Solar screen on the outside. I'm in coastal NC and we have screens specifically for summer made of this material. We swap out the screens in winter when we welcome the warmth of the sun. Makes a BIG difference. Our window guy explained that if you put it on the outside the window doesn't have a chance to heat up. Any of the big box stores sell it. https://www.google.com/search?q=solar+screens&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

This photo is pretty bad from a cell phone and there was too much light coming in thru the windows but hopefully you'll get the idea. Our doors aren't sliders; the 2 panels on the right are fixed and the one on the left is a door that opens to the right. There is a gas fireplace to the left of the doors, so we had to take that small space into consideration too. The side panels are tone-on-tone pinch-pleated sheers with an embroidered design with striped fabric as on the chairs. There is a cool rod they are on. The shades also have a shell trim on the bottom that you can't see. I took the picture right after I got the table and chairs and have since added 2 big throw pillows in he stripe fabric, big wall art over the sofa and behind the table so it looks more put together.

In my more formal rooms, I have drapes that just barely rest on the floor (maybe 1/2" on the floor). For my sliding door, I swapped out vertical blinds for grommet drapes. In this case, I installed the drapes so they just skim over the floor. I find them easier to open. It also may depend on how much you open and close the drapes. We like to keep them closed at night and in the winter, but the sliding door is also used a lot to let the dog outside and back in. So there is a lot of opening and closing of the grommet drapes and I would not want them puddling.

Thanks everyone! I did consider both slider plantation shutters and replacing with French doors. With the slider, I was worried in our small space it would be too shutter heavy. I don’t love the sliding door, and French doors would look so much better - we are just contemplating how much money we want to invest in a place that isn’t our forever home. We have already replaced all the flooring and countertops, and repainted the entire home top to bottom. The shutters will be another big chunk of change, but the vertical blinds and old wood blinds have to go! :)