No-Drill French Door Shades & Blinds

French doors are the one place many people would rather not drill. The door may be new or expensive, the flat stile around the glass is narrow, and a rental lease can rule out fixings altogether. No-drill French door shades and blinds start from that constraint. On our cellular line a no-drill mount is offered as a $20 add-on per shade, so the shade goes up without new holes in the door. Every shade here is made to measure for the glass on each door and shipped direct to you.

Why this page is cellular only

The no-drill mount is a cellular option, so this collection carries the two cellular shades we build and nothing else. Light filtering cellular is the everyday choice on a door to a patio or a garden: it softens daylight, screens the view in, and keeps the room bright. Blackout cellular is for a bedroom door onto a balcony, or any door where a porch light or a street lamp shines straight through the glass at night.

Both can be built top down bottom up, which suits a door better than you might expect. Lower the top rail for daylight and sky while the bottom rail stays down, and the lower glass, the part people actually see through from outside, stays covered.

A design note for a pair of doors: treat the two shades as one piece. Choose the same fabric and color on both, set them to the same height when lowered, and pick a color close to the door paint. A white or off-white shade on a white painted door almost disappears when raised, and the doors keep their clean lines.

Sizes that fit French door glass

French door glass is usually tall and fairly narrow, so the minimum width and the lift type matter more than the maximum. A cordless cellular shade builds from 12 inches wide and 12 inches high and reaches 94 by 94 inches, which comfortably covers the glass on a typical French door. Cordless is also the natural fit on a door, with no chain to swing as the door moves or to catch on the handle.

The other lifts are tighter on narrow glass. A bead chain lift needs at least 18 inches of width, and a motorized shade needs 23 inches and stops at 79 inches of drop. On slim door panels, cordless is often the only practical choice.

Top down bottom up cordless builds from 12 inches wide and as little as 8 inches high, up to 98 inches wide and 94 inches high, so it fits the same glass as the standard version.

Measuring each door

Measure each door on its own, even on a matched pair, and measure the glass you want covered rather than the whole door. Note where the handle sits relative to the glass, because the shade has to clear it every time the door swings, and on a pair the handles usually sit on opposite sides.

If the shade will sit within a recess around the glass, take 1/4 inch off the measured width so it clears the frame. If it will sit on the face of the door over the glass, the usual allowance is about 3 7/8 inches added to width and height so the shade overlaps the glass and blocks light at the edges. Where the stile is too narrow for that, keeping closer to the exact glass size is acceptable; you trade a little light at the edges for a fit that stays clear of the hinges and handle.

Before you order, check that the door gives the shade a flat area around the glass and enough clearance from the handle. Then send us the glass size for each door, where the handle sits, and whether you want light filtering or blackout, and we will make each shade to fit.