Blinds and awnings are ideal furnishings for your doors and windows when you want to keep the sunlight from entering your home. Apart from adding functional value, they also bring decorative appeal to the space with their colours, styles and materials. If you're planning to install outdoor blinds on your sliding patio doors, follow these considerations for making the right choices.

Go Vertical For Better Freedom Of Movement

While you have the choice between horizontal and vertical slats for your patio's outdoor blinds, it's always ideal to go vertical. This is because sliding doors open sideways and vertical slats follow the same opening function. Choosing horizontal blinds will make it difficult for you to move in and out through the door because they open and shut in the up and down direction, which will get in the way of your free movement. With vertical blinds, the slats simply need to be moved to one side in the same direction as your sliding patio doors, making them a seamless choice. 

Choose A Weather-Resilient Material

If you're planning to mount your patio door blinds outdoors, then you should ideally choose a weather-resistant material that can easily withstand natural elements like wind and rain. You'll also want the material to be heavier because flimsy materials will sway dramatically in high winds and will easily fall off the brackets. Materials like canvas, high-quality PVC and outdoor-quality block-out blinds are ideal choices because they are water-resistant, durable and heavy, so they won't get damaged easily in extreme conditions. You'll ideally want to avoid fabric blinds because they are not resistant to water and will stain easily during heavy rain. Fabric blinds are best suited to indoor windows.

Choose Custom Fittings For Improving Blind Shelf Life

Outdoor blinds for patio doors require some important custom features, giving them to opportunity to fit snugly against your door. Every patio door will come with a handle for sliding the door open and ill-fitting blinds will get in the way of operating the door. Your outdoor vertical blinds should be customised to fit snugly on the door behind the handle –– leaving the handle uncovered for seamless operation. This will also enhance the shelf life of your outdoor blinds because people won't need to constantly interfere with them when trying to open or shut the door. You can also protect your blinds by installing hold down brackets at the bottom of your door to hold the blind in place. This will come in handy when it rains heavily or is too windy.

Follow these considerations when installing outdoor blinds for your sliding patio doors.

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