Break this down into two steps to make it easier. Tackle function first. Don't worry about a valance until after you live with the shade for a while. Get dressed and go to the stores and play with their displays. Find one that give you privacy, but also works with your fan. The valance is just fluff and you might decide that with your clean lines that you don't want one. The pleated shades that Daisy mentioned sounds just like what you need. Even a nice tailored pulldown sounds great with your Shaker-style furniture.

@Melndo The walls are Benjamin Moore Rockport Gray: https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/color-overview/find-your-color/color/HC-105/rockport-gray?color=HC-105 Our window is north facing as well. There is a large Japanese maple near the window so we don't get a ton of light there. I have the floor lamps, two table lamps and a light on the ceiling that isn't in the picture to make sure the room gets enough light. We actually use this room as a music room. There is a piano on the wall that isn't in the picture. Hope this helps! Glad you like it. :)

I would do something simple like Hunter Douglas Duette shades in their opaque fabric with the top-down/bottom-up option. They can be easily inside or outside mounted, depending on space available. Here are mine in my master bathroom. See how I have the top rail lowered to be able to see outside, but rest of the window is covered, but still allows light through. You can have them all open, all closed or partially open like my photo. This is the third house that I have used this type of blinds throughout the house and been very happy with them.

Sorry I disappeared. Regarding the main objectives: Our location is SoCal, and a majority of our windows face the South. So a lot of sunlight. Blocking the direct light falling in house is important, but we don't want to cut it out completely making the house dark (for the living room, kitchen and other common areas), And in the bedrooms we do want the blackout. The house is not fully furnished yet as we moved from a small apartment to this place, and that project is a separate work in progress. But from a general preference standpoint, we like the Earth Tones in colors, simple clean lines with the styles, and natural wood options as much as we can. In the kitchen almost everything is stainless color. And currently the flooring is a combination of dark brown and grey, and the carpet is tan. But we want to change the flooring to a lighter brown+grey type of LVP when the budget permits. So, any window treatment that is kind of neutral and can work with the current flooring as well as future changes would be great. Not sure if it is possible to give any ideas based on this info. And I know it is difficult without the real pictures.