Cheap window frosting

Several months ago I decided it was time to do something with my eye sore of a garage window. When we moved in we hastily threw up an old sheet to stop people seeing into our garage and there it has stayed.  Collecting dirt, dust and cobwebs every time I walked in to the garage it just nagged at me to do something.  I needed to clean up the area, allow light in and I wanted to do it really affordably.  

After much consideration frosting seamed the logical option.  I had considered painting it with Glass Frosting Aerosol Spray Paint.  I'd used it to make those sun jars with the solar lights in them but I'd discovered that over time the paint peeled off of some of them.  Usually it was because they'd been exposed to moisture.  In the garage there is potential for it to be exposed to petroleum based products and moisture.  If it were to bubble up or peel it would look terrible. I found my solution when I came across a lady who'd used clear contact paper on her kitchen doors.  On the window the contact paper looks like frosting.  The best part is if you get sick of it you can just peel it off.  

Here is my DIY garage window frosting makeover.

The before shot.  We had an old sheet held up with a shower curtain rod.  It allowed some light in but was too dark and way too ugly!

Behind the sheet curtain. It was so gross and dirty with tons of spider webs, dead bugs and egg sacks.  

Contact paper or PVC self-adhesive film.  I got mine at a local shop for about $4 a roll and I used 3 rolls. 

The naked window thoroughly washed and free of webs.

My contact paper.
I chose the "clear chess" pattern because I thought it would look pretty on the window.  Any clear pattern would work.  Notice the blue grid printed on the paper?  It's really useful when cutting the paper to fit the window.  Unroll the paper and hold it up to the window to measure. Measure twice. Then cut it.
If you have excess you can trim it later. 

BEFORE you try to stick it to the window spray the glass with glass cleaner.  It will allow you to slide the contact paper around to center it.  Peel the sticky contact paper from the paper. Once its on, use a card to gently push the bubbles and wrinkles to the edge.  If it get's to sticky just peel it back and spray on more glass cleaner.
You can use a blade to trim excess.  Use towels to mop up the glass cleaner that get's pushed out. 

Be gentle! I got a little bit crazy and tore my contact paper.  You can't repair it so I had to throw it away and start again.
You can see the cool check design in this photo. 

Here is my window with 3/4 of the pane done.  You can see that it still lets light through but its defused and you can't make out objects on the other side.  

All done.
You can see seams between the sheets of contact paper. I wouldn't use this on large windows in my house but for the garage it's just fine. 

You can really see the seams from this angle but again, for the garage it's fine.  If you had small windows like in the bathroom (or big contact paper) I think this would be a great option.

I used glass cleaner, an exacto knife, ladder, paper towels, scissors and about an hour of my time. It took 3 rolls of contact paper (excluding the piece I damaged) for a total of about $12.   Here is the side by side before and after.  Much cleaner, it's brighter (although the photos don't show it very well), it's tidy and for $12 it was an easy upgrade.