slowjane, we have a retractable awning for an east facing room on our house in Northern California and we love it. We were using the room as a nursery and in the summer it would be uncomfortably hot by late morning just when the baby wanted a nap -- the awning solved that. As a bonus, our patio is now useable in the summer. Ours was probably around $1000? ordered through Costco, but it is motorized and I'm guessing it's 12-15 ft wide (it spans a set of French doors and two additional windows). I'd guess you might get a manual retractable awning for a single window for a lot less? Good luck.

What would be the advantage? IMO solar shades are best when they cover the entire window to control heat and UV rays they give you day time privacy and allow the view . You need to combine them with another window covering if night time privacy is an issue. I usually use drapes. I will also say the darker the shade the better the view and I use 10% almost all the time it does the job and if you go either bronze or charcoal the view is great.

I have film and shade as I wanted something to block UVA when my shades were up. I don't use shades for privacy but only in the morning when I have intense eastern sun. I have motorized shades that don't eliminate my "view" entirely when they are down. There were choices in terms of opacity and so I was able to select the opacity that I wanted. I would think it would provide the level of privacy that you want. In terms of cost, what is the price diffential? I did a gut remodel and did not regret spending more on items when they provided better function or aesthetics. My motorized shades are from QMotion which was recommended by my designer. She said they were high quality but not as pricey as the more widely advertised brands like Hunter Douglas and are used a lot in commercial installations. Whatever you decide, get something that runs off your Wifi system because some of them run on the same type of wave length as baby monitors and your neighbors' devices can potentially screw up your shades operating properly on the remote signals.

Thanks for the pictures of solar shades from budget blinds, @HALLET & Co. Which mechanism did you select that uses a wand? The pics look very nice, but I went to the website and didn't see any info on their brands or pricing.