Inviting French Doors
French doors are a great architectural feature on homes that are generally used as the front entrance or a back entrance to a home, but they are also occasionally used on the master bedroom to lead to a private porch outdoors. Wherever your French doors are located, they beg to be covered to add privacy to your home.
Window Coverings for French Doors
French doors let in a lot of heat and sunlight in the summer, yet they also are constructed specifically to allow you to have beautiful views outdoors as well. The solution for window coverings actually is more of an item of choice, because you have a large selection of window treatments that will work exceptionally well on any French door.
What Exactly are French Doors?
French doors are a set of two doors that have glass panes from the top to the bottom of each of the two doors except for a light frame that may be wooden or metal. Each door can open independently of each other and swing outward or you can open both at once to have a larger opening from inside to outside. French doors may have side panels of windows with the same amount of panes per side panel as the doors themselves or they may not have side panels. French doors can connect your outdoor and indoor spaces when they are left open in nice weather.
French Doors Can Be A Challenge
Most French doors have decorative handles on them in a lever style. This can present a challenge in window treatments because your window treatment of choice needs to fit just over the open area of your French doors and if it’s too wide, the window treatment will get caught on the door handles when you enter and exit. Another consideration is that you will most likely want to go with an option that is cordless so it is safe for children and pets, especially if it’s in a home that you rent or lease to others. One more consideration is on the mounting system. If you go in and out of the doors quite often, you should consider adding brackets to the base of the doors to hold your window treatments in place when the doors are opened and closed often.
Cellular Shades For French Doors
Cordless cellular shades are a great option for French door window treatments. You have many options in how much light they filter in your home in a great energy efficient product. You can choose from very open and light as a sheer shade, a semi sheer, a light filtering semi-opaque to opaque as a room darkening shade. This allows you to choose the exact level of light and heat control and your privacy level too all in one product. Cellular shades are easy care products and clean very easily and you can choose a cordless option and choose from a large variety of colors and fabrics to match your decor.
Roman Shades for French Doors
Roman shades give you a gigantic selection of fabrics from which to choose. You can choose any type of weight from a sheer panel to a heavier and more dramatic type of fabric. The thickness of the fabric determines how much light is blocked or let into your home through your French doors. This is also a decision that you make based on the direction your French doors face. If they get a lot of sun through the east side of your home in the morning or the west side of your home in the evenings, you may opt for a heavier fabric for more energy efficiency. Another option is to use a lighter and flowing fabric that you love as a sheer shade and add a liner to it to block more of the sun but retain the light and airy feel to your space.
Window Blinds
Window blinds of all types work very well in French doors. You can choose from natural woods that are beautiful and they
can be stained or painted in any color you wish to either blend in with their surroundings or to act as an accent piece in your home in a bright and cheerful color. You can also choose faux wood blinds, which have all the beauty of wood, but at a lower price point. As an added feature, faux wood blinds are better resistant to areas that have high humidity and they won’t warp, break or bend as easily as real wood blinds. You also have an option of using lightweight aluminum blinds in a large variety of colors with vane sizes of 1/2 inch, 1 inch and 2 inch. You can even dress up aluminum blinds with fabric attached to the vanes to make your French doors uniquely your own work of art.
Woven Wood Blinds For French Doors
Perhaps the most popular window treatments for French doors on the island are the woven wood blinds that blend in with the island theme. Woven woods are made from all natural grasses and bamboo that are interwoven in beautiful natural hues. You have many different color palates to choose from in natural tones to add a beachy casual yet exotic vibe to any room. Woven wood shades are light in weight and work exceptionally well in French doors and they will flex when you open and close the doors so they will tend not to bend or break as traditional blinds with wooden slats may do. You can also choose to add some trim to the top, bottom or sides of the woven wood blinds to add a splash of accent color to your French doors.
So now you see that you have many choices when you want window coverings for your beautiful French doors that will help you to control light, heat gain and save you money in your heating and cooling costs all year round.
