Short answer: French doors need a treatment that clears the handle, does not swing with the door, and still lets the doors work. That usually means a shallow, door mounted treatment rather than anything that hangs free.
The rest of this covers the options that actually work in that situation, what to decide before you order, the mistakes we get called out to fix, and how the Texas sun should change your choice.
What works, and why
Shutters on the door
Custom shutters can be built with a cut-out for the handle and mounted directly to the door, so they move with it. The most finished looking answer and the most expensive.
Cellular or pleated shades, door mounted
Slim, mounted top and bottom so they cannot swing. They work with the door rather than against it, and they add insulation on a lot of glass.
Roller shades with a bottom bracket
A flat panel with a hold-down bracket at the sill stops the shade swinging every time the door opens.
Drapery on a wide rod
Hung wide enough to clear the doors entirely when open. Softens the room, but you lose wall space and it does nothing when the doors are in use.
What to decide before you order
- Whether the doors swing in or out, which decides how much clearance you have
- Where the handle sits, and how far it projects
- Whether you need both doors to open fully, or only one in daily use
- How much light you actually want to keep, since French doors are usually the light source
- Whether the doors are used daily or are effectively a window
Material, and why it matters more than style
The format of a treatment is a look. The material is what decides whether it still works in three years. Getting this wrong is the most expensive mistake available, because a custom treatment is not returnable and a warped one gets replaced.
Real wood
Lightest, takes stain beautifully, and belongs in dry living areas. It moves with humidity, so it is the wrong answer near a shower or a sink.
Faux wood and composite
Handle moisture and hard sun without warping. Heavier, which matters on a wide span, but they are why most Texas kitchens and bathrooms end up with them.
Fabric shades
Softer and warmer in a room, and the only option where openness factor lets you tune view against shade. Choose a weave rated for sun on a hot wall.
Vinyl and aluminium
Cheapest, and they behave like it on a west facing window. Fine on a shaded north opening in a room nobody uses.
Light control, privacy and the night time problem
Daytime privacy and night time privacy are different problems, and a lot of disappointment comes from assuming one treatment solves both. A weave that gives perfect privacy at noon can go transparent once the lights are on inside.
- Decide per window whether you need light filtering, room darkening or blackout
- Check whether the window needs to work after dark, not just during the day
- Remember that any inside mount leaks light at the edges, by design
- Layering a shade under a drape solves most cases that one product cannot
Mistakes we get called out to fix
- A treatment mounted above the door that swings and bangs every time it opens
- A blind that fouls the handle, so the door will not close
- An inside mount on a door with no depth for the headrail
- Blocking the light source completely in a room that has no other window
The Texas factor
West and south facing glass takes the worst of the afternoon here, and it is the single thing that should drive the specification. A treatment that is perfect on a north window can fade, warp or simply fail to do its job on a west wall.
- Check which way each window faces before choosing material
- Moisture rules bathrooms and kitchens: faux wood or composite, not real wood
- Anything on the hot side should be specified for sun, not chosen on looks
- Shading the outside of the glass beats shading the inside, every time
How we would approach it
At the consultation we look at which way the window faces, what the room is used for, how the opening is built and whether it is square and deep enough for the mount you want. Then we measure every opening ourselves and quote from those measurements.
- Samples brought to your home so you see them in your own light
- Every opening measured on site rather than estimated
- A written quote based on those measurements
- Installation by the same team that measured
- Remade at no cost if it does not match the approved measurements
Let us measure it
The consultation is free, we bring samples you can hold against your own light, and we measure every opening on site. You get a written quote from those measurements.
