I absolutely love our motorized blackout drapes. They are operated from either a wall button in the same panel with the light switches or a button on the TV remote control so I can open and close them from bed. Both DH and I are finding that we sleep so much better when the room is so dark.
Are they just for sleeping? Have you tried an eye pillow? My husband needs room to be completely dark and it works perfectly for him. Probably an off the wall (no pun intended but maybe it should be lol) answer for you but thought I would mention just in case it might work.
In one room we used Blinds.com and ordered Roman shades with a blackout lining and did bottom up/top down, so you can have privacy, but still have light coming in from the top. I am very happy with those.