Best Window Treatment Options for Sliding Glass Doors

A sliding glass or patio door is the hardest opening in the house to design around, since the window treatment you choose has to move out of the way every time someone walks through the door.

At Morgan White Window Coverings, we have spent years working out which formats hold up to daily use for sliding glass or patio doors. Three come up again and again: wide-format panels that run on a track, innovative vertical blinds, and interior shutters.

Vertical Blinds Are the Standard Choice for Sliding Glass Doors

Vertical blinds hang and rotate in place. That rotation gives you privacy, which is what makes them practical on a slider the family uses every day. Yu can draw them open across the door and close them for privacy.

We offer vertical blinds in different materials: Vinyl wipes clean and suits a busy household; fabric vanes soften a wall of glass; and sheer vanes allow more light into your space. We size the stack so it lands on the wall beside the opening, wherever the wall allows it.

Panel Track Blinds for Wide Glass

Like vertical blinds, panels flow from movable casters on a headrail, which allows each panel to slide sideways to stack for easy access from patios, porches, and decks.

Wide-format fabric panels are a trendsetting treatment that come in fabric options of many varieties—similar to those you would pick for a roller shade—from a sheer weave that keeps the yard visible to a room-darkening fabric that shuts out the afternoon sun from a west-facing family room.

We recommend Hunter Douglas Skyline® Panel-Track Blinds for large glass walls because they cover the widest openings in a house with flat panels sit close to the glass, which helps create a low-profile look and allows for easy access with our becoming obtrusive. The panels can also be split, so the fixed half stays in place while you slide the rest.

Bypass and Bifold Shutters for Patio Doors

Shutters can be installed on a sliding door in many styles. Durable and architectural, louvers tilt to control light. We offer shutters in wood, hybrid, and vinyl options with a choice of louver widths, so a patio door can match the shutters already hanging elsewhere in the house.

For vertical orientations perfect for sliders, bypass shutters hang from parallel tracks and slide past each other, so nothing swings out into the room. Bifold shutters hinge together on a track and fold back like an accordion, where the folded stack takes up wall space to the side.

Fabric, Color, and the Rest of the Room

A patio door covers a large share of one wall, so it becomes a major focal point for the room. Neutral tones blend in next to existing furniture, while a pattern, texture, or wood-tone shutter adds warmth, color, and variety to hard surfaces.

Coordination matters as well. When the windows flanking a slider already have blinds or shades, the vertical treatment can match them. For blinds, banded shades, and shutters, we can find an option to match the louver width and color for a seamless appeal.

Sliding Door Window Treatments in California

Seeing the options against your own decor and in your own lighting situation is a great place to begin a design. We bring fabric and shutter samples to your home, show you multiple control options, and show you how each format stacks and pairs with your finishes.

Based in Saratoga, we work by appointment throughout the wider area including San Jose, Campbell, Los Gatos, Cupertino, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Los Altos, Palo Alto, Fremont, and nearby cities.

Call (408) 621-9122 or book a consultation online to work with our design team and expert installers.