Window Treatments for Sliding Glass Doors

[baymom]

We have two long sliding glass doors in adjacent rooms downstairs (living room and dining room) that have three inch wide canvas-y vertical blinds. They are okay, but we certainly don't love them and DH wants me to look into new window treatments. Also, immediatly adjacent to the sliding glass doors are two large (floor to ceiling) windows that would need matching/coordinating treatments.

I have looked into different blinds but don't want to take that route at all, I think. Also, we don't plan to stay in this house for more than 3 more years, so I don't want to invest in shutters. We have white wooden blinds in the bedrooms and other windows downstairs and I do like that look...but shutters are out of the budget and you can't do wood blinds on sliding doors (that I have come across).

We are a casual family and our style is traditional/casual. I'm thinking some sort of curtains, but don't know if we should do sheers under other curtains or what. ...definitely no silk or velvet.... I'd love to hear what BBB Moms have on their sliding doors (and like!) or think is a good look. Are valences outdated or still okay? The room is various shades of cream/beige and very neutral and boring right now---but we are not wedded to any color scheme as we plan to change out the carpet in that room next.

While it's been fun researching the options, I feel so completely overwhelmed! Thanks for your ideas!

[mommytotwo]

I would be interested in any ideas too. We have a similar window set up that faces West and would be interested in at least getting some degree of light control during dinner.

Thanks!

[ourbabygirl]

OMG, I've been dealing with this since we've lived in our house (almost 5 years now)! Thanks for starting this thread!
I actually got some money from my parents for Christmas to put towards some sort of window shade option, but I haven't had a chance to look into anything yet and have someone come out and measure so I can order something.
Our sliding glass doors face west, as well, and we are BLINDED during dinner in the summer (worst time of year). Right now we just have a curtain rod and some champagne-colored curtains from Target or BBB. But I'm tired of pulling them across when the sun gets too strong- I don't want to lose our view altogether!
The previous owners had vertical blinds (prob. like you describe), but we took them down right away- they just looked icky (and were dingy at the bottoms from their dogs).
I'm thinking some sort of roll-down shade (maybe with a remote) might work... you know, like the material that some car window shades are made out of (like the Eddie Bauer ones in the baby section at Target)? Something that has little holes in it to let light through but block out the harsh rays.

I'm going to hope some others will post who have found a solution!

[sariana]

What about the Hunter-Douglas product that is a vertical blind within a sheer liner? So it can be adjusted like a vertical blind, but the slats are confined and not hanging loose. The thing I hate about vertical blinds is that the slightest breeze sets them swinging.

The H-D product (Luminette)) attempts to combine the ease of a vertical blind with the look of a curtain.

[baymom]

What about the Hunter-Douglas product that is a vertical blind within a sheer liner? So it can be adjusted like a vertical blind, but the slats are confined and not hanging loose. The thing I hate about vertical blinds is that the slightest breeze sets them swinging.

The H-D product (Luminette)) attempts to combine the ease of a vertical blind with the look of a curtain.

Sariana--Thanks for the suggestion about this type of Hunter Douglas vertical blinds! I didn't even know there was such a thing...will check them out on the website. I like that the vertical blinds would be sort of hidden...

Ourbabygirl--sounds like the H-D idea might be similar to what you described you are looking for, too. Vertical blinds to help keep the sun out...
Also, how about the kind of curtain rod where you can simultaneously have two different curtains on? My brother used to have this. They'd pull just the inside sheers all the way to block out the harshness of the sun, but still have light and only use the top/outside curtain to block out the light. I'm considering this, but would love to know if anyone has this on sliding glass doors and how they like it.

If only I could be on an HGTV makeover show....!

[Hawkeyewife]

I know you said that shutters were out of the budget, but we did ours last year (10 windows and sliding glass doors) from Home Depot for just under $3k. We shoes white poly over wood since they are white and we've had them about a year and love them. I would like to do our upstairs bedrooms as well and after watching the installers, I think I could easily install them with my husband in a an afternoon. There are a number of online shutter places where you measure and install yourself. We are planning on doing it sometime this year after painting the rooms.

[joules]

Ourbabygirl--sounds like the H-D idea might be similar to what you described you are looking for, too. Vertical blinds to help keep the sun out...
Also, how about the kind of curtain rod where you can simultaneously have two different curtains on? My brother used to have this. They'd pull just the inside sheers all the way to block out the harshness of the sun, but still have light and only use the top/outside curtain to block out the light. I'm considering this, but would love to know if anyone has this on sliding glass doors and how they like it.

I have this setup on our sliding doors.

We face south and get sun all day long. Our sliding doors are huge and right next to it, there is a huge window too. The doors + window take up more than 1/2 of one side of our living room. In the summer it is so bright and gets so hot. To deal with this, we put Gila UV/heat film on the sliding doors and window. We got ours at Home Depot and installed this ourselves. It came in 2 diff levels of protection...one that blocks more uv/heat and one that blocks less (don't remember the exact numbers but something like 75% vs 40% or something). We went with the highest protection first but I hated how much light it blocked. So we tore it down the next day and got the lesser one. It made a HUGE difference in the amount of heat that comes in.

Then as an additional barrier, I got the double curtain rods. Due to the sun and the dog, I didn't want to spend a lot on curtains. I went with the MERETE curtains from IKEA (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60111986/). They are a heavy canvas and I love the grommet top. I have 4 panels of the white in back and in the front only 2 panels of the brown (it's more of a army green/brown). I usually keep the brown on the sides..like pushed all the way to the sides. The white ones are almost always closed...is that the right term? I mean they are always going across the length of the rod to filter the light. Usually i think with the double rod system you have a sheerer fabric in the back. But with the amount of sun we get, I went with the heavy canvas. The only issue is that since it's a thicker fabric, the part of the curtain along the rod sometimes touches the rod that's in front of it. It doesn't bother me at all. When we need it dark, I pull the brown ones out....2 of them when fully extended cover the whole length of the sliding doors.

A note about the MERETE curtains, they used to come in the longer length 108" (or is it 118"?). Now they come in 98" only. I found out the hard way. Our original brown ones faded a lot (it's been about 6 years) so I bought new ones. I didn't notice the length until I hung them up. I just added a black border to the bottom of them. Looks better than before! The white ones are the original ones from 6 years ago. They are holding up real well and have been washed many times. The only problem i had was that I don't think I pre-shrunk them properly before I got them hemmed....so yah...now they are a few inches too short.

We have the cheapy metal blinds on the window next to the sliding doors. I HATE the way they look. But they are SO functional and I don't know what to replace them with.




161251.jpg

[AbbysMom]

I just added a black border to the bottom of them. Looks better than before!

161251.jpg

I just saw this on the Nate Berkus show. He says he does this in every single remodel he does and he recommends that everyone who buys pre-made curtains do this to customize it and make it the perfect length. Your curtains look great!

I have sliders in the back of my kitchen. I tore down the horrible vertical blinds when we bought the house 10 years ago and it's been bare since. I used to hang a sheet but my husband forbade me to do it anymore. I just have never seen anything I liked. Thanks for this thread OP. Maybe I'll do the double curtain thing...

[elbenn]

Have you tried searching on houzz.com? If you do a search for "curtains sliding glass door" there are lots of pictures to give you some ideas.

[LBW]

We have a panel track system that I bought from Smith and Nobel years ago. The tracks are attached to the wall above the door. Then you attach fabric panels to each track (my door's system holds three panels). I like it -- it's simple, neat, easy to use, and allows me to use fabric. I didn't want blinds.