Are curtains or blinds best for sliding glass doors?

Nothing brings indoor/outdoor flow to a room better than big, expansive sliding glass doors. They offer beautiful views, easy ventilation and allow plenty of natural light into a room. Curtains, Elegance Shades and vertical blinds are the best window furnishings to cover them and get the insulation and light and privacy control your need; roller blinds may also work.Let’s go through the pros and cons of each:

Do curtains work well on sliding doors?

Curtains work as long as you have enough space to the sides of your sliding door. They are the bulkiest of your options so consider how they’ll open. Will you have a single curtain that opens and stacks to the non opening/sliding side or a pair that meet in the middle? For this option, ensure there’s enough space on the opening/sliding side so the curtain can be drawn open and stacked clear of the door handle.

For light and privacy control choose double tracks with a sheer curtain underneath that remains drawn closed during the day.

The benefit of curtains is their superior thermal insulation properties and they offer the broadest choice of looks with different hanging lengths, a variety of hardware (ie, rods, rings and tracks), and an almost unending selection of fabrics to have them made from.

Which blinds are not ideal for sliding doors?

Roman blinds are similar to roller blinds in that they can work if there’s enough space above the door frame for the blind to stack when open; otherwise it will be hanging over the door, limiting access. Also worth considering is how tricky pattern matching can be with roman blinds. To have a seamless look when all the blinds are down takes extra attention to detail and more fabric to ensure the right part of the pattern is being used to match.

Venetian blinds are not recommended as they are weighty to operate across such a big space and would look terrible if the slats on each blind didn’t align with the one next to it. Plus, you would have to have them raised right up above the door frame for access.

Honeycomb blinds are a possibility and certainly offer the kind of insulation you need for large areas of glass like a sliding door. However, they face similar line symmetry and access issues as venetian blinds.

Shutters can work but you’re essentially putting a whole other sliding door in front of the current one. Seems excessive and will almost definitely not be a cost effective option.

Ready to find the right curtains and blinds for your home? Request a free in-home consultation and one of our local consultants will bring the samples to you, measure up, and give you a no-obligation quote.