Living in an apartment or condo means living really close to other people. I’ve been rudely reminded of that lately, as my upstairs neighbor has decided to rearrange their furniture late at night. But the closeness can also be felt outside, on your balcony or patio too. Inconsiderate neighbors may use their balcony as a place to store their junk, or you may have a great view into the apartments in the next building over. Whatever the case, you may want to create a little privacy on your balcony, and I know of five plants that would do a great job helping you do that.
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by Fern on August 11, 2009
Apartment/condo living means living thisclose to your neighbor. It often means hearing all sorts of things from your neighbor’s unit that you’d rather not hear. And often times, living in a high density area means listening to all sorts of other noises from streets, trains, planes, jack hammers, and on and on. In addition to your neighbor’s noises, you probably would like to have a conversation with the windows open or out on your balcony, and it would be nice if your neighbors didn’t hear every detail.
Especially outside, there are things you can do to reduce the noise. Or at least make it more bearable. Tobin Cooley, the founder of Listen Acoustics suggests using two or three white noise sources at a low volume level “to create a neutral sound environment.” Things like water fountains, wind chimes, radios, or even a white noise machine can be used to neutralize unappealing noises.
With the can’t-beat-em-join-em philosophy of noise reduction in mind, I thought these wind chimes from Ten Thousand Villages would look great on a balcony or patio. And you have the added benefit of supporting a fair trade organization that supports artisans in the developing world.
Do you have any special noise reduction tips?
