We have french doors in the kitchen and have the hideous vertical blinds for lack of anything else. We like to close them at night for privacy and during the day while we're at work for security. DH hates curtains, and the cats tug on them from when I had my old house. I really like those Hunter Douglas panels! We will need to replace the french doors mabye next summer since they are starting to have some issues due to age. I think those with the blinds in them is probably the way to go. Now to convince DH.

I don't think I've ever seen a french door that the wooden parts of it weren't solid wood. So, I don't think having a solid surface to mount hardware will be a problem. Oilpainter is right that the shade will bang when it's opened or closed. Only you can decide if this is a major drawback. Go check out mounting hardware to see how the different styles are mounted and how the shade has to be constructed to conform to a mounting style that suits you. There is something out there for almost anything you want to do. Believe me. You're not the only one to ever have this problem. Unless the door is opened and closed a million times a day, I would much rather have a banging shade to a drape that impedes the door opening or that would have to be drawn or pulled back to use the door.

Didn’t realize that the blinds were old and damaged; they look good in the photo. I don’t think one Roman shade is the best idea for a slider because if it down you can’t use the door. On my slider, which is 12’ wide, I spend the money on a Hunter Douglas accordion shade (black out because it is in the bedroom) and opens in the middle. The stack back on each side is about 7” at the most. It has a track cover and could easily be covered by a valance and them have a stationary panel on each side, covering the stack back ( panel of 54” wide finished edge would be enough for each side). Move over to the window…do the same valance, hung at the same height, You can decide which makes the most $ sense…having a rod under the valance with two panels, each wide enough draw for privacy, or having a duette pulled up under the valance and two stationary panels on either side.

Becky - don't know if you remember my room and link from up-thread but I've continued to follow your situation and thought I'd give you an update on mine since we have similar large, private settings and goals for views. Much as I love roman shades whether fabric or some kind of woven wood/bamboo, I just didn't want to cover up that much glass with the stack height. We did a test run with a textured roller shade on 2 windows in our living room. That way if we hated them it wasn't an investment in every window and we'd keep looking. Here's what we have, a roller shade behind a cassette. You can see the texture, it's not room darkening but offers excellent light/glare control and privacy. When they're open, they are very unobtrusive and leave the glass bare. The cassettes aren't invisible but if you match your wood they will disappear as much as anything can. Mine are in between my wall and my wood color so they have a bit of warmth to them. We are probably going to use these throughout the house where we need light control. Some of those windows may get additional decoration with curtains, and that's an opportunity to add some pattern and color. Personally, I don't think these have a modern look or really any definitive style look because I chose a neutral to basically disappear. If you chose a wood tone or a color of course they will be a focal point and that to me is where the clean lined modern look comes in. But as a first layer with curtains or even on their own matched to your wood, IMO they can work with any home or decorating style. Hope that helps. It's a tough decision and a lot of money, that's for sure!