Beginner Gardening: Help my neighbor is a creeper Plant ideas for privacy hedge?, 4 by LakeLivingRos

LakeLivingRos wrote:
I need some help trying to figure out what to plant in order to create a "privacy hedge" or "living fence".

My neighbor has these big ol' windows that are only 5' away from one of my gardening areas.. and every time my husband is not home the guy goes and sits right on the other side of the window and stares at me while I am gardening. No, he doesn't say anything, he just sits inside and watches. I used to say hi and be friendly, but he just keeps doing really weird things that make me uncomfortable. So, I am planning on putting some full size something right on our side of the fence very very soon because I just can't stand it anymore!

I really need some help because I have spent so many hours trying to figure out something and I can't make up my mind..

Here is what my thoughts are so far..

Our lot is super skinny and long, where it is 40' wide at the lake and 67' wide at the street, so I want the depth of the plant to be no more than 3' (but it can be more for the width obviously).

It gets full sun. When I mean full sun, I mean some plants labels that say they need "full sun" this spot is too much sun for them! SO the plant has to do well with sun up to sun down direct sun.

I am trying to get rid of the laurels that I have.. they seem too invasive for my liking, and want to stay away from laurels.. or if there are some more exciting laurels than the ones that I am used too.. suggestions welcome, but I am already wacking back laurels all the time..

I love my arborvitaes, I have probably more than 100 of them already as a living fence on the street side, and as you can see by the last picture, for a section on the other side. I am really thinking arborvitaes may be what I am leaning toward.. but would it be weird to have 25 on ones side, and only like 5 covering a house on the other? Would that be too funky?

I really like italian cypress, and was thinking that, but I don't want the view of my sunset to be lost, or the lake view if they get too tall.. what are some ways with dealing with that? How tall do they really get in the PNW and how fast do they grow? (I live in Seattle area).

It looks like the Japanese Yew is out of the question due to the full sun.

I did plant wichita blue's (which I got for 3 bucks each) along the fence line, but now am thinking they just are not going to grow fast enough around the creepers house and I need something to provide privacy asap..

I would love any ideas, whether unusual or not! I just know I don't want something that I have to hedge trim all the time, something that can go a couple years without needed pruning to stay nice, and that is super dense. I am just so done with having a creeper stare at me when I am trying to enjoy myself gardening.

Thanks for all your help!