Palimpsest, thanks for the response. I did a lot of incubating about your suggestion. I decided that I would indeed put full-length panels each side of the window. I had a piece of fabric that was paid for--had been purchased for the adjacent kitchen but rejected (too much rectangular stuff going on to compete with "shaker" cabs). There is barely enough fabric so don't look too closely on the back side at the false hem, etc. Local store had clearance sale on mahogany red curtain rod so I figured God was sending me in this direction. Rings were a lucky find at Tuesday Morning--they dropped the curtain so it just grazes the floor. Not sure if we're going to keep this 1830s furniture piece or sell it, but for now, it's going to stay right here, my "plunk spot" for stuff entering or leaving the room. Front door will be painted to match the woodwork, once the weather warms up. I still want to put a lacy or filmy or handkerchief lineny inner curtain over the window. Readers may have seen the Kitchens forum posting about decorating with old tablecloths on Take a Risk Day, but if you haven't, here's the link, much of it very silly stuff. Imagine that pointy white lace curtain here. (references to arrows and points in the postings deal with feng shui thread going on at that same time) Here is a link that might be useful: taking a risk in decor--cut up a tablecloth?

I bought wood blinds from Blindsgalore.com. It looks like they have sheer shades from Good Housekeeping and Comfortex. Not sure how the prices compare, but they have wonderful customer service.

With the way your doors open, I would recommend doing a horizontal shade on each side of the door. This way, you can do the same treatment on the doors and the windows. One option would be screen shades. They allow you to see out while having some privacy. The tighter the weave of the fabric, the more privacy you have. However, if you have lights on at night, you will not have full privacy. You can also do a dual shade - the front shade is the screen shade (see through) and the back shade is solid (full privacy). This option would give you full privacy at night. Another option would be Hunter Douglas Silhouette shades. During the day, you keep the vanes open. The sheer filters the sun and provides you with some privacy, but you still get light into the room and you can still see out. Then, at night, you can close the vanes for full privacy.

Nidnay, my installer will screw a screw into the back of rods to use as a stop (same as CDR suggested). I have used double sided sticky tape so the sheers stick to it. I’ve used needle and thread to stitch the rod pocket tighter at the opening so they stay in place. I also have a small tag gun and will tag the beginning opening of the rod pocket to make it tighter. I’m sure you’ll be able to come up with something to do the trick. Try to get equal spacing on each panel at the top on the rod. Your sheers can be trained into nice folds like the photos that were posted. Take your hand at the bottom of each panel and fan fold the sheer about 5” per fold. Once you get across the bottom have a piece of fabric or cord and tie it around the bottom of the sheers. You need to form those folds up to the middle of the sheers and band them in the middle. If you have a hand iron that has vertical steam, you can steam the sheers while fan folded to help them train. Leave them banded for a few days and see how they look. Having a weighted hem in sheers is a plus because it helps them hold their folds, but that is a custom feature! Training them takes time but usually works.