Window for the hallway

Hello everyone,

we are about to have our window measurement, but we are stuck on one point.
Next to the front door, we have a separate floor-to-ceiling window and on the floor above, 2 floor-to-ceiling windows.
We are building a city villa.
The two windows on the upper floor are not easily accessible, one is located in the staircase and the other next to a small gallery.

Now our question.
On the one hand, we want to be able to look outside, but we don't want people to be able to look through all the floors and the hallway when the light is on inside. Because the windows will not have shutters.

There are curtains that are opaque from the outside, but from the inside you can easily see out. But since the windows are "in the air," we
a have difficulty reaching them and
b in our opinion, it looks somewhat unsatisfactory.

Is our only option to order the windows without clear glass? And then we cannot see out.

Maybe you have a solution for us.

Just stick the windows from the inside with a film. It doesn't have to cover the entire window, just as it is "appropriate" for you (if necessary, just a few strips). Good adhesive films can be found, for example, at velken.de (we have already ordered films there once and were very satisfied). Films are also available in mirrored versions, so you will have some heat protection for the summer as well.

P.S. Why not simply order windows with shutters? Or are all the windows without shutters, so that it wouldn't look right.

Roller shutters are out of the question for us. And the thing with the film seems to only work when it is bright outside.

Roller shutters are not an option for us. And the thing with the film only seems to work when it is bright outside.

Why are roller shutters not an option?

You have summarized the following possibilities: 1. Do nothing. Then people can look in and out. 2. Frosted/film-coated glass. Either you cannot see through or there are problems in the dark. 3. Curtains/drapes. Looks silly or you cannot see properly through them. 4. Roller shutters. Open them when you want to look out. Close them when you don’t want anyone to look in.

In my opinion, the only option without disadvantages: roller shutters.

Do you have such a problem that you are afraid of being looked at? What do you do all day in the hallway and stairwell? We don’t have a single curtain/drape in the house. Bathrooms/WCs are partly equipped with films (so you don’t have to frost the entire pane directly and have some design flexibility). However, we have roller shutters on all windows, but we only close them when we go to bed.

The way you describe the position of the windows, are these continuous ribbon windows? I naturally wonder why one would plan to install roller shutters there? Which of the homeowners here has roller shutters on the side window of the front door? Maybe there is just a light strip of 30 cm – how is a roller shutter supposed to fit there? I don’t know of any stairwell window that is equipped with roller shutters. However, I also don’t know anyone who has a problem with light from the inside being visible from outside through the windows at night. Or are these large panoramic windows? Those are intentionally planned so that the beautiful stairwell can also be seen from outside. I think you’re worrying too much about privacy disturbances regarding windows to the hallway or stairwell. Perhaps you can simply distract from the windows on the inside with simple, playful mobiles (a strip with something hanging from it… shells or something).

Be careful with films on the windows with today's triple glazing - depending on the orientation, the panes can break due to heat buildup.

Our carpenter and also the window maker have strongly advised against it - if at all, then satin-finished from the factory.