Do you have a large patio door in your new or pre-existing home/condo? If so, the only thing left to do is to cover it with some blinds.The sliding patio doors or sliding glass door? No matter which way…they’re a door! It’s beautiful and adds privacy while also allowing natural light through when necessary. But most importantly, they keep people out!
The good news is, there are many different types of sliding doors that are manufactured differently and each one calls for an entirely different type of treatment to keep unwanted visitors from wandering in. While it may seem obvious at first glance (and in most cases), what is available on sliding patio doors can be quite varied. With the market saturated by big box stores offering similar products, it was time to take a look see at what else was out there. So without further ado…
Here is our list of 13 Blackout Blinds that Were Made for Your Sliding Patio Doors!
1.Blackout Vinyl Roll Shades With Wooden Blinds
Black vinyl roll shades are probably some of the most basic window treatments, but this set of roller shades has been upgraded with black wood slats. They will give the classic look of a traditional white shutter with their subtle color. Best of all, these black vinyl roller shades will work great with any exterior style — whether it has a modern, transitional, colonial or even shingled design.
2. PVC Privacy Screen Slots
If you want something a little more “wow” than regular wooden blinds then try out these PVC privacy screens. These blinds have slotted sides that slide up and down when open. When closed, the blind provides privacy because it hides those inside your sliding door opening from prying eyes. Best of all, as these PVC slats are not attached directly onto the existing frame in any way, they simply attach over the top of the sliding window itself to ensure security. Plus, this set of window treatments are very easy to clean.
3. Aluminum blackout Blinds With Wood Blinds
If you’re someone who likes a bit of metal in your windows, then check out this set of sliding aluminum blinds. They come complete with a large wooden slat bottom track. The slatted bottom rail of this double sided aluminum and wood combination gives the appearance of a classic traditional ironwood shutters. Even the wood slats above that resemble the traditional wooden blinds. They are sleek in appearance, and if you need additional storage space (like, say, for a bag of groceries) there’s nothing stopping you from adding some handy hanging rails to hang extra things like sweaters, coats or umbrellas on.
4. Tinted Roller Shades
This is a pretty simple set of blinds. It consist of two sets of window shades — one tinted in blue and another in pink. These shades are actually just plain gray plastic sheets rolled onto roller tubes. What makes them special is the “breathing room” that goes around each tube. This means that the shades will always stay securely attached to the side of the tube, no matter how much force you put on the roller. This is a perfect solution for homeowners who live in areas where heavy rain often happens during periods of warm weather.
5. Metal Tube Frames And Wood Slats
Sometimes, you don’t want to mess with all the fussiness that comes with installing wooden blinds. That’s why we love this set of double-sided aluminum frames that have the added bonus of having wood slatted sides. It gives the appearance that you’ve got old world, shingled windows.
6. Clear PVC Window Treatments
Clear PVC sheeting is probably the easiest thing to install. Plus, this product is virtually maintenance free. You can easily wipe it off with a damp cloth whenever the need arises. There’s no mistaking this set of PVC window treatments because its bright white color is clearly visible from just about any angle. If clear PVC isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, maybe you’d prefer a darker color, like grey. Both options are offered in this set.
7. Steel Frame Single Slat BLACKOUT Blinds
Steel is hard wearing and is resistant to moisture damage, plus it can even withstand high winds and extreme pressure changes in the outside environment. To add protection, they offer a nice sturdy steel track that allows you to secure the slats tightly against the window casing. These blinds come in 10 widths ranging from 20″ to 42″. Because of the weight of the steel it comes in single panels of 2 x 4 inches. If you want to create a larger gap than normal (maybe for bigger plants or flowers) then get a few panels together and join them by welding. All you’ll have to worry about is cleaning.
8. Heavy Duty Velcro BLACKOUT Blinds
Heavy duty velcro blinds are perfect for use in outdoor environments. If your installation location has poor lighting conditions then this would be a great product for you. Since it uses heavy duty velcro, it is very strong and durable. Plus, it’s easy to remove too. Just peel away the protective cover and pull it up.
9. Polycarbonate Panels with Wooden BLACKOUT Blinds
This set of polycarbonate windows has the appearance of being vintage wooden shutters. The wooden blinds and slats make it look like everything is old fashioned. This double-sided window treatment will provide you with a stylish appearance at the same time as keeping the sun out! Best of all, unlike standard wooden shutters, these polycarbonate ones do not require any tools or tools to install. Just peel the transparent cover back, pull up the aluminum track and push down into place.
10. Double Sided Sliding Aluminum Shutters
This particular set of shutters features both slatted wooden sides AND a smooth aluminum sides. The aluminum parts provide a contemporary, modern look. A full range of size choices make sure that you can fit this product into almost any area of the sliding door. As an added bonus, these aluminum shutters have a magnetic latch system that allows you to safely lock and unlock your shutters at the touch of a button.
11. Easy to Clean Vinyl Faux BLACKOUT Shutters
Finally, to round up this list, today I’ll be showing you a set of faux shutters. Like we mentioned earlier, these aren’t really made to protect your sliding patio door from getting drenched by rain or anything else. Instead, they offer the appearance that your patio door is painted shut, providing privacy, yet also making the space feel like a more private room. Best of all, it’s super easy to clean (allowing for maximum convenience). All you need to do is use a damp rag to wipe down the vinyl once in a while. No tools required!
12. Sturdy California Wood Shutters
Do you already have solid wood shutters installed in your patio doors? Then, this set of wooden slatted shutters might be perfect for you. They come in three colors — white, brown, and black. The slats are a very thick wood, allowing the shutters to last for years to come.
13. Wood Blinds & Wooden Blinds From One Pair Of Hardware
To end this list of 13 Blackout Blinds that Were Made for Your Sliding Patio Doors, take a look at this set of wooden blinds and slats. In fact, you can use this pair of traditional hardware to match up with many other types of interior and exterior decor. Best of all, they come completely assembled. Now that’s convenient!
Summary of the 5 Best Blackout blinds that were made for your sliding patio doors
Sliding patio doors are beautiful large ‘window-like’ sliding doors that usually transition between two focal points of a house or home. Do you have a large patio door in your new or pre-existing home/condo? If so, the only thing left to do is to cover it with some blinds or shutters. If your space allows for high amounts of sunlight to pass into your home, then blackout blinds might be the best option for you. Understandably, there are tremendous amounts of products that you could stick onto your sliding glass doors.
But only the best Blackout Blind custom made to fit your sliding door and your design needs will be the best option for you. These blackout window treatments were not only made for sliding doors but will look equally spectacular and give the same blackout properties installed over any French door that may lead to a yard, balcony or patio. (Of course, then there are semi-opaque fabric options for all the products that are listed except the California shutters…). That said our team of window covering experts have put together a list of 5 of the Best Blackout blinds that were made for your sliding patio doors.
Roller Blackout Blinds
Custom Roller Zebra Blinds in Canada
Roller Blackout Blinds are available from many different windows covering retailers and manufactures. These blinds are unique and can be made with different blackout fabrics. How can you ensure you pick the right colour for your new roller blind? Well, you have various options available to you depending on your interior design method. If you choose to match the room or trim colour, white and off-whites are usually the most popular colour choice. If you choose to match the room colour(s), natural dark toned fabrics are picked to complement the colours of the wall or floor. Whatever colour you go with, there are a few details about roller blinds you must first know before you make your purchase.
What quality of Blackout Roller Blinds Are you looking for?
How long do you plan on keeping these blackout roller shades?
What warranty options are best suited for your home & budget
The best thing about well-made blackout roller blinds is that this option will give a simple, yet elegant look to your space. They are usually fully retractable and can be motorized. (Our friends at Germany’s Somfy motors pride themselves on making the best-in-class window covering motors.) The best part is, these ‘automatic roller blind motors’ can be added to most blackout window treatments!!
If you are looking for affordable Blackout roller blinds for your sliding patio doors, many websites do exist that can help you out with your purchase. However, be warned, in most cases, you get EXACTLY what you pay for. Cheap blackout roller blinds are not produced to the same standards that other higher quality blackout roller blinds are produced with. That is a fact you can take to the bank.
What are the differences, you might ask?
If cheap Blackout Roller blinds do the job, why buy a more expensive product?
Before I answer that, let me ask you an even simpler question…
Are you willing to trade affordability for quality and lifespan of the product which you are receiving?
If so be aware that many cheaper products come with limited 1-3-year warranties while higher quality brands like Hunter Douglas, offer Lifetime Warranties with all their roller shade products.
Blackout Dual Shades or Zebra blinds as they are referred to are one of the most popular window treatments available for sliding patio doors in North America. Unlike a regular blackout roller blind, blackout dual shades are window treatments made by a double looping ‘hybrid’ sheet of fabric. Blackout Zebra blinds are made of both blackout and semi-blackout fabrics that are sowed in a logically repeating order. On a patio sliding door, they look like this…
As you can see, up to 95% room darkening is obtained when the blackout strips of fabric on the back-sheer line up in perfectly with the semi-blackout fabric on the front dual shade fabric. These are in the same price range of regular blackout roller blinds, with the added benefit that gives a unique design. Just like regular roller shades, there are affordable zebra shade options. For more information on purchasing zebra blinds and DIY installation instructions check out these resources here…
At Shutter Boys, this is the most common fabric window covering requested by our customers
We provide medium to high-end roller zebra blinds to our customers from various high-end Canadian Window Covering manufactures. See our list of top zebra blinds manufactures here.
For more information about what blackout zebra blinds for your sliding patio door might cost you, check out our article where we break down the cost of Roller Zebra blinds.
Honeycomb Style Blackout Shades & Blinds:
Blackout Honeycomb Window Shadings offer an elegance that is not available with most other window shadings. Unlike the Dual Shades, these blinds don’t offer both blackout and semi-opaque views when fully retracted. However, from a design perspective, these shades are stylistically superior if you’re looking for a hybrid combination of modern and classical styles. They can be purchased from double or single ‘honeycomb’ style fabrics which offer interior honeycomb-like paddings meshes that will provide extra insulation. Unlike the other two options, however, these blinds are less likely to be installed on patio doors.
Blackout Vinyl Vertical Blinds
Remember, back in the day when vertical blinds populated both commercial and residential spaces? Well – lucky for you, my editor made me add this blind as an option due to its historic popularity among homeowners in both Canada and North America. Vertical blinds on patio doors were the standard ‘sliding door blind’. With lots more options available, vertical blinds are less likely purchased for residential homes, although there are still some that may still want to consider installing this 90% efficient blackout blind as an option.
Hunter Douglas offers fabric based vertical blind options that may suit your style needs if you were looking for something closer to this…[picture coming soon].
Blackout California & Plantation Styled Blinds & Shutters
California Shutters For Patio Doors
This is by far my favourite category for various and obvious reasons. Currently, custom California Shutters are the premium window covering of choice for both Americans and Canadians of life. Why? Because out of all the coverings discussed premium wood shutters made to hunter Douglas’s standard are the only coverings that will be considered like granite to raise the value of your home.
Now understand this – not all California Shutters should be installed over your patio door. Many companies that are wet behind the ears when it comes to shutters in general, wouldn’t know the first thing about why a California shutter blind would even be considered as a Blackout Blind for sliding patio doors.
These companies don’t consider any custom California shutter options because their installers are cannot install a shutter without it’s squaring frame. [What is a California Shutter? Check this article out to learn more!!]
Higher end California Shutter manufacturers like ourselves create shutters that can be customized to fit any window and shape. Additionally, our shutters ( like the famous blackout vertical blinds of the past) offer up to 90% room darkening. So, this is a worthwhile blackout blind worth considering if your budget allows!!
Now, I do understand that lots of folks reading this like the option of roller-based fabric window coverings that provide full retractability.
If that’s the case, the better option for you would be purchasing a blackout dual shade or zebra blind. However, patio door California Shutters, while they don’t retract they do fold. (Kind of like an accordion, folding in a bi-fold fashion as seen below).
Conclusion:
We covered 5 blackout blind options that could be used as window treatments that cover your sliding glass doors.
Zebra Blackout blinds are the only retractable blind mentioned that can have multiple views while fully retracted.
Honeycomb blinds provide complete blackout options, like the regular roller blind in the fully retractable position. The main difference is that the Honeycomb fabric offers extra light and temperature insulation as the veins in the fabric increase.
Finally, California Shutters can be customized to be mounted on any patio door and can be folded completely to the side to keep the wide window view you may have been looking for.
If you’re in the market for any of the above and live in Ontario, Canada please feel free to give our window covering experts a call. If you plan on purchasing custom blinds in Toronto, give us a shout! (For a limited time only, receive our 100% Canadian Made premium California Shutters for a steal. Conditions apply!)
What’s Your Favorite Kind of Window Treatments or Blinds For A Sliding Door?
We hope that this post has given you ideas of the many different kinds of blinds that you could choose to complement your new sliding patio door. Feel free to share your comments, thoughts, tips and tricks on this topic below.
