Thanks to everyone for your great feedback! I really appreciate it! For now, I'm leaving the doors off, and keeping the blind closed. But the doors will be stored in case I need them. I already have a design board on the wall, so don't need to incorporate that onto a blind, but it sounds like a neat idea.
Actually while I was going through my fabric, I came across a really nice piece of sheer fabric that I might put on a rod over top of the window blind, so even if I open the blind, the sheer will help to keep out the light. You'd be amazed what all I found!! (and discarded or "passed along"!)