First floor duplex rental, window privacy options?
Hi there! I'm in the process of moving into a new place in a less nice part of town and am trying to figure out how to actually feel safe in this place. I grew up with my dad working as a security consultant and have dealt with pretty severe paranoid schizophrenia (currently remitted, thankfully) for years, so if I had unlimited time, resources, and owned the place, I'd turn it into a proper Ft Knox- but realistically there's only so much I can do to this place. Given that background I have some experience about keeping a low profile/standing your ground laws/securing door hardware, but a deadbolt isn't going to stop someone if they can just chuck a brick through the window next to it.
As much as I'd love the peace of mind of putting iron bars over them, the landlord probably doesnt want that so the best thing I can probably do within my means is keeping valuables out of sight. I try to keep the blinds closed as much as possible, but they arent a perfect seal since you can see through the edges. I thought about getting blackout curtains and keeping them always closed, but that also means sacrificing natural light.
More recently I have been looking at window privacy films and see there are a lot of options on the market now- specifically because this place is a rental and I can't make certain permanent changes to it, I have been looking at the window cling stuff, but it looks like most of the options I see aren't actually like "one way" film, but rather turns it into a "light can come through but you cant actually see out of your window" situation. I guess the criteria im looking at is something that's 1. removable at the end of the lease 2. im able to fully see through it, not just silhouettes and 3. a reasonable cost. I know a lot of "mirror films" turn reversed at night which isn't a huge deal, I can close the curtains at night, it would just suck to lose the windows during the daytime.
Alternatively I can just stick with getting blackout curtains- it just sucks because whenever the blinds are drawn you can see everything in a given room- not a huge deal right now because we're still in boxes, but I don't want outsiders peeking in and seeing valuables, let alone just seeing me in my room generally. We've already seen strangers standing in our driveway and an occasional car we dont recognize drive past slowly or be parked on our curb and while I dont want to assume the worst of people, I know there's always a chance they might be "casing the new tenants". I appreciate any tips y'all might have, on the windows or even just on making this place safer.