"Many people are at a loss with how to do window treatments on doors, especially when a lever handle is involved and it is in a high traffic area.
Lets look at some common window treatment solutions for these doors. Our in- home sales division (in OK and KS) has put all these products on doors for customers, so the basis for this blog is our experience.
Wood blinds- Many blind manufacturers solution is to do a cut out of the blind slats around the handle, thus preventing the slats hitting the handle when they are opened and closed. The drawbacks of this solution, is that is does not offer as much privacy as many homeowners desire and clearance is still an issue when raising or lowering the blind. Another option is to order a very small slat so that the blind fits behind the handle. This can be a good solution, but small size slats are only offered in certain product lines Cafe Style Shutters, so your options are a bit more limited. Also, if you want the larger slats for other windows in the room, it breaks the flow a bit.
Fabric Shade- These would include roman shades of fabric or grass, cellular shades, or any type of woven product. Pro’s are that these are very lightweight, if you like the idea of rasing your blind completely every day,this may work for you. Many times the shade lays very close to the glass, and fits behind the handle with ease. The drawback is that when they are down, they tend to bang around and swing with the open and closing of the door. To prevent that, most companies offer hold down brackets that hold the blind in place at the bottom of the door. If you want the brackets you are left with two options- undoing the bracket every time you want to raise or lower the shade. Or, ordering a shade that operates “top-down”, meaning you can lower it from to top down to the bottom to see out the window. Keep in mind that a top down product will have strings that run through the blind and are visible when the shade is in the open (or lowered) position.
goodwood plantation shutters on french doors can be a great option. The shutter is housed in a frame that gives enough projection for the louvers to pivot. (2 1/2″, 3 1/2″ and 4 1/2″, consider 2 1/2 if you have wood blinds on the other windows) The frame wraps around the shutter on four sides so that it can be secured top, sides and bottom. This means no swinging back and forth as the door opens and closes. Inside the frame the plantation shutter mounts on hinges, so you still can access the glass for cleaning and such Bi-fold Shutters. If you have a lever handle, we do what is called a radius cutout around the handle with a solid area behind it. This makes certain that you have complete privacy whether the louvers are open or closed.
Something to keep in mind; if your doors are double and one is fixed and the operable door opens back onto the fixed door, applying a window treatment of any kind will affect how far the door will open back. The degree to which it will be affected will vary from one door manufacturer to another, and from one window treatment to another. An experienced window covering salesperson should be able to address any concerns you may have and discuss this on the front end. Many times with shutters Sliding Shutters, we can make a few adjustments to insure the door opens to the greatest degree possible. However, if it is not addressed on the front end, little can be done. Just another reason to allow your window covering sales person plenty of time to identify and address all possible concerns with your custom shutter order!"
"goodwood Plantation Shutters are all custom designed and produced. So when you choose to order plantation shutters from goodwood Shutters, you have a variety of shutter layout and design options. Two major areas for discussion are — How do I choose a louver size? And how many shutters should I put in each opening?
First, let’s talk about louver size. This depends on a variety of factors, such as the style of your home architecture and design. However, this comes down to personal preference. Part of the beauty of plantation shutters is that you can get such great visibility and light control just by slightly adjusting the louver angle. It stands to reason that the larger the louver, the better the view. Many people are simply amazed at how much visibility you can get with a shutter. In fact, during our in- home consultations we typically bring one sample of each louver size, set it in the window, ask the client to step back and take a look at the different proportions of each louver size and how that impacts the feel of the room. Well, I can’t do that in a blog, but take a look at this picture. Each opening shown is 72″ x 72″; the only thing that changes is the size of the louver.
louver-options-open
Now to be frank, most people choose 3 1/2″ louvers. However, I can make a case for the larger 4 1/2″ louvers in many homes, and we see more orders all the time with this size. On occasion, as we do add on orders for a homeowner, they will tell me that they wish they had chosen a larger louver size. I have never heard a customer tell me the wish they had chosen smaller.
Now for the shutter configuration. The first thing you need to look at is the configuration of the window you are going to shutter. You will get the best look if you try to mimic the window layout. This minimizes the appearance of extra vertical distractions. For instance, say you have 3 or more windows mulled together. You want to try to place the shutters where the vertical members of the shutter line up with the vertical mullions of the windows. This will give you the cleanest, most open view possible and will also provide for a more flattering appearance on the outside of the windows.
Let’s go back and look at our typical window again, a 72″ x 72″ (typically two 36″ x 72″ windows mulled together.) Many time clients think they want to have four shutter panels in an opening this size. This is based upon their assumption that they will open the shutters back regularly Wholesale Plantation Shutters. However, with a larger louver size, folding them back is not necessary for great visibility. And the larger the panel you can put in your window, the more unobstructed view you have. Take a look at these drawings showing that same window size, 72″ x 72″. Both drawings show the same louver size, but with 2 versus 4 panels in the opening.
panel-distribution
By choosing the four panel configuration you lose almost 8″ of your window that you could otherwise see through.
Of course, we always make what the customer wants, and if you are confident that you want to open you shutters back everyday, then the four panel configuration is probably the best layout for you. For opening shutters daily, a two shutter panel configuration would not work for most room layouts. Each shutter would have a 36″ swing when it opened. Even a 4 panel layout deserves some thought, as it would come into the room and need 18″ of wall space to fold against.
What this all comes back to is the importance of working with someone who is knowledgeable about the process, and can help guide you through the ins and outs of all these design decisions. The sales staff at goodwood makes giving you a great buying experience a priority. We want your shutters to look and function just the way you had imagined, and we take great care in making sure we provide that experience to each and every customer. Feel free to call us with your shutter design dilemmas and we will do everything in our power to find a great solution!
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