Thanks for the reply. The picture I linked in my original post is a post-install picture -- this is what we have now but we need to change it. And you are right, it takes a little finagling to get the base of the blind around the handles when pulling them up and down. We are trying to avoid changing the curtains since we really like them :) But it is still an option. I had also considered roller shades since it seems like they have the best chance of getting very close to the doors. Are there any types of roller shades that do a better job at this than others?

My grandmother lived with my mother and me. She was a suspicious old lady. Before dusk she'd go around and close all the drapes on the first floor of our house. Drove Me Nuts. DH and I live on an acre in a heavily treed neighborhood within a quiet, well-policed small city outside Chicago. Many neighbors are on five acres or more. East of our house is a creek and deerpath. South is a large (10 acres?) conservancy with houses beyond it. Tall trees separate our back yard from the conservancy. North is the road, with 20-foot arbor vitae lining all but our driveway. West is the only house within hailing distance; their kitchen and main living areas are on the far side of their house. Most of our casement windows and French doors have between-the-glass pleated shades. They are only closed against the sun. We have blackout-lined Roman shades in the bedrooms. We close ours when we go to bed. There are up/down privacy shades in our MBA. Other bathrooms are interior. The head-on view from the foot of the drive is of our foyer, flanked by library (open shutters) and kitchen (Japanese maple screens the kitchen sink window. Our breakfast room (room of MOST meals) is unseen. Move along. Move along. Nothing to see here. LOL

Bumping this because I don't think the solution I found will work. These are the initial rods I bought. It seems as if we must unscrew the rods from the wall if we need to remove the drapes. The Umbra twilight room darkening rods I found (pic below) might not be the best solution either. Lifting the rod out of its "nest" attached to the wall risks damaging the paint on the wall. Could someone please tell me what's the best way to hang blackout curtains?

The shutters won’t do it by themselves so you will still need blackout drapes along with the shutters . As for a clash I would have no idea unless you showed the house. IMO the shutters are so not 1900s why worry about anything else you do. Also your decor is quite Scandanavian so you will need to be careful of the look of the drapes that of couse will go from ceiling to floor , maybe a nice linen with a blackout liner I think the drapes are the only thing that will give you want.