If you can sew, and these types of curtains are easy, you can do a top rod/bottom rod style curtain in the print of your choice. Otherwise the styles and colors offered retail are rather limited. Also consider Romans.

Here is a link that might be useful: How To for French Door Curtains

Ok- I know exactly what you can do. My friend has french doors very similar to yours and has done a beautiful curtains and a valance. I would hang the valance way above your doors. The panels can go on either side of the doors- one where I think you have a clock hanging. Then you can pull the panels out when needed or scrunch them up during the day. Hers are on rings and a rod. You could pick beautiful fabric for the panels and complimentary fabric for the valance with trim on the valance. It will truly warm up your room! I will try to post a picture for you.

Roman shades would be great for a "man cave"
{{!gwi}}

My idea is a little different. I would put nice curtain rods above each door with rings on them (which you buy separately). I would buy one wide panel for each door which you can move to the far side when not in use and which are wide enough that you can pull them all the way across at night for privacy. I would not do a valance because this rooms seems too masculine for that. I would also get pillows in the same shade as the curtains for the couch and chair. I would but a large pottery bowl and perhaps also put some books on the coffee table to take away the starkness and to give added color and warmth. Use the colors you love and that speak to you. The curtains could be solid or could have a pattern. Try not to have the curtain colors too dark; you want them to blend in and not take emphasis away from the French doors and the rest of the room. Penney's and Country Curtains are good on-line sites to search for what you need. I think once you have window treatments you love you'll have the momentum to go on to your next project. It's always worked that way for me.

We put golden oak (honey-colored) mini wood-blinds on our french doors and they look beautiful. Very easy to take care of.

gracie 2006, when you say "hang the valance way above your doors" do you mean close to the ceiling rather than halfway between the door and ceiling? I am assuming that the valance has to be totally above the doors so that the doors can be opened and closed without interference. I hope you have a chance to post that picture. Thanks in advance.

We had the same configutation on our previous home. We treated the doors as one unit. A decorative rod was hung about 12" above the doors with the curtains meeting in the middle. When they were open the stackback went to the side walls and didn't obstruct entry or exit. Do you have enough wall space on either side of the doors to accomodate the stackback?

Hi all--thanks for all of the thoughts. But, here I go again, feeling this inertia just reading the answers. So, what I am going to do is explore one idea at a time starting with the last--then I'll come back to the other ideas.

Mona's idea: I have plenty of room on the sides. So a couple of questions to start.

1. How do you go about getting a rod that wide and how do you support a rod that wide? Can anyone suggest a specific website and maybe even a specific rod/rods?

2. Can you use the clip on rings with panels? I really like that look.

3. Do panels come wide enough to cover that amount of space? Typically, How many panels would I need? Specific website suggestions would be apprecitated.

4. If it took a lot of panels, would they need to be sewn together to look right?

TIA.

Please ignore all the stuff I had on the tables and shelves. This is when I was in the "more is better" frame of mind.

I wish I had a better picture, but this is all I have. The rod was certainly substantial and strong enough to hold the curtains. There was a center support between the doors and it did hold the rod securely. The pleated curtains did have rings along with a draw string pull at the sides.

Before we installed the rods, we cut away the drywall and inserted solid pieces of wood above the door frames. That way the rods were anchored into something solid and not just drywall. In 14 years we never had a problem with the heavy drapes pulling the rods out of the wall.

Again, please ignore the decorating in our old Master BR...it was from another time in my life. I don't know why I left the curtains so short. However, you get a better look of the rings and the rod in this picture.

I like Mona's idea a lot, and would use curtains to blend with the wall or be a couple shades darker, and large dark wood poles -- big chunky ones, for masculinity.

Also agree with Ingrid (am not sure her curtain idea is exactly like Mona's) -- but especially what Ingrid says about putting some large warm things on that black table, etc. the table seems a little small for the big sofa (which is very nice) and I think a large bowl of fruit (or something chunky) would really serve to beef it up.

What you've got going so far is good, it just needs some personality. Don't worry about self doubt. That's a chronic decorating problem. You have within you what you need and if you think your decorator is only giving you HER taste, maybe you should find one who is more in tune with you.

Hi, Red,
Your room has great doors. I'm posting a couple inspiration pictures of a room that has a couple door areas similar to yours. The pictures show how the curtain panels could be stacked on both ends and in the middle between the doors as an option--the look really warms up the room. I think you may find that you'll have studs in the places you need or can just use wall anchors to screw into when placing your brackets so shouldn't have to rip out sheetrock to hang the brackets. You can also search the JCP or other store websites for curtain rods. When the rods are long, they'll usually have an extra support bracket. The rods come in up to 10' lengths, but you might have to use still use two and join them at a support bracket. Hope this visual helps.

{{!gwi}}
{{!gwi}}

The link below is just one idea for a panel. And yes, if it were me, if the panels weren't wide enough and I had to use more than one, I think I'd sew them together (but I sew).

Here is a link that might be useful: Paisley panels at JCP

Here's another panel with a more contemporary look--not sure which you're going for.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue/brown circle panels at JCP

You could do either a hazy-patterned or a stained glass window look film on your glass panes in your door. It's inexpensive, easy to do, pretty, easy to clean, and you can change your mind at any time. There are window films at most hardware stores, and on eBay, and on the web.

You can have the drapes on one door pull to the left and the other to pull to the right, otherwise you don't have enough room for stacking the drapes between the two doors without blocking the doors.

On my French doors I used those short swing arm rods and hung panels using clips. They look great without overpowering the beautiful doors.

As suero suggested, one drape that pulled to the left, and the other rod hung pulling to the right, would be the best alternative. You would need two rods, one for each set of panels. The center wall where you have the clock would remain open as it is now. This would be the proper way to do that due to the swing of your french doors. There should be enough header space above each of those doors to anchor your screws directly into wood behind the sheetrock for the rod brackets, if not, use anchor bolts to attach the brackets.

red your french doors look like they might be steel? if they are you can use magnetic rods to fasten your panels to right on the door..you can buy the panels that fasten at the top and bottom and then they won't fly through the open door and get caught every time they are opened and closed..if not..if wood, you can fasten a rod at the top and at the bottom ..sheers or lace works really nice to let in just the right amount of light.

Great points about the way your doors swing, you'll need to definitely have them stack to the sides--or as some suggested, mount whatever WT you choose on the doors. I should have looked more carefully, but just quickly assumed they were center-open French, instead of opening as yours do. I've had panels before and actually prefer Roman shades mounted on the door, since then you don't have the problem of the panel getting in the way during windy times or when someone's in a hurry.