Beautiful Window Glass Makeover on a Budget

So I was at HD shopping for wooden blinds and I was like "They cost HOW MUCH?!".  Man, that is not happening ($400-$800 in case you were wondering).  I'm not putting ugly aluminum blinds in my pretty dining room, which is about all I can afford ($200).  I also like the bamboo shades, which are pretty affordable, but not formal enough for the look I want.

Then I saw it.  It was like some enchanted evening and I spotted it across the crowded room (name that movie/play).  It was perfect!  A beautiful glass pained window.  Are you ready?

Amazing!  I know, the perfect amount of elegance, privacy and very clean and crisp.  How did I afford to change out the glass of the windows when I couldn't afford blinds?  Its not new glass!  It is a film that is applied to the windows.

Here's the low down.  For $60 ($30 for each 2'x3' film) I transformed the window with just water and about 5 minutes of my time.

Sorry I don't have an pictures of the process, honestly, it took like 5 minutes or less and was SUPER easy.  It comes with really good instructions.
Here's the low down on how you do it:
First you remove the film from the package and trim to fit your window, you can cut it easily with regular scissors or a utility knife (I used scissors).
Next you spray the window with water (hint: I found that the more water the better because then I could slide it around to get it perfectly into place).
Then you take the backing off the film and position it on the window.
Using the squeegee (fun word!) that is included with the film you smooth it out and remove any bubbles (you may want a towel here to absorb the water that will squish out, I just squished it all out and then wiped it up afterwards).
Voila!  Brand new window, easy as pie.

The best part is that the film is removeable.  If you put it on crooked (which may or may not have happened on my first attempt) you can simply remove the film and try again, or slide it into the right position if you've put enough water underneath it.  This of course means that you can remove the film at any time and reuse it somewhere else.  It's not sticky like a sticker, just clingy like plastic wrap, except plastic wrap hates me and always sticks to everything, and the window film is awesome and made my day.

It looks so real that you can't even tell until you actually touch the window.  We've already fooled a bunch of people into thinking that it is real leaded glass.  Amazing!

If you decide to check it out for yourself the brand I used is called "Light Effects" and the pattern is called "Vienna".  They have lots of options including some funky coloured stained glass ones for if you wanted even more privacy or to conceal an ugly exterior view, like if your window looked out into an alley or a brick wall. 

Window before beautification

And now