I currently have curtains and sheers on my two tall narrow windows in the front room of my 1897 very narrow row house.

I’m about to repaint so thought it was a good time to think about doing something different, as I’m a little tired of the “heaviness” of the curtains.

Some of the issues the window coverings need to address:

Privacy - the windows are right on the sidewalk, no front yard, lots of foot and car traffic. I do not want people to be able to see in.

Light - these are the only windows on my first floor, it’s a center of the block row house and the downstairs is dark. I don’t mind the dark, I’ve tried to embrace it but more light would always be a bonus.

Cats - I’ve two cats that spend a lot of time napping in the windows so any type of covering needs to allow them access because if it doesn’t they will just find a way in anyway.

I’ve tried to visualize everything, curtains, Roman shades, shutters , window films...and everything has at least one drawback. So maybe some crowdsourced ideas can’t turn me on to something I haven’t considered yet.

I did see one thing, it was a bar across the middle of the window with a flat panel hanging down from it. But then I couldn’t figure out what you would do with the top of the window, if anything. The example I saw had curtains to the sides but then I’d still have curtains.

Any suggestions?