A Window of Opportunity – 6 Tips for Selecting the Perfect Door for Your Living Space

Finding the perfect door ultimately depends on your home’s design, your lifestyle and convenience. Maybe you want to merge the outdoor patio or deck area with your indoor living space, or perhaps you just want to change the ambience of your home’s interior.

There are several types of patio door styles from French to sliding and swinging that can serve as an attractive feature of your home. Regardless of what you decide, your newly installed doors will work wonders for contributing to the theme of your home’s décor, allowing a healthy dose of natural light in, showing your living space some love or opening up to a beautifully landscaped area. Here are 6 tips to consider when looking at your options for the perfect door.

1. To Swing or To Slide? 

Between the choice of patio doors, French doors, hinged doors and sliding doors it can be hard to determine what solution is best for your home. First, it’s important to know what features separates them from each other.

The primary difference between sliding doors and patio doors is that sliders glide and patio doors swing. Often, patio doors are referred to as French doors however the term ‘French door’ usually is a pair of glazed patio doors that hinge on opposite sides and meet in the middle. This creates the appeal of a larger and more luxurious entryway.

If you’re opting for swinging doors, make sure you consider the room factor. Since they need space to open you’ll want to determine if they will work best for your room. Furniture may need to be moved around so the door has room to swing open comfortably. If the space is too tight, a single swinging door or sliding doors would work better.

2. Dynamic Dressings 

Dressing your sliding or patio doors in a creative window treatment is crucial to enhance your existing décor and to offer the light and privacy control you desire. Your doors aren’t just limited to standard vertical blinds though; get inspired with decorative curtains and accessories to match.

The style of door you choose will also help to determine what window dressing will suit best. Panel glide blinds are ideal blinds for sliding doors because they are designed to retract to the side when they’re opened. Because they make use of the door frame to keep the fabric in position as the blinds are being used, they are much easier to use than standard blinds. Panel glide blinds allow natural light to enter the space without restricting your views and come in a variety of styles, colours and shades to reflect your style.

If space spacing is important, these styles of blinds are fantastic for their mechanisms. They are one of the few styles that stay flat when retracted against each other to provide homeowners with sleek, contemporary appeal. If you want to take the look to another level, consider combining panel glide blinds with roman blinds as they can work great together.

3. Material Choices 

Just like your home’s exterior, the material of your door is vital to the overall look and feel of your home. Be sure you choose something that is high in quality and complements your home’s style.

Opt for materials that are durable and easy to maintain, especially if you plan on using your door as a main entrance to your home or outdoor area. Aluminium, clad-wood, vinyl and fibreglass are weather proof and won’t need repainting. Whilst many homeowners don’t find steel as attractive as the elegant appeal of wood, it’s super sturdy and tends to be a less expensive option. If you’re unsure between wood and steel, choose clad-wood doors as they provide the benefits of wood doors with the minimal upkeep needed for metal doors.

4. The Door Design 

Again, the design of your door should complement the look and feel of you home so look for something that won’t clash with your current style. French sliding doors tend to offer more design options because you can select the door style, glass and accessories to boost its appeal.

Patio doors are fast becoming wider and taller and this makes your outdoor living space feel like a more natural extension of your home. If you like architectural inspired-charms or decorative glass, low-maintenance fibreglass can mimic the look of these classic styles without as much fuss.

5. Energy Efficiency Glass 

As you’re looking at door designs and materials, you’ll find many have energy star ratings attached – usually referred to as U-ratings. The general rule of thumb is the lower the U-rating the better energy efficiency is expected. Glass is a major component of your patio doors so you’re going to want to choose something with the most benefits and efficiency.

Even if you don’t give it much thought initially, energy efficiency is an important aspect in your home’s design. Low E-glass will help to keep your energy bills at a minimum and protect your indoor furniture and floor coverings from UV fading. With power bills on the rise, homes that are as energy efficient as possible will have significant savings. For added style and privacy, consider decorative tempered glass. To ensure your new doors are as energy efficient as possible, adding window dressings like blinds mentioned above will offer adequate protection.

6. Screens are a Must 

If your living space doors will be the joining point between outdoor and inside living, screens are a must. Large expanses of glass can be prone to bugs, dirt and grime especially in the summer months. Most sliding doors are available with a screen that slides along the track on both the top and bottom. This is effective for keeping your glass a little cleaner and most importantly – keeping the bugs and insects out of your home when you’re enjoying the fresh air.

Author Bio

This article is written by Jayde Ferguson, who writes for Super Blinds Mart– An online store offering panel glide blinds for glass doors. You can catch her on Google+.