Sliding Patio Door Curtains - Best Curtains For Your Sliding Patio Door

Before I continue with what sliding patio door curtains are and the types you can get, let me stop for a moment and discuss the various patio door types, since it has a bearing on what type of curtains you will add to your door.

There are several types of patio doors available today and the sliding doors are just one of them. You can also find hinged patio doors and those that have a transom window. So what is the difference between these patio doors and what are the benefits of having a sliding door, and finally what type of curtains you can add to your sliding patio doors? These are the questions I will try to address in the article below.

Patio door types

Hinged patio doors are very similar to the normal doors we know from entrance to the house or between different rooms. They can be either pulled in or pushed out. However while the regular doors are made of various types of wood, the hinged patio doors are made of glass. One advantage of these versus the sliding doors is the fact that they can be installed one piece alone, which means that they take less room than a sliding door.

Of course you can also install two doors together which will give you the look and feel of a French door. Or you can install a hinged door and a stationary panel so you have one door for entrance and exit and the other door can not be walked through. Which way you go with this type, is really up to you.

Transom window patio doors are similar to the hinged patio doors except that you have 2 or more glass panels topped with one big decorative window. So you won't have one big glass as your door, you will have an extra window, or set of windows at the top. One way of decorating this type with patio door window coverings is by using blinds that cover the doors, leaving the upper windows open so more light enters the room.

Particularly if the upper windows are decorative (crackled, or other types), it will really look great from inside and outside.

Finally the sliding patio doors are the very common types that can be found in many homes. If you're not sure what these are, just think of the shower doors and their sliding to side when you open or close them. The principle is exactly the same. You can for example one side of the windows open while the other side is like a big window. This will give you more space on the patio as you don't have to leave extra space for the door to open inwards or outwards.

So what type of sliding patio door curtains are available to decorate these doors with?

The trick here is to find window treatments that are both functional and decorative. To be honest, if I have to choose between the various patio door window treatments such as curtains, vertical blinds or cellular shades, I find the curtains to be the simplest option and the easiest to implement. Not only that but you can really find interesting fabrics that will match the decor of your room really well.

You can find tab top versions that slide over a rod. These give you easily access in and out of the room to the patio. If you want to keep the extra cold or warm out, you can use lined curtains, since they have some good insulation properties.

This is why they are also called thermal patio door curtains or insulated patio door curtains. Some of the insulated types that can be easily used with sliding patio doors are valances, pinch pleat curtains and solid pattern curtains.

As usually sliding patio doors have one moving panel and one fixed frame, you can have either an entire curtain or two curtains that separate the panels. You don't want the curtain to get stuck between the panels when opening or closing the door so you have to be careful with the material you are buying. T

his is sadly one of the drawbacks of using this type of window treatments for sliding patio doors: the fact that the curtains can get easily trapped between the panels and can catch on the door handles, thus the curtain material can be easily destroyed.

One way you can avoid this is by installing them a couple of inches away from the door and add to them something that will hold them towards the sides when you have the door opening so they don't fly out right away.