French Door Window Treatments

French doors, with their wide frames and top-to-bottom glass, are an elegant way to bring natural light into your home, whether they open to a patio or other outdoor area or lead from one room to another.

If your French doors open to the exterior of your home, however, you may want to cover them for privacy when you want it as well as light control when you need it.

You can order almost any Hunter Douglas window treatment to fit French doors (as well as other door types), giving you a variety of options to complement your décor. Here are some of the more popular choices.

Cellular Shades for French Doors

Cellular shades are excellent for French doors, as they’re extremely energy-efficient and provide good light control.

Duette^® Honeycomb Shades are among the most energy-efficient window treatments available. They trap air in distinct pockets, creating outstanding insulation at the window. Unique to Duette shades is the TrackGlide^™ system, which keeps shades in place when you open and close the doors. Aluminum tracks and detachable side-rail clips attach to the window surface or outside the window with adhesive, eliminating the need for screws (and holes).

Shutters for French Doors

If you have a coastal home with French doors, shutters, which evoke a beachy vibe, fit right in. Shutters attach securely to French doors, so they’ll never shift when doors open and close, and their adjustable louvers are available in a number of slat sizes (the wider the slat, the more open the view).

Palm Beach^™ Polysatin^™ Shutters were made to take the heat. Their UV-resistant material stands up to intense sunlight and moisture, so they’ll never warp, crack, fade, chip or peel—making them ideal for damp or humid spaces.

Shades for French Doors

Elegant and airy, window shadings let you easily manage light and privacy at the same time, while adding a subtle flourish to a room.

Consider Silhouette^® Window Shadings, which have unique S-shaped vanes that float between two sheer panels, diffusing light. To block views from the outside, simply tilt the vanes.

The tilt-only, low-profile system for Silhouette is 60 percent smaller than the standard tilt-only system, so it fits perfectly with French doors, allowing you to open them more easily without a headrail hitting the wall. If you have small children or pets, you can go cord-free with an optional tilt wand.

Roman and Roller Shades

Roman shades may not come to mind when you think of window coverings for French doors, but their soft folds pair well with the clean lines of the doors. Plus, the flat construction of Roman shades means their fabric fits nicely behind the door handles.

Vignette^® Modern Roman Shades are available with full or flat folds in an array of fabrics and colors, as well as opacities. You won’t find exposed rear cords on Vignette shades, which makes its aesthetics all the more appealing.

Another shade type that may not come to mind when thinking about French doors is the roller shade. Roller shades have come a long way since their inception, having transformed from a basic, utilitarian window covering to a fashionable way to give windows a clean, contemporary look.

If you like the style of roller shades, but want the energy-efficiency of a cellular shade, then Sonnette^® Cellular Roller Shades are for you. Sonnette fabrics are attractive, durable and available in palettes from neutrals to vibrant hues.

Blinds for French Doors

You can order blinds for French doors, and one product is built for them. Hunter Douglas treats a French door as a specialty shape, listed as "side-by-side doors," and the option is offered across blinds as well as shades and shutters.

Modern Precious Metals^® Mini Blinds are the ones to look at. They are offered with a cut-out, an optional enhancement made for door handles, so the slats pass behind the handle instead of stopping at it. Slats come in ½", 1" or 2", and because they tilt you can manage light and privacy without lifting the blind at all, which suits a door you open and close all day.

As with any French door treatment, mount it outside the opening so the headrail clears the frame, and add hold-down brackets at the bottom so the blind stays with the door instead of swinging away from it.

Purchasing Pointers

In addition to window treatment style, fabric and color when considering French door blinds or shades, keep these general points in mind:

• Window treatments for French doors are typically mounted outside of the opening (beyond the window frame) and may require extension brackets or spacer blocks for proper clearance.
• Some French door window treatments may require a “cut-out” in order for the window treatment to pass behind the door handle or knob.
• Consider hold-down brackets, so your window treatment doesn’t move when you open and close the door.
• French doors are not the only doors with these constraints. A sliding-glass door needs a treatment that traverses sideways and still clears the frame, so the mounting and clearance points above apply there too.

And as with all specialty shapes, you should consult with your local Hunter Douglas specialist when deciding which product will work best for your French doors.