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Interiors International, Inc. I like the shade idea better also.

Miller's Paint & Wallpaper Things to think about. Shutters will make you window area look smaller and are very expensive. They are beautiful though. I don't know what your windows or room look like so can't really suggest something in particular that would work best for you...but there are a lot of top down/bottom up ideas in shades that are beautiful and probably 1/3 of a good shutter price.

wildgeese Thank you. I forgot to mention that I need to cover the bottom 3/4 of the window to achieve the privacy I need. Right now I have to close both sets of shutters as the top half open still exposes too much. Then, when I close the top ones, I have no view at all, which is another reason I was leaning towards the blinds/shades. I could leave the top 1/4 of the window exposed at all times and not have to worry.

wildgeese Another question please. The other window on the top floor, front of the house is my daughter's bedroom which has sheers and curtains on it. However, will I need to match it to the other two windows because it's at the front of the house? The house is pretty close to the street and it's a popular walking street so I want nice curb appeal. Will people notice the different treatments?

sam0705 I have the same situation - nice neighborhood, right on a street with a lot of foot traffic. We have wood plantation blinds on all the windows. If you crack them open facnig the ceiling they provide both privacy and light. We have everything the same on all windows - I do like the look of the consistency. Walking around my neighborhood, I notice that most of the houses in the high traffic streets have blinds (or could be shutters) for privacy.

wildgeese I'm wary of the shutters in my daughter's room. We took the old ones off and replaced with curtains because she nipped her fingers in them (so did I). They were the smaller slat version, unlike the big ones you can get now. We have the old ones in our bedroom and bath and it's so easy to nip your fingers when opening and closing, especially when I hook them together. My husband can't stand them. I think we'll go with cordless up/down. wish I could see what they'd look like from the outside

Dytecture I like the idea of top down blinds where you can control the amount of light vs privacy.

wildgeese Thank you for that picture; that is exactly the amount of window I'd cover (although my windows are much smaller). have you seen the hunter douglas silhouette version which look like sheers with blinds in between? they offer up/down feature, plus you can open or close the blind part in between. pretty expensive though; I've been searching for an inexpensive version of the same thing, but no luck yet.

wildgeese For a fuller picture, I want to add that the style of our house is center hall colonial - three windows on top, two on bottom on either side of front door. On the bottom two, I have sheers for a little privacy and they work fine. I'm hoping the top windows will not look too different (sheers would not give enough privacy on the top windows and would not work in our bathroom anyway). Thank you for all the advice and help. Glad to know I'm not the only one with this dilemma.

nikitasmom I am looking for the same solution. My only concern is I am thinking of going with the blackout ones as I don't want to show my shilouette at night. But I hate the idea that the only way to get light is to leave the top part down all the time. I once put up custom made bright blue in my windows without thinking that the outside was painted avocado green. It looked horrible from outside. I have 3 windows facing the street and this time I hope to do better and plan to use the same neutral color for all of them.

wildgeese Dear nikitasmom. look at the Silhouette. You can leave them open and get some privacy, or close them for complete. they also come in top/down bottom/up. I'm trying to decide between them and the regular top down/bottom up cordless cellular blinds.

wildgeese Plus, nowadays most of them are white backing, no matter what color you choose, so they should look the same from the outside.

nikitasmom wildgeese, Can you buy them online or do they have to come out to your house? If so would you mind telling me how much they cost? The online blackouts for my 45x56 windows cost around $160.00 each from what I have seen.

wildgeese I have not been able to find the Silhouette online. I think they are only special order. Home Depot carries them, but I have not priced them there yet. Hunter Douglas works through Costco, if you're a member. If you're going with regular cellular up/down blackouts, you can definitely find them online.

JMittman Designs wildgeese, I would go with the top/down bottom up CORDLESS. You will be opening and shutting them daily and are not going to want to deal with the cords. or like to see them dangling there. I put in a whole bedroom of them for a client. They were the perfect application as she had similar issues that you have.
Also, fyi--pretty sure the Hunter Douglas you get from a window treatment consultant who comes to your house is a different product than the ones available at the big box stores.

wildgeese Thank you JMittman. Do you think the Hunter Douglas is a better option/quality? You're right, I'll be using them a lot so I should avoid the cords. We have 3 children and I don't want them playing with the cords either. Did you remark what your client's room looked like from the outside?

gwnorth My bedroom also faces the street, but I'm not sure I'm understanding your privacy concerns. As it is a bedroom, I'm assuming the only time you are in there is primarily for sleeping (I could be wrong, but I don't use my bedroom during the day). If that is the case, you don't really need complete privacy during the day, just at night. Any window treatment that allows you to block the window completely at night time will work. During the day, you may want to filter the view, but I don't think it is necessary to completely block the bottom portion of your window. That's just my view on it though.

If you do go with top down/bottom up shades, you need to remember that you will have exposed "cords" in the window when using the bottom up feature. They are pretty subtle, but personally I don't like that aspect. I like the idea of the Silhouettes or a horizontal blind with fabric panels to soften them up.

wildgeese I did think about the exposed cords. Are they noticeable from the outside? I thought about putting up white sheers in the bedroom to soften the look, and cover the cords if need be. Maybe I could drape a sheer as a valance in the bathroom. I can't hang panels in there as the window is over a counter.

gwnorth Sorry, edited my answer above after you posted. I don't think the cords are visible from the street, they are pretty subtle. It's just that they are visible from the interior and that bugs me. But that's just my preference.

JMittman Designs How wide are the windows? You many only have side cords if they are not too wide as at my client's home. My client's bedroom was on the first level, and the top/down bottom up were on windows that faced the rear of the home. On the second level, could you really see in to your bedroom such that you would want the bottom always covered?
ALSO--you do NOT want any dangling cords with children in the home. At least go cordless. In fact, if you were my client, I would not sell you shades that were not cordless with children in the home. This has been a big issue in the window treatment industry in the last couple years.

wildgeese They are 35" wide (one in the bathroom and two side-by-side in the bedroom).

wildgeese Dear JMittman. I wish you could not, but yes, you can see into both the bathroom and bedroom because the street is higher than the house (our property is sloped back).

JMittman Designs I understand. I would do regular cordless. That way you don't need to worry yourself with exposed cords. ~Janet