If you have doors with glass in them, there are several ways to let light in without sacrificing your privacy. Many modern doors have a frosted or similar-style inlay within the glass. If the door lacks this feature, they might put in a small set of curtains or even utilize our services for custom window treatments such as tailor-made aluminum blinds. However, what should a homeowner do if their entire door is made of glass? Of course, we’re talking about large sliding doors. These often lead to a patio or outside deck. So, what are the best blinds for sliding doors?
Size is a concern
Did you know that the average size of a single panel for your sliding doors is 126 inches? This presumes a standard low end of 60 inches and a typical max of 192.
For comparison, a six-foot-tall person is 72 inches.
We should also mention that this is for a single panel. All sliding doors have at least two panels, with some having as many as four. We’ll let you do the math with this.
It’s a long way of saying that size is a concern when figuring out the best blinds for sliding doors. If you head to your nearby big box retailer and try to find a set of blinds that would accommodate these dimensions, you will struggle to find any. Most top out under 50 inches, which means you’d need at least three individual sets to cover your sliding door.
That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, never mind an aesthetic nightmare.
You should not go without
Does this mean you should be without? After all, if it’s a struggle to find the best blinds for sliding doors in your local retail store, perhaps leaving them open all the time is a solution?
Perhaps in rare situations, you could. However, we come back to two of the biggest reasons for installing custom window treatments in the first place: privacy and light control. The best blinds for sliding doors are going to provide both of these benefits. To go without means you’re allowing whoever passes by to peek into your home.
That might not seem like a big deal if your sliding doors are just off your kitchen. However, don’t overlook light control in this area, especially during the early morning and evening hours as you gather around the table!
What about custom horizontal blinds?
It goes without saying you need the best blinds for your sliding doors. Are horizontal options the solution?
Even with a custom solution from our team, we would advise against it. The sheer size of sliding doors means that they would be exceptionally large, and honestly, probably wouldn’t hold up to routine usage.
Could curtains work?
Do you ever have one of those “Well, I guess in a pinch…”-type of reactions? That’s how we feel about the idea of using curtains for sliding doors. In another blog, we mentioned the ways curtains can bunch up when retracted. Imagine your long curtains getting trampled on as you walk in and out of your sliding door. It’s definitely not an ideal situation.
What about shades or shutters?
Our point today was to unpack the best blinds for sliding doors. So, why are we mentioning shades and shutters?
That’s easy: to reinforce the answer to the best blinds for sliding doors. To say it another way, neither of these is a good choice. Shutters are an obvious problem: they’re a stationary type of window treatment, which means you can’t push them out of the way.
Shades have the same problem as horizontal blinds. You could maybe make them work, but they’re not going to be a good solution for all of the reasons we covered earlier. Whether Roman shades, solar, or another type, we simply cannot recommend this type of custom window treatment for your sliding doors.
The best blinds for sliding doors
That’s why we want to encourage you to consider vertical blinds as the best solution for your sliding doors. They’re meant for problems such as these, providing you with privacy and light control while adding elegance and style to your home.
Let us help!
We can help you put together a plan for the exact size and style of vertical blinds for your sliding doors. All it takes is a quick phone call to our offices at 571-407-7981 or to contact us here. Let us know how we can help by requesting your free quote today!
