We had custom light-filtering cellular shades (cordless top-down/bottom-up) done for our new modern house and…I think we screwed up. Love the privacy and light it gives us when needed, but not loving their performance through summer, brief and temperate as that season is for us. The mornings are brutal with the heat coming in and the back of the house, with southern exposure, stays hot through the day. Here are a couples of photos that show one of the windows. The others are larger.

These were a pricey investment, so I can't just replace them all and they don't fit our other windows. I've considered blackout curtains, but I have beautiful wood headers that are quite high, so there's not much room above them and I think a curtain rod would ruin the look. Our code also requires baseboard heaters under the windows, and with a long cold winter I can't rely on just pulling them up when they're on. Even with mini-splits, they can be on any time.

Also considering adding a roll-up shade behind the cellular as it might tuck in well behind the cellular mechanism so you might not see them, but I'm not sure if that is a solution or would just look wrong. We have lots of large windows and a lovely view out back, so just looking for a simple solution. I wish there was a way to convert these shades to room darkening, but haven’t seen a way to do that.

Any advice from those in the know would be much appreciated!