Sorry Joel - the laws of thermodynamics still apply to your home. I assume the other poster was talking about something like a foil coated Polyurethane rigid panel. Straight from the factory, you could get an R9 per inch out of the high end stuff but it degrades over a couple of years to R7 or so. Still, at 1/2 that would get you an additional 3.5. It probably isn't going to be cost effective for you, but if you only have R11 in the walls, it might make the house more comfortable. It sounds like an awful lot of work for minimal benefit though. Did you get the shutters or curtains up yet? That would be a much cheaper and cost effective way to keep the heat in. I assume your double pane windows are still only in the R3 range. That means you are losing 3-4 times more energy though each square foot of window than you are through the walls. Depending on the size of your windows, a good set of curtains might save more energy than marginally increasing the R value of the walls.

Hi E.R., We got some solar screening fro Giam Real Goods years ago and is probably similar to what they have at Lowes these days. Real heavy, tight webbing that you can sort of see out at a distance, but the closer you get to it, the harder to see out. I think you are on track with the film that is typically squeegied on. There is an outfit here that does it. When they first started, the mirrored finish was all they offered, but I noticed that now they have some that is basically no darker than todays windows that are coated with low-e. Appearently it's very effective in controlling heat gain, but you can still easily enjoy the views. The mirrored film darkened the view quite a bit so you might look into diy kits that have the newer film types. I watched the install on a remodel I was doing and it's pretty straight forward. I likened it to wall papering where they cut the sheets a tad big, moistened the panes, slid it on and squeegied the air bubbles out. After drying, they trimmed the overlap to the inside of the panes. I haven't had the opportunity to try it diy, but it seems like a simple process. Cool to replicate the screen frames with wood. Im sure you are familiar with the Kreg pocket hole system. It's reliable and is easier than making lap joints, mortise and tenons, or even dowel pins when making up the frames. If you dont have one you might consider it for your frame projects and comes in handy for future projects such as cabinet frames. When in N.W. Floria, (Gulf Breeze), We used copper screening for vents that were behind ornamental grates on a period home. The house also had copper flashing that I didn't get to see but Im sure patinad nicely. You might consider copper screening for your frames. Have a good one. Here is a link that might be useful: Kreg pocket hole

Thank you all! My most urgent needs are night privacy and cool temp insulation. I'm leaning towards drapes on the sides to soften the space and a blind in the middle to lower at night. As for all the wood, I agree, it's too much and I've been considering painting the built-ins. I'm just worried I won't like it afterwards and can't unpaint it. It's been a tough room to deal with altogether. I appreciate all the advice!! Please keep it coming!

The amount of UV rays penetrating the window is dependent on the insulated glass unit used. Some IGUs incorporate glass such as Cardinal LoĒ³-366 that block nearly all UV rays. If you want to block UV without shades, you can install window film. I have a window with a drywall return (drywall surrounds the window in the way metal surrounds yours). I installed Bali cellular blinds. Bali supports up to three blinds installed on one headrail. This means that you could have one blind each over the two operable lites and a third blind over the fixed lite but have only one headrail that would extend the total width of the window. If the Bali blinds had a basic cords, the "stacks" (the height of the shades when they are fully open) would be minimized and as much of the glass as possible wwould be visible. I would suspect that the stacks would be shorter than the height of your window frame (i.e., no glass would be covered). You can ask the seller for the height of the stacks. Yes, you would have to attach the shade to the return with screws.