We have Hunter Douglas Designer Screen Shades in the flat Roman Shade style in two of our bathrooms and in our "office." They work beautifully and look great. Depending on the "fabric" you choose, they range from more to less sheer. We are very happy with them and plan to use them in other rooms as well.

The only thing I might have done differently is gone against the advice of our window treatment guy and gotten my original choice of fabric in the office (the one I really liked and wanted is not available in the Roman style, only in a flat/unseamed roll-up shade).

I had exactly the same scenario. Large super wide beautiful windows in my living/dining combo with amazing views (we are on a hill top). But the sun gets really glaring in the summers in the morning and afternoon. So after a ton of research I invested in exterior solar shades from blinds.com (not affiliated in any way). Got them installed on the exterior of the house. Like you have 4 panels, I have 6 panels, the center two panels are sliding doors that open up to a patio. So I got one solar blind each for each of the 6 panels, got them installed on the exterior. They let the view to still be very visible. They control the heat and the glare that the sun gets into the house very well. Overall, its been a year that they have been installed, and I couldnt have been happier. From the inside I cant tell that I have any shades installed when they are not down. Also coz they are the roller kinds, I can control how much down do I want to pull them. I got the manual ones, so I do have to go to the patio to bring them up and down, not a big deal, as I love going out and enjoying the view. In winters - they stay up almost always. In mid-summer, I end up bringing them up and down everyday.

I started with samples from blinds.com and they send them for free. They have sales often, so watch for that. The customer service is excellent too - one of my blinds would not come up and down that easily, there was a bit of tension in it - they mailed me a replacement without any questions.

Forgot to add, drapes do add softness to all the wood and trim etc. So I did install drapes on the two extreme sides. These are non-operational and just for aesthetics.

I, too, have a similar situation and just wanted to mention that I end up closing the shades on the upper windows more often than the lower because the sun is brighter when it's higher in the sky.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I did go to Penneys this morning, and purchased Phase II solar shades. They are the flat kind, with 5% openess, in a chocolate color. They seemed to provide the most protection with the least distortion of the view. Originally, I did not want a valance, but I didn't like the roller hardware showing either, so opted for a flat valance - versus a curved valance. Both DH and I prefer simple, non fussy window treatments, and prefer other things in the room to be the focus. So keeping my fingers crossed that these look ok.