Vertical Blinds & Shades for Privacy

A sliding glass door or a long run of glass facing a street, a neighbor or a shared courtyard is where privacy gets hard. The opening is wide, you use it every day, and whatever covers it has to close off the view in without darkening the room at noon. This page starts with vertical blinds and sets them beside the shades that solve the same problem another way.

Vertical blinds and the privacy shades to compare

Vertical blinds lead this page. They are the like-for-like swap for the verticals on many patio doors. You choose the size and configuration for each opening on the product page, and every blind is made to the measurements you send.

Light filtering roller shades are the daytime privacy answer. One panel of fabric closes the sightline in while daylight still comes through. Our light filtering roller fabrics run from about 45% to 70% shading depending on the series.

Blackout roller shades are the answer when the problem is after dark, when your room is the lit one. Our blackout roller fabrics are specified at 100% blackout, so there is no view through them in either direction at any hour.

Solar shades suit glass that takes hard sun. The fabric comes in set openness levels: a 1% screen is rated at 80% shading, 3% at 70% and 5% at 60%. Order solar samples in 1%, 3% and 5% to compare them against your own glass, in daylight and again at night with the lights on.

Zebra shades round out the page for a window beside the door where you want something softer than a blind but more adjustable than a single panel.

A design note: on a wide door, a pale color close to the wall lets the covering read as part of the wall, and using the same color on neighboring windows makes the whole wall look planned.

Widths, fabrics and lift options for wide glass

Size limits and configuration options for our vertical blinds are set on the product page as you build the blind. If a door is unusually wide or tall, send us the measurements and we will confirm what can be made.

For roller and solar shades, width is the number that matters on a slider. On our standard squared cassette, light filtering roller shades reach 98 3/8 inches wide and 137 3/4 inches high. Blackout and sunscreen fabrics are milled on narrower rolls, so they stop at 94 1/2 inches wide and 118 inches high. When a fabric roll is narrower than the system, the fabric sets the maximum, and any roller shade over 100 inches high moves to a larger tube and a larger cassette.

Lift choice changes the minimum width. On that cassette a cordless roller shade needs at least 23 5/8 inches, a motorized one 20 1/8 inches and a clutch loop 11 3/4 inches. Cordless leaves no loose cords, worth choosing in a home with children or pets. If a door handle sits close to the glass, a reverse roll hangs the fabric off the front of the tube to clear it.

Measuring and installing them yourself

Decide first whether the covering sits inside the frame or on the wall above it. On a slider, mounting above the frame is the usual choice because it clears the handle and the track. Measure the width at the top, middle and bottom and the height on both sides, and send us the exact opening rather than taking anything off yourself.

Roller and solar shades hang on a cassette bracket. Drill with a 6 mm bit and fix each bracket through at least two of its four pre-drilled holes on opposite sides, using all four above a door, with the anchor that matches your wall. Hook the valance groove onto the bracket latch, press back until it clicks, and check that the top and rear are both locked.

Privacy on wide glass comes down to which hours bother you and how often you open the door. Order samples to see them in your own light, then send your sizes and we will make each one to measure and ship it direct to your door.