"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¡å, 3 1/2¡å and 4 1/2¡å, 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 ¡ª 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¡å x 72¡å; the
only thing that changes is the size of the louver.
louver-options-open
Now to be frank, most people choose 3 1/2¡å louvers. However, I can
make a case for the larger 4 1/2¡å 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¡å x 72¡å
(typically two 36¡å x 72¡å 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¡å x 72¡å. 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¡å 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¡å swing when it
opened. Even a 4 panel layout deserves some thought, as it would come
into the room and need 18¡å 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!
"
