I just got replacement windows and sliders throughout my house, except for my kitchen which already had a fairly new window. All of the windows and sliders have grills. I need to get new blinds or shades for windows in three bedrooms, three bathrooms and my living room, plus a vertical blind for slider door in living room and a vertical blind for slider door in upstairs front-facing fourth bedroom (which doesn't have any additional windows). All of the bedrooms are on the second floor. Two of the bathrooms are on the second floor. The windows in all the bathrooms and two of the bedrooms are on the back of the house, facing north. One of the bathrooms is on the first floor, also on the back of the house, facing north. The windows in the master bedroom are front facing, facing south, and on the second floor. The slider door in the fourth bedroom is front facing, facing south, and on the second floor. There are no windows in that fourth bedroom, just the slider door. The windows in the living room plus a slider door in the living room are on the first floor and front-facing and facing south. I would like to have the black-out feature for at least the bedrooms and possibly the living room, but that's not needed for the bathrooms. In the bedrooms and bathrooms I have had horizontal mini blinds which I would leave partially open to allow light but provide privacy during the day, and close at night to block out some light and give more privacy at night. They were all light filtering, so they didn't do much for blocking light.

I would be able to mount the blinds or shades inside the window trim frame, or on the outside (above or around) of the windows, but I would only be able to mount blinds or a shade on the outside (above or around) the kitchen window, And I would have to mount the vertical blinds on the sliders above the door trim.

I never had any blinds, shades or curtains in the living room, which is open to the kitchen and the back-facing kitchen window, and no blinds or shade on the kitchen (north facing) window. And I never had any blinds, shades or curtains in the dining room, which has a west-side facing window and a north-facing slider door to the back patio.

I still won't have any blinds or shades on the windows and slider door in the dining room (west and north facing) or upstairs south-facing front hall, but would want to leave that as an option some day when I've managed to save up for them, since window coverings like blinds or shades can also help with insulation.

I'm not a big fan of fabric shades or blinds because they can hold a lot of dust and pollen, unless I vacuum them often. But I could be persuaded if considering the honeycomb/cellular shades because of insulating and room darkening features.

I have had aluminum mini blinds and vinyl mini blinds; the aluminum seemed to be "nicer" than the vinyl ones. But the aluminum blinds would sometimes get bent outside the threads, and stay that way.

Also considering wood-look (but not real wood) blinds.

Debating what kinds of blinds or even shades for most of the rooms.

Is it okay to have different types of blinds or shades in the different rooms, or should they be uniform throughout the house? (even if some are black-out and some are light filtering)

And is it okay to have inset shades or blinds in the living room when the vertical shade or blind for the slider door is mounted above the door trim?

So- I'd love to hear pros and cons from anyone!

Thanks!