I think SOME miniblinds like those plastic ones - UGH! - are utterly wretched, but others aren't so bad, like wood ones in particular are not dated at all. We had wood 1" blinds in our previous house's master bedroom and even though I'm not really a blinds person they did look nice. We have a bay window 6 feet from the sidewalk in our current house and I put up 2" wood blinds, which do look very good and will look even better once we get those dadratted drapes up with them to soften the total effect! Whether 1" or 2" work better depends on your room. Our current windows are quite large and 1" blinds would have looked super busy IMO, as well as being a bit scrawny for the depth of the window casing. The casings were quite shallow in our previous house, so 1" blinds fit those windows better. The 2" ones do let in a lot of light when open, because the spaces between the slats are wider, and it's nicely possible to tilt them at just the right angle that people can't see in from the street but light still comes in. Because it was a big hassle to get at the middle window of the bay (we would be climbing over a chair and table to reach the cords) we sprung for the motorized tilt option on that one so it would ever get opened/closed at all. I am going to disagree with some other folks: extremely functional as they may be, I think the top-down blinds look a little odd from the outside - I think they're best on the sides or rear of a house, not "in your face" right in front. Maybe if you're in a very contemporary building, I don't know. If the view in from the street is only through the lower half of the window (I'm guessing typical double-hungs) and the style suits your decor and architecture, shutters that only cover the lower sash are efficient and attractive. They completely block visibility from outside and still allow generous amounts of light in through the top half of the window, so there would be no hassle with opening and closing a window treatment.

Bob-- the window isn't perfectly plumb vertically speaking: If I measure the width a few inches from the top, it's one figure; if I measure it closer to the bottom, it's off by a small amount, a fraction (can't recall exactly, it's been awhile since I measured it), so I would see slightly more light peeking through the sides at the bottom third. I realized the problem when I went to install a roller shade. I had measured for it about a third up from the bottom, and when I went to install it, it was too tight to fit at the top. Went to Next Day Blinds today--the $400 price for 2 windows was kind of jarring, so I'll do a few more price checks elsewhere and online (tho as I've said, that self-install can only get me in trouble--just not good at that stuff!).

Had blackout cellular blinds in a previous house. They blocked light in our east facing bedroom well. Some light seeped through the edge as expected. They block a lot more light than the non blackout. The two issues I had with them are they're functional but not decorative and it's almost all or nothing with the light. The blinds are open and let in light or closed and block most of it. In my office it wasn't easy to block the glare but keep some light.

I think it looks best if the street is white and it is better to have fabric lined. The only exception are matchstick. Here are some examples of Roman blinds. Mounted on the outside and on the inside. I like this treatment: These are nice for an area where you don't need blackout - privacy with subtle light. Roller shades are good looking, too. You can pair them with drapery. (I have roller blinds on almost all of my windows.)