You might feel more comfortable with an option at the window which would give you daytime privacy, but allow some view, and then enable you to have increased nighttime privacy. Window treatments which allow for this include:
- those which give you privacy on the lower half with the top half open, such as top down bottom up cellular shades, and cafe shutters
-Those which allow you to look through them but during the day, because our eyes don't see well from a bright space to a darker space, still are private during the day, such as wood blinds, aluminum blinds (these come in wide 2" slats in interesting finishes, as well as the mini blind 1" size), and softer looks such as Hunter Douglas Silhouette window shadings, Hunter Douglas Pirouette shadings, Lafayette's more contemporary Allure, and a number of other choices. In this category, something you may not have heard of is Comfortex's Odyssee insulating blinds, which look like a cellular when closed, and open up like blinds. I've attached two pictures of the Odyssee blinds.

Some of these other choices can be seen here on my website, http://www.masterworksdesign.com/portfolio_window.html. On my Window Treatment portfolio page, if you scroll down past the before and afters and some of the other photo galleries, I have a photo gallery of blinds and shades, with explanations of different options. I haven't yet created a similar project folder on Houzz yet, but I expect to do so in the future.

After you enable yourself to not be so enclosed by your shades, there are many options which would enable you to bring in color and softness at the window, in terms of top treatments and curtains. The last two photos are a top down bottom up shade with a valance, and a Silhouette window shading with a simple boxed swag valance.

A simple wood blind is a wonderful thing. It allows as much light in as you want, and can be tilted so that people passing by can't see in, but you can still see daylight. They're also inexpensive if you get the faux wood ones.
Carolyn Albert-Kincl, ASID

Consider what you might be able to spend on some changes, where the view is desirable, and where it won't be a view you would want very often. Then make some changes as budget permits. You don't have to do one option everywhere, or all the windows at once. The best homes look as if they evolved over time, so if they actually do, that's OK too.