The stack is how many inches when bundled tight?

I used solar shades under a valance for my extra wide sliding doors in my last house. You would have to use the black-out thickness to keep people from seeing in at night. The negative would be that you cannot open the door without rolling up the shades.

Yes I was going to do roller shades, but then it defeats the purpose of the sliding glass door as I have a dog and use them very often. I think vertiglide might be the way to go but I don't like that it has to bundle which blocks the water view

Here's what I did in my office. We took down vertical blinds and put up a long rod with drapes that slide aside. There are three panels. Two slide to the left and one slides to the right.

Just make sure you get a metal rod. We originally had a thick wooden rod but the loops wouldn't slide so I had to get a thin metal rod. Now it slides right out of the way. It keeps out the draft in winter and the heat of the sun in summer. Nobody can see in either. They are lined drapes.

I like the Hunter Douglas Luminette blinds:

We have an 8' wide patio door in our bedroom, we have a double rod with sheers underneath and drape panels with grommets in front. In the office we have a 6' patio door and the sun gets hot on that side we have a single rod with Ikea panels with the clip-on rings. Use grommet tops or rings to make them slide easily.

Sooo...people can see in?? what are they going to see??
You say all have views of the water? Are you afraid boaters will see you eating and watching TV and reading?
I suggest you re-think why you need the window coverings.

I am renting an apartment with 3 sliding patio doors. I am leaving the vertical blinds up since I am renting but I am hanging drapes at every window to disguise those vertical drapes. I do not have a view. If you have a view you can hang drapes that open from one side to the other. Good luck!

Plantation shutters that bypass and hang from a track on the ceiling.

I am not the poster, however I really like the look of those privacy sheers by hunter douglas. Their website shows some nice options and it looks like they stack well when opened.

I was not able to get any idea on the price range. Does anyone have an idea of the cost for 8' sliding glass doors?

I'm not there to measure right now, but I'd guess the stack is no more than 2 inches. Also, when I pull them close there is a magnet that catches so they don't come open unless you want them to. They can also be stopped anywhere along the track. Mine are a soft white.

Hi MS222. Our sliding glass door is eight-foot wide onto the back deck. We use two shoji screens of undecorated rice paper. They provide privacy after dark, can be folded up during the day, and add "sun relief" on very bright days.

Shoji panels come in different thicknesses of rice paper, if memory serves me correctly. Some are udecorated, some are ornately painted or embroidered. I was amazed by the embroidered rice paper! There are also bamboo fabric panels.

My mother uses "wall paper for windows" on one of her SGDs from their DR opening out into an unfenced back yard (what she calls a park-like setting). In some way you can see out but not in... Not familiar enough with it on a daily basis. She's in Fla. I'm in Va.

My MIL had double-hung draperies over sheers that pulled to the side. She'd open the draperies and leave the sheers in place. She lived in an active adult community of fairly close spaced houses. This gave her privacy from all of the bikers, walkers, and window-shoppers ambling by 'round the clock.

What is your decor? Maybe knowing that would spark others creative minds, too.

p.s. We all have (had in MILs case GRHS) dogs of various sizes. Our Labbies are very respectful of the shoji screens. The cats after knocking one over once learn not to do it again. And the dogs learn from the cats' mistakes ;-)

When I had my last house, I looked at the custom made window treatments like the luminatte blinds, but they were out of my price range.....so I put up vertical blinds, got some very wide sheers (had to sew two together also), put velcro on the top of the blinds, and attached the sheers with the other side of the velcro (make sure to allow enough room for them to open and close), and put the two together....then I put a cornace valance over the top and they looked great.....many good comments on them and no one really knew how inexpensive they were.

To answer the person asking why I need them for privacy. I need them because I live on a saltwater canal where over 4-5 neighbors can be looking in at night, and also in my neighborhood many people walk by my house at night with their dogs etc. I don't want people looking right into my master bedroom.

My decor is contemporary so I want a clean look, thats why I'm not a huge fan of an outside mounted rod with drapes. The plantation shutters are interesting but won't go with my decor and are very expensive.

Shoji screen isn't an option for me. My main goal is to have as much convenience as possible.

I want to be able to see out perfectly during the day and basically have complete privacy at night, while having a clean look, and easy functionality to use the sliding glass doors. I was going to get roller shades, but that means at night when I have them down, I will need to roll them up just to be able to use the sliding glass door. However that still may be an option.

Seems like cellular roller shades and or the vertiglide may be the best choice here for me, unless there are other suggestions.

I have heard of sleek panels that provide night privacy on a track that you can move to the side that look contemporary, I just don't know where to find them.

Ms, we're going through the same thing for our 1 set of patio doors. I want a more modern look then draperies and don't like the look of verticals.

We are considering Levolor Perceptions. They are similar to the Hunter Douglas product, but less expensive then HD. The only problem is they all are spendy. For our 80 x 84 patio door, the Levolor runs about $900-$1000. We were told the Hunter Douglas is about double the price of Levolor. Bali also makes a similar product called Sheer Enchantment which is priced closer to Levolor, but we found those pretty clunky looking.

I have no idea what it would cost, but there are doors that have the blinds built right between the panes of glass. It seems that would be a sleek alternative to drapes or vertical blinds for you.

For our sliders, we also used drapes on rings. They were easy to close at night. We stacked them outside the doors.

I'm afraid I don't have a close up picture, as we recently moved. But you can get the idea here:

ikea has an inexpensive panel and track system.

We haven't bought them yet but I did a Photoshop mockup of grommet top drapes with our sliding glass door.

Jodi-

They also make glass that turns opaque at a flick of the switch. Apparently it is available for doors. Below is a UK website that shows the doors. I don't know how to paste the picture on this site, or if it is allowed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Example-Picture of doors

Housefairy I vaguely remember reading about that glass. I think it's a gas that is between the glass?

Sameboat, yes the gas is activated by the electrical current. So I don't know if it can be retrofitted or if you would have to install a new door. A good window contractor would know the answer. They have had it for some time for windows, but it looks like they also have it for doors. I think it's a great idea.

You can also hang shoji screens from a ceiling track and that would be very easy and interesting.