I am actually not getting the bottom up/top down for a couple of reasons re my living room decor

It's hard for me to believe that a thicker fabric wouldn't keep more light out. You have two conflicting needs. It sounds like you want to let in light during the day but have privacy at night. If it's your livingroom, how much privacy do you really need? In order to maximize the amount of light during the day you will want to try to get a level of sheerness that is light-filtering but you can see shadows through at night. Or change the window covering to wood blinds or shutters. Or add drapes over a sheet cellular shade that could be closed at night if you want complete privacy.

They do make cellulars that can have both room darkening and light filtering (or even sheers) in one shade if you are concerned that you won’t get enough light through the light filtering ones.