Our house has a few spots that lack privacy, and our narrow “alley” leading right toward the neighbor’s back deck is one of them. We moved from a place where privacy felt effortless to one where even casual moments can feel exposed, especially when big sliding doors and picture windows leave our living areas wide open to view.

The side yard pictured here gives you the idea: it’s a straight line of sight to the neighbors’ deck. While the landscape has filled in a bit since these photos were taken, there are still moments—like the night our smoke detector went off—when you realize how visible the interior can be. Imagine standing on a chair at the sliding door changing a battery in your boxers with the lights on. Not the most discreet of situations.

We prefer keeping our curtains open most of the time to let in light and preserve the view, so we didn’t want a nightly routine of closing shades across all the shared windows. Instead, we decided a low-maintenance, long-term solution would be to create a living privacy screen: fast-growing, easy-care evergreens planted to block the sight-line between houses.

To that end we picked up three Leyland Cypress trees on sale for $9.99 each. Local gardeners and the plant tags recommended them for a few good reasons: they grow quickly, stay evergreen so they keep privacy through winter, can reach considerable height and width, and are generally hardy and low-maintenance. In short, they fit the bill for a practical privacy screen.

We spaced the trees about ten to fifteen feet apart and arranged them in a loose triangular configuration so each tree layers with the others rather than crowding into one mass. That pattern should encourage a denser, staggered screen as they mature while giving each tree room to grow without competing directly with its neighbors.

Before planting we cleared out a few dead boxwoods and discovered a few surprises in the shrubbery, including a small frog (or toad) and, amusingly, a plastic duck left by the previous owners. Little relics like that make the yard feel familiar—the kind of quirky hand-me-downs you find when moving into an older home. I left the plastic duck where it sat; with the cypresses filling in, it won’t be spying on us for long, and it might be a fun discovery for Clara in a year or two.

After digging the holes and planting each cypress, the trio doesn’t look like much yet, but with regular watering, sun, and time they should develop into a thick, green screen. Photos can’t capture the pace at which they’ll grow, but Leyland Cypresses are known to reach impressive dimensions—tall enough and wide enough to form a reliable barrier over time.

We still use blinds in bedrooms for immediate privacy, and we’ll keep the big living-area windows open most days. The goal is to bring a little more of that wooded, private feeling to the yard so we can enjoy natural light and openness without worrying that every movement is on display. In the meantime, we’ll try to avoid midnight chair-climbing near the sliders.

Have you ever planted Leyland Cypresses or another fast-growing evergreen to create privacy? Do you prefer relying on blinds and curtains, or do you like living with open windows and natural screening? Share your experiences—there are plenty of creative ways to make a home feel more private while keeping the light and view you love.