Have a Window With a Terrible View? Try These Design-Expert Fixes.

If you live in a city, gazing out your window at a brick wall or weed-clogged vacant lot is not uncommon. Suburbanites, too, deal with ugly views—of car-strewn driveways or masonry walls. Anyone can, however, mitigate even the lousiest vistas, say experts such as Agustina Gentili. “Focus on enhancing a window’s other qualities, the entry of light and air,” advised the Mexico City–based designer. Here, how top design experts reframe a dreary outlook to do just that.

Practice shelf love

A woeful view over a kitchen sink can truly sink your spirits, given how much time you spend there. Faced with such a situation in a house in Mission Hills, Kan., architect Chris Fein built cabinets with integrated shelving that spanned the window (above). This lets light infuse the kitchen but provides a view of objects and plants instead of the homeowners’ own driveway and the lot next door, says Fein, founding principal of Forward Design, in Kansas City, Mo.

Play with shades

Regan Baker relies on fabric blinds to distract from nasty views. The San Francisco designer hung a Roman shade that covers the top third of a home-office window. Its charming scenic pattern draws the eye away from a neighbour’s wall and, she said, “relates to the home’s hillside neighbourhood.” In another project, Baker used sheer, minimal shades in a light, neutral tone to block a dining room’s unlovely views while letting natural light filter in. What’s more, the shades’ hue so nearly matches the wall paint that they almost blend right in, says Baker, keeping the focus on a nearby landscape painting.

Erect a shield of green

When faced with a bleak view, Gentili cultivates a “domesticated jungle,” attaching window boxes to the building’s exterior, if possible, and filling them with flora. Alternatively, the designer loads window sills with lush plants to create a filter of verdure and distract from the ugliness beyond. “This also generates green-tinted shadows that dance and change with the movement of the sun,” she said.

Change the pane

A stained-glass window will, of course, blur a chain-link fence or some equally unwelcome vista. Frosted glass, too. A less costly and disruptive solution: window film. The vinyl material, available in many patterns and textures, affixes without adhesive. Choose from ribbed designs that look like reeded glass to vintage-inspired motifs like Old English (below), a leaded-glass look-alike from Portland, Ore., company Artscape ($25 for a 2-feet-by-3-feet panel). In a garden-level New York apartment, designer Nathanael Tito Gonzalez applied abstract vinyl graphics to the top of a window to diffuse the sight of foot traffic up on the sidewalk.

Meet it half way

Cafe curtains, which shield only a window’s lower half, were once out of fashion, shunted aside by contemporary top-down, bottom-up shades. Now they’re back. For a powder room in Southern California that’s tiled in sea green and floored in a checkerboard pattern, Baker executed the old-school fix to block out a rudely confrontational concrete fence. Now light streams in over the drapes’ bright geometric patterns, and the retro decor embraces the client’s love of “grandma chic,” said Baker.

From Scotch whisky and luxury retreats to fashion collaborations and world-class hospitality, Ross Blainey has spent years shaping high-end experiences around one idea: modern luxury is no longer just about what you own.

It is about access, connection and moments money alone cannot buy.

As Citizen Kanebridge continues to grow as one of Australia’s most sought-after private members’ clubs, Blainey, the club’s new Head of Membership, says the future lies in creating experiences members cannot find anywhere else.

“The ultimate memorable experiences are the money can’t buy moments,” Blainey said.

“The things that you can’t just put together anytime or any place. They make up something that is greater than the sum of its parts.”

On June 4, Blainey will bring that philosophy to life when he hosts an exclusive whisky evening for Citizen Kanebridge members at Sydney’s Royal Automobile Club of Australia.

Titled A Journey Through Whisky, the intimate event will see Blainey guide members through a curated selection of rare and unreleased whiskies drawn from his personal archive, alongside stories gathered across years working at the highest levels of the Scotch whisky world.

The evening will also include reflections on Blainey’s induction as a Keeper of the Quaich at Blair Castle in Scotland last year, one of the whisky industry’s rarest global honours.

A career built around experience

Before joining Citizen Kanebridge, Blainey built a career spanning luxury hospitality, Scotch whisky, premium lifestyle brands and experiential events.

But he says one industry above all others shaped the way he thinks about people and community: Scotch whisky.

“At its core, at its heart and throughout its whole history, Scotch has been about sharing, enjoyment, telling stories, meeting people and generally having a good time,” he said.

“Whisky can be that shared moment of laughter, and it can also be a shared moment of just slowing down, taking stock and contemplating. These are so key to building community.”

Blainey’s deep involvement in the whisky world culminated in 2025 when he was inducted as a Keeper of the Quaich at Blair Castle, a recognition is reserved for a select group of individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to Scotch whisky internationally.

“I was inducted last year, 2025, an incredible honour,” he said.

“There were a couple of teary-eyed moments as I stood in Blair Castle, on historic ground, realising that this was a moment I would remember forever.”

The next chapter for Citizen Kanebridge

Looking ahead, Blainey says Citizen Kanebridge will continue to focus on highly curated experiences, exclusive access, and bringing together like-minded members from Australia’s property, finance, and investment sectors.

“Our baseline of Car of the Year is already one of the most impressive events on the social calendar of Australia,” he said.

“My job is to find a way of raising the bar, taking things to the absolute top level for access, experiences and events.”

Blainey said the long-term goal was not simply to create another networking group or luxury club, but to build a community centred around meaningful relationships and unforgettable experiences.

“We provide the access, the money can’t buy memories, and we will be making those happen regularly,” he said.

“If we start with how amazing Car of the Year is and the only way is up, we are going to have some mind-blowing moments for our members.”

Hospitality at its absolute best

Another major influence on Blainey’s thinking came through his connection with world-famous New York restaurant Eleven Madison Park, once named the best restaurant in the world.

He says two concepts from the restaurant’s owners still shape the way he approaches luxury experiences today: “enlightened hospitality” and “unreasonable hospitality”.

“Enlightened hospitality is a way of doing business that looks at not just the product of what you serve, but how it makes people feel,” Blainey said.

“Unreasonable hospitality is more about striving for the absolute best all the time. If you’re going to do something, do it to an unreasonable level that blows everything else out of the water.”

It is a philosophy, he says, which aligns closely with where Citizen Kanebridge is heading next.

“That’s what we’re doing here with CK, taking members’ experiences to another level,” he said.

Fashion, whisky and creative collaborations

Blainey’s career has also included working with Glenfiddich as a Creative Collaborations Lead, where his role centred on bringing luxury experiences and partnerships to life through designers, chefs, artists and bartenders.

Among the projects were runway collaborations with leading Australian fashion designers, with pieces from the partnerships now housed inside Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum.

“My job was to find a creative way of bringing the brand to life,” he said.

“How do we make something that none of us could make on our own? Searching for the things that will resonate with people.”

What luxury consumers want now

Beyond whisky and events, Blainey also played a key role in building Blackbird Byron, the boutique Byron Bay hinterland retreat later recognised in Tatler’s Top 101 Hotels list.

The property, known for its dramatic views, minimalist architecture, and secluded atmosphere, helped shape his understanding of how luxury consumers are changing.

“I think I learned that people looking for luxury in hotels want memorable moments, considered design and the ability to get away from the hustle and bustle of modern life,” he said.

“To feel at home without being at home is important.”

More broadly, he believes today’s luxury consumers are increasingly driven by authenticity and emotional connection.

“For luxury consumers overall, I think it comes down to craft, story and connection,” he said.

“The product itself has to be impeccable, the story behind it builds your reason for looking at it, and then you need to make a genuine connection with people.”

Interested in becoming a member of Citizen Kanebridge? You can contact Ross here.