Five Window Covering Solutions for Your Sliding Door

Sliding doors are great to have in any home, giving you easy access to the outdoors and allowing in natural light and fresh air. Some doors are a separate interior feature by themselves, enhancing the overall home design while others provide a stunning background in the form of a breathtaking view of the natural beauty outside. Moreover, all sliding doors, with their huge size and width, enhance the spaciousness of any room, making them a popular choice for any space, be it the living room, kitchen, patio, or any outdoor enclosure. Aren’t they simply a delight for homeowners?

Well, unfortunately not always, unless they’re covered with the right solution. Due to its large size and location, a sliding door can be difficult to cover with a window treatment. Leaving your door bare is fine, but that can cause issues like too much sunlight which can cause damage to your belongings. If you have a sliding door in your bedroom any unwanted light can interrupt your sleep. Another issue of not having your door covered is the lack of privacy.

Budget Blinds’ Covering Solutions for Sliding Doors

If you are looking for a resolution to all these challenges that are typical of a bare sliding door, let Budget Blinds® offer you five solutions to covering it. But before we deep-dive into the solutions, let’s deep-dive into some of the problems of uncovered sliding doors, which our covering solutions like sliding door blinds and shutters for sliding glass and patio doors can help resolve.

Exposure to Sunlight – While it’s extremely pleasant to allow natural light in, bare sliding doors don’t just allow light in; they also provide unnecessary and excessive exposure to harsh sunlight and heat, especially in the afternoons, when the mercury typically rises. At such times, what if you want to allow in natural light but at the same time want to block the harmful UV rays that can be damaging to you and your furniture?

Lack of Privacy – Sliding glass doors are a popular feature and for good reason but they don’t provide privacy unless you fit these doors with the right solutions. Imagine that you’re enjoying a family dinner during which you want privacy but also want to allow in some natural light for a soft glowing ambience. It’s unlikely that you can have privacy and diffused light with bare sliding doors!

Exposure to Street Lights at Night – Apart from the problem of lack of privacy at night, bare sliding doors can impact the quality of your sleep with exposure to the light from outside lamps. Also waking up to the glaring early light may not bring such a pleasant start to your day!

All the above problems can easily be resolved by installing Budget Blinds’ coverings like vertical blinds or shutters for sliding doors. Most importantly these can be custom-fit to the size of any door. Moreover, shutters and blinds for sliding doors not only have simple and easy-to-use mechanisms, allowing easy movement but also provide lighting and privacy control along with UV protection, while allowing in diffused natural soft light. Let’s dig deeper into how shutters and vertical blinds for sliding glass doors help resolve the challenges of uncovered sliding doors:

Protection from Harmful Rays – Covering solutions can block out the harmful UV rays ensuring sun protection for you and your family as well as furniture. Depending on your requirements, you can also control the level of light by adjusting the slats of blinds and shutters. Most of our covering solutions are available in three louver sizes to allow you to control the light, as desired. For added sun protection consider installing Budget Blinds’ UV blocking film on your glass doors.

Control the Level of Privacy Required – Again depending on your privacy requirements, you can open or close the slats to the desired extent.

Block out Night-time Artificial Lights – You can opt to completely close coverings at night-time for full privacy and blocking the light from outside lamps. All shutters and blinds have an extremely easy movement owing to which you can open and close them as many times as required in a day.

As can be seen, covering solutions are an all-in-one solution to all of the above problems. Not sure which solutions would be a best fit for your sliding doors? Here are some recommendations from Budget Blinds:

1. Vertical Blinds

Generally, the “go to” window covering for a sliding door is a vertical blind. It is a window treatment that has been around for decades because it is one of the best treatments for a doorway. Vertical blinds for sliding glass doors are unlike horizontal blinds because they flow from side to side making them work better with a sliding door. Vertical blinds are hung from a heavy-duty headrail system that keeps them permanently aligned which prevents excessive wear and tear. Not only are vertical blinds for patio doors and sliding doors extremely durable, but they are also attractive.

If you’re looking for added sun protection, consider installing vinyl vertical sliding glass door blinds that can withstand direct sunlight and strong heat. For improved room darkening, S-shaped vanes on vertical blinds tend to work best.

They come in two styles, including vinyl and fabric and come in an array of colors and weaves to add texture to your living space. Also, vertical sliding patio and glass door blinds have multiple operating systems, including chain control, and tilt, right draw, left draw, and split draw to control the sunlight and privacy. Lastly, they are available in a cordless option making them pet and child-safe.

2. Vertical Cellular Shades

A great solution for your large sliding glass door would be a vertical cellular shade. Vertical cellular shades are designed with “honeycomb-shaped pockets” which keep your room insulated and at a comfortable temperature by preventing air from entering or escaping.

In addition to being energy efficient, vertical cellular shades help you control light and privacy and they can be matched with Eclipse window shades offering sheer coverage on the top and solid coverage on the bottom. They come in four lighting control options so you can achieve the desired extent of light and privacy control: sheer, light-filtering, room darkening, and blackout. The privacy options are important depending on which room your sliding door is in because if you have a sliding door in a bedroom, blackout opacity would be great for ultimate privacy and light control.

3. Sliding Panel Track Blinds

A modern solution for window treatments for sliding glass doors is sliding panel track blinds. They are oversized panels with varying widths and consistent overlapping. They can be used for sliding doors and windows or as room dividers. They come in a large selection of modern fabrics that add personality to your living spaces.

A popular trend with sliding panel track blinds is woven wood material. It is an elegant, eco-friendly option made of natural woven grasses. They are made from 100% organic materials such as bamboo, jute, hemp, and flax for a textured look. With panels, you can even coordinate the materials with an accompanying top treatment for an overall designer look.

4. Plantation Shutters

If you are looking for a timeless classic to cover your sliding door, shutters would be your answer. Shutters for sliding glass doors have an abundance of benefits such as privacy, ventilation, and protection. Depending on your style Plantation shutters come in real wood or composite wood in three popular louver sizes, 2 ½”, 3 ½” and 4 ½” to match your desired level of lighting, privacy, and ventilation. You can manipulate the louvers to fully open and close or to any value in between to achieve the exact level of privacy and light that you want.

A major benefit of Plantation shutters is they are energy-saving due to their insulating design. Another important advantage is that they are extremely durable and constructed to last. Shutters come in different styles including bi-fold shutters which are ideal window coverings for sliding glass doors, as they are hinged in the middle and fold accordion-style to open (pictured below). Bypass style, a great option for patio or closet doors, are panels that slide on a track and stack neatly behind one another for a well-ordered look. Shutters can be custom-fit to properly fit any sliding door.

5. Drapery

Drapery is a fashionable way to cover your sliding door that won’t hinder the use of the door. Window drapes can completely cover the door or be pulled back to the sides with decorative tiebacks of matching fabric or decorative hardware. Budget Blinds’ exclusive collection Inspired Drapes® offers a variety of prints and patterns to brighten up any room.

Drapes not only look great but will provide you with light and privacy control along with sun protection and energy-saving insulation. For extra coverage, drapery can be layered with blinds or shades for added appeal and flare. Or consider adding Budget Blinds’ light filtering and room darkening liners for enhanced light control and privacy. Drapery allows you to have an uninterrupted view of the outdoors when open and full privacy when closed.

Whether it is blinds for sliding doors, shutters for sliding glass doors, vertical blinds for sliding glass doors, or any of the other coverings mentioned above, all window treatments are wonderful solutions to the problems that often accompany a bare sliding door. In addition, they are completely adjustable to achieve the level of light, privacy, and ventilation control that you desire. And above all, they can be customized to your sliding door for a perfect fit. Schedule a complimentary in-house consultation to discuss your exact requirements with your local style consultants or visit us at www.budgetblinds.com.