes on other people's land would "ruin" my vista.

I've lived in some of the most vista-ish places in the world: Switzerland, Africa and high in Andes mountains. After awhile you stop seeing the view, anyway.

LOL umm yes :) We have ocean (bay) views from every window including the laundry room and the basement. Our garden view is spectacular every day :) We are two blocks from great restaurants and 3 from a fabulous market as well as a wonderful saturday produce market. We can see the mountains nearly daily if it's not foggy and watch sail boat races from the balcony with a glass of wine at hand :)

Literally, tour busses pull up weekly under the bedroom window. Photo's are taken dozens of times daily. People ask us to move stuff for better pictures (I drew the line at the 3 story scaffolding).

We leave our windows open :) We do so because we like the views and umm well I haven't made curtains LOL People make the FUNNIEST comments about the house....mostly mistaking me for the hired help (because apparently the lady of the manor isn't supposed to rake her own yard or paint the siding LOL). But it's actually kind of fun. We purchased the home for the location, the views wake you up they're so spectacular and change daily, but the views come with the tourists so you have to understand that. Add to that it's not just a house with a view, it's a victorian in a historic district.

I don't walk around naked....heck rarely in my jammies (at least in the front of the house) because I'm afraid I'll see myself on the internet someday, but in general we just live our lifes as if we life in a secluded home (as we do in alaska) or a public museaum :) Plastic crap litters the lawn but is hidden by a beautiful fence. If you look closely into the windows today you'll see one parlor is so full of furniture you can't walk in it and the other is full of scaffolding (to match the stuff outside). Look in the back and you'll see the family dining room is a mess, and the formal one not much better (because I'm focused on the scaffolding project in the parlor).

Living in an "exposed" home is kind of fish bowl like, but you actually get kind of used to it. And just remember to put a bra on before you walk the dog :oP

I have laughed with DH about searching for our house in the net....more people have slept in my bed than the lincoln bedroom LOL But that's more than made up for with the wonderful photography skills folks have....we copy them all the time LOL

I think you have to be open to sharing your home through the fishbowl if you live in homes like that. I leave my home open, but have the lower shudders closed. You do need to avoid streaking to the laundry room though...LOL.

If I could have one of the houses you are talking about, I'd take it in an instant. I love the Marina district.

I have! My view from my deck in San Diego where I lived for ten years:

I had a privacy film put on around the third year and never looked back. The deck was a little elevated and you can see the boardwalk in this picture:

YUP, YES, and thank you Maam...in a NY minute. Heck if I were in my 20's -30's again, I'd even walk around naked too, just for fun ;)

I was about to write NO.
But then I saw some of your scenery--WOW!
Sooo... maybe. Just maybe.
I'm sure that it'd be the case that if I could afford a home with an incredible view, I'd be walking around in it naked anyway, because I'd have to sell even the shirt off my back! And my skivvies, too!

NO. We treasure our privacy. We're not exactly secluded, but pretty private. We have neighbors, just not close. I grew up on acreage and had never lived in a subdivision type setting. My hubby and I had 3 acres with our first home so still private. Then we moved out of that city and into a subdivision and although we loved the house, we HATED having people/houses so close to us. We built - in the same little city in a more rural setting. Love it. Houses are spread out but not isolated. No problems in being nude or in your undies. Most every morning I take the pup out - still in my nightclothes. To the back of our house is completely private.

Oh Jane - you are talking so near my area! We have a beautiful mountain view from the front of our property - and it is the Smokey Mountains! We are at a higher elevation than the actual *city* below, so it is also a beautiful view at night - all the lights of the little city below. For different holidays there are firework displays and we can see it all from our front porch.

I keep drapes open too - not for others to see in (not a problem in this house - as we are set way back from the road), but because I love windows and natural light. The only ones who look in are the cats from down the hill. LOL

tina

What beautiful views above, just gorgeous.

Tina- Your home sounds lovely and how romantic when the fireworks are fired.

My friend lives up close to clingman's dome I think he said, do you know it?

My SIL lives on Mission Bay in San Diego in a massive house right on the beach, with the famous boardwalk and its constant stream of pedestrians (on their stretch of the beach, the boardwalk is a bridge). Because the back of the house is all glass, they are constantly on display. I think they thrive on it.

Yes - Clingman's Dome is quite a popular area for hiking, picnicing, etc. Our favorite place in that area is Cades Cove. Ever driven around the "loop"? Or biked it? LOL

tina

When we had this place built, I thought I had both~ spectacular views AND privacy. With all our lots here being on 2-3 acres each, and being partially wooded with pine trees, I thought privacy was a given. Wrong!

Most of my windows don't even have drapes or curtains, as there are enough pine trees to obscure views into our houses. But even here I've had issues with privacy! Not with neighbors, but with delivery people, die-hard sales people and those wanting to convert me!

We have a long, wide, 280-ft. driveway that ends at our garage and a large, circular guest parking area. Off it, there's a prominent, wide flagstone & gravel walkway to our front portal (porch). And, waaaay off to the other side, partially obscured by pine trees is a very narrow, weedy, dirt path that leads to the back of our house. You'd think it would be obvious, which way to go, but I was getting an alarming amount of people showing up at the back of my house, which is pretty much all glass! I'd find them wandering around "trying to find the front door", peering into my house! Not considering this possibility when we had it designed, our house has one very long patio across pretty much the entire back of it, with 2 sets of triple door/window walls, a single glass door and many large, low windows.

After the second time I had some guy outside our glass bedroom doors catch me undressed, I had this sign made and mounted it at the beginning of the dirt path to the back. It works about 98% of the time, which is great, but the other 2% that *still* show up at the back of my house tell me they "thought the sign was a joke". Needless to say, I'm usually not in a joke-y mood when I find them back there.
Here's my sign:

My views here are pretty drop-dead gorgeous. I just wish that I could count on my privacy. As it is, I still get dressed in our toilet closet, because it's the only room without a window ;^D. THAT, I can count on!
Here's my views.
Front:

valinsv,
Your post brings back many fond memories of my time in SF... Is the gold bhudda still in front of one of the windows?

htnspz: I love your sunset pics! Reminds me a bit of my parent's home in Morro Bay--not quite the unobstructed view that you have because they are 6 blks. in from the bay, but still they get a partial view without all the crowds!

igloochic: You really have the right spirit for living in a house like that. I think the picture taking would bother me more than the crowds, though; but if any home were to tempt me, yours would be the one!

lynneinnewmexico: Your sign is a total hoot! Your views look like you wouldn't have a privacy problem.

bestyears: I've seen the Bhuddha in the past, but don't recall it yesterday. We live about an hour away from San Francisco so usually make it up there 3-4 times a year to just hang out for the day.

As I live in the subburbs I don't have the kind of open space and privacy like some of you lucky folks do, sigh.... However, it's not so crowded that I can't open all my drapes in the day. What boggles my mind is how many people live on busy streets and always keep their front windows covered in the daytime--even weekends. I just could not do that and have my home in the dark all the time.

We live in an historic district, and our streets are lined with Victorian era town houses, many with large bays two or three stories tall. Ours has a bay with ten foot windows to the floor on the first floor, and to about 30 inches off the floor upstairs. We have wide-louvred shutters on the bottom half of those windows, so we can shut off the view into the rooms and keep the light...but I usually leave the louvres open until dark.

There are so many houses to look into that I think most people don't even see them any more, but I don't mind that people can see us living our life. Most of it happens in the DR, den, or kitchen, which are strung along the hall behind the front room anyway. The houses are narrow, and ours has an English basement, so our first floor is really at about shoulder height for passers-by, and except for the front, the bottoms of the windows are above head height.
And it's a friendly, close neighborhood with an active civic association, so the people going by are either neighbors whom we know; people with somewhere to be who are lost in their own thoughts or conversations; or students, to whom people our age are completely invisible.

Doesn't bother us, either, to have people see us living our lives. Though we have drapes in the LR (but no window treatments at all in the back of the house), we never close them because we like looking out as much as anyone might like looking in.

This is a very GOOD question. I would choose privacy. The neighbor across the street from me is right ON the street;15' setback. His BIG picture window is right THERE. I walk down my 213' driveway to get the mail and if I'm looking forward...not even attempting to look inside HIS house....then I'm looking inside his house. :0)

My home does back the woods. I've had people over that said that kind of open wilderness FREAKS them out....:0)

I would choose the view. In a heartbeat.

Privacy, for sure. There are too many people and things in this world. I like having my own place to nest and mentally and physically refresh, before going back out there each day. That said, I've got the million dollar views as well, but if I HAD to choose, I would choose my space over my view.

Gimme a view- heck I have never lived in a secluded farm or acreage or forest or castle,so it doesn't matter one bit!
My view is whenI look up every morning into the sky and breathe in and at night I do the same thing with the stars( feeble as they are so close to the city)

So, in a word, YES!!! whatever you have left over- ocean, mountains, meadow, prairie, river, lake, stream,desert,forest- you got it, I'll take it.

You know, in general, people still respect your privacy when you live in an exposed home. We've never had people leave the sidewalk and peek in the windows or anything of that sort. We did get lots of people coming up on the porch to the doors before we took the sign down (it was a B&B) but now that's rare as well.

I guess you find your own privacy whereever you live :) For me, the views posted here would be my escape. Believe it or not you do look past the heads and into the sunset!

The only area I was having trouble with privacy in was the yard because it's so exposed. People stand in front of it to take pics of the house so while pausing they'll often chat. We don't mind, but the dumb dog goes bonkers and DS is too friendly (offers tours of his room LOL) so we put in a fence that suits the house but sort of blocks the tourists heads from our relaxation area (we're outside a lot). It's heaven and we still see the view because the yard is on a slope.

{{!gwi}}

To me, looking up at a farm or out at land is actually not relaxing. I love the water and can mentally escape the world while enjoying a view of it from lake, stream or ocean. I've lived in remote areas, and I'd never trade them for this location.

Besides that...our walls are a foot thick LOL So if I want to ignore the world, it's not hard to do so. Ohhh and Lynn, I have SO MUCH difficulty with that door problem. I have 9 outside enterances....that's probably 7 too many LOL. I get Fedex out of one, UPS out of the other, the post office likes another, and the tourists another. Only one of which is the actual front door LOL

How do you put a price tag on a view?

We live on a 1/4 acre city lot with nice views from all windows. Privacy isn't an issue even with the window treatments open.

No desire to live in a fishbowl no matter how wonderful the view.

Igloo, how nice of you to serve drinks. But please put a little umbrella in mine. On my way!

Lovely views Iggy.

For us, it's not just the privacy but the space - I need my space LOL!! Of course, the more space, usually more privacy.

Our home is our oasis away from the hustle and bustle. Very much the country girl, I've never actually lived in city limits. We spend alot of time outdoors, and while I have nothing to hide, we just enjoy our quiet, private space.

Sue, you are too funny. Are you feeling better?

tina

Ohhhhhhh, I'd take the view in a New york minute. Usually having a view means living close to others so I'd have a country house, too. But, I am a very social person & love getting together with other people.

I love taking my walks in the evenings to get a peek. A house looks so beautiful with the lamps on inside at night. DH fusses at me about my lamps but it makes me feel good when I walk around my house at night and it glows.

I never close my drapes - up on a hill so people don't have a full view anyways.

Smiles:)

Oh,how I remember peering in those windows, too! I'd need someplace outdoors where I could have some privacy (not that the SF weather is condusive to hanging outdoors much of the time). I have a family member who lives in a beautiful home on a small lot w/fantastic mountain and city views. However it is mpossible to sit outside w/out being in view of at least one, usually three, other homes which I'm totally not used to. We're on 2.5 treed acres, as are all of our neighbors, and I love the privacy.

Well, it depends......here, NO way, we love our privacy. We do love San Francisco and might "consider" the sacrifice if we could get used to living that close to our neighbors. It's just such a spectacular city!

I had a million dollar view across the street but then it sold in foreclosure for only $550,000 so my view was cut in half theoretically.

ahem.

We love our lake view, and just added new windows to create an uninterrupted view from inside the house. We keep saying we have to go out in a boat at night to see what is visible as we go about our business inside. We're up a slight hill, so I really don't know if we can be seen or not. But so far, we haven't gone out to really test visibility. I think we'd rather not know!