Choosing Blinds for Your Patio Doors

Whether you have sliding glass doors or French doors leading to your patio, this is an area of the home where many homeowner ignore in the entire scheme of their design.

But there are many sliding glass door blinds that can turn a typical trouble spot into an accent. Whether you choose the traditional look of vertical blinds or the more modern horizontal styles, blinds will enable you to add privacy and color to your room while keeping the harsh sunlight from penetrating your sanctuary at certain times of the day.

Vertical Blinds

Vertical blinds are perfect for large or small windows, French doors, patio doors and bay windows. They offer a neat, streamlined appearance and are well-suited for narrower windows or doorways because of their height conscious design.

Many designers use vertical blinds in front of patio doors to set moods and substitute for or complement draperies. Opening this style of blinds can be configured with a one-way draw, spit draw, center stack or opposite stack.

They are perfect for rooms that receive a lot of sunlight. Payless Decor, an online retailer of quality blinds, sells a vertical blind made of a sturdy PVC material. With white on the outside, the blinds reflect the harsh rays of the sun, thus saving on electricity bills.

Another flavor of luxury vertical blinds are those made with real wood and piano smooth finishes. Such verticals are a perfect way to tie together a patio door, an entire wall or a roomful of windows.

Horizontal Blinds

Because they offer a consistent look between your windows and doors, designers are beginning to use horizontal blinds to cover patio doors. Preventing the full conversion from vertical to horizontal, however, is the makeup of these blinds.

Horizontal blinds on patio doors stack at the top of the door, which can inevitably get in the way of entering and exiting the doorway. Additionally, horizontal blinds also have longer cords that can bunch at the bottom of the doorway.

Typically, horizontal blinds run across the entire two panel doorway in one or two pieces, with the stack height dictating how high the blinds will need to be installed above the doorway. Today, though, advances in blind technology solve these issues. You can choose horizontal blinds that cover the entire doorway opening or just the glass portion.

Designers today often find the look of two separate blinds more appealing and functional. One blind can be opened for entry and exit while the other remains closed.

Whichever type of blind you choose for your patio door, horizontal or vertical, companies such as Payless Decor have what you need. Browse the company's site today.