worldmom, we also are struggling with the same issues---daughter with light sensitivity due to a vision disability and, in our case, a west facing kitchen window. So far we think our choices may be a patterned sheer curtain (so it can be easily taken down and washed) or a solar shade that can be wiped clean as needed. In the past I've had 2" blinds over the kitchen window and also matchstick blinds. The 2" blinds, although great for light control were hard to clean and did show every splash. The matchstick blinds always looked great but weren't so great for light control as they still left blinding light in through the thin spaces. Good luck with your decision and I'd love to see what you decide. At the moment we're thinking of just getting a plain old cheap roller shade to pull down when the sun is a it's worst and hope that someone will invent a better solution.

I purchased these for a room in our basement. For the money, I was pretty happy with them. I wanted cordless, and in a medium color, and these fit the bill. Very easy to install, too. They aren't matchstick like you want, but they are very reasonable. Lots of sizes, too. Here is a link that might be useful: Penneys inexpensive blinds

OK, got the pics! It's a small room so it's hard to photograph the whole thing at once - I'll have to take it in little slices. Here's the bed wall with the bedding looking at it from the doorway. The wall color looks much more muted in the pic than it is in real life - it's a pretty vibrant apple green, more like the next picture. Those lamps came from Homegoods - thanks to whoever here recommended the homegoods lamp selection! Here's a window with the IKEA panel on a tension rod. I tried hanging a dark gray pillowcase behind it to give me an idea what the black matchstick blinds would look like. Please ignore the pile of books on the nightstand and the kleenex hanging out of the drawer - oops!) Moving clockwise around the room, here's the wall with 2 windows. The left window in this pic is the window from the last pic (I took down the panel). Again, moving clockwise, here is the corner between the 2 window walls. Where the shutter is, I'd like to get a big black-framed floor mirror. You can see how the dog crates kind of interfere with the floor-length drapes (though they do a nice job of holding up my temporary privacy screen, LOL!) One more step clockwise, and here's the dresser to the left of the window by the crates. See how close it is to the window trim? I could angle it caddy-corner to free up some space (I used to have it that way), but dh hates caddy-corner furniture for some reason, so he'd be happier if I left it flush. And that's it - another turn clockwise and you're out the door! OK, fire away, brilliant decorators!

I bought the ones included in the link below. They're trimmable bamboo matchstick roman shades. They worked out great! The hardware on the top is adjustable, and you can trim them down up to 12" smaller than the size you purchase. I bought a 36" shade for my 29.5" window and a 72" for my 63" window. I will say that the top mounting hardware has sharp edges that I got a couple nicks on while trying to adjust the width, and the valance has a folded 'seam' which is only glued together with hot glue, so that part was a tad on the cheap side, but you only notice that when you're actually cutting the blinds down. Hanging up, they look great! I just used regular scissors to trim them down to size and there wasn't any splintering. You do have to take your time and measure carefully while cutting so you don't end up with wonky, uneven edges. Not sure where you're located, these are from a Canadian store and I don't think they sell online, but maybe you can do a google search for the manufacturer (Home Collections) and see if you can find something online, or something similar in your area. Here is a link that might be useful: Trimmable Bamboo Blinds