The windows I fully admit are a mixed blessing. I live a seven hour drive north of the 49th parallel. Our summers are short and not very hot for very long. Our winters are long and cold (think -40 for a combined total of about 100 days a winter). Our shortest day has 6 hours of daylight, our longest (June 21) has 18 hours of daylight.
So, the little bit of sun we get in the winter, you want to enjoy in some way but large banks of windows like that also transfer a fair bit of the cold in.
For the blinds I was kind of thinking the honeycomb style blackouts for the "R" factor but also putting in the ones that can be raised from the bottom or lowered from the top to control the sun that does get in.
Maybe putting cabinets on the south wall so the side of the cabinets would be getting the direct sun in the morning.
The floor is already a dark brown hardwood.
Tara