Nancy and Others: I have also been researching what to replace my great room sliding glass doors with (one 6 ft wide and two 9 ft wide). Here it is, already December and I haven't made a decision! We bought the house in 06 and these are the orig that came with the house. I spent last winter stuffing kitchen towels in between the sliders with a spatula. Not the most attractive thing for the room company walks into. Originally, I thought of going with french doors but the prices quoted were so outrageous and since we don't plan on staying here more than 3 or 4 more years (as it is, we'd take a bath if we sold now with home prices as low as they are now and we wouldn't be able to get what we paid for it), I don't know if it would be wise to invest that much money. I'd been thinking of going the sliding door route once more. Someone above said french doors are tighter than sliders and thoughts of all those kitchen towels between the sliders last winter have me shifting back to french doors. I also want the blinds for the same reason you do....five dogs (3 pugs and 2 shi tzus). One thing I've learned talking to people at Home Depot and Lowes....the town I live in won't sign off on french doors that swing out. In the south, like Florida, they are preferred because of hurricanes pushing open doors that swing in, however, they are not permitted here. I assume it has something to do with snow and ice on the outside preventing exit in case of an emergency. I guess your posting was a couple of years ago so it may be too late to say to check with your building dept first. I'm curious to hear what you installed and how happy you are with it. Daisy

We have sliding doors downstairs with the same recess you describe. When we moved in, there were rods near the ceiling that extended across and beyond the recess on each side, so the draperies pulled back to where the wall met the recess. It worked fine and looked great. I need to replace them now because we put up drywall in place of the old cheap paneling that was there and everything was taken down then. So, that was a long way of saying, you're right. It will look fine! No worries.

I spot your sister's trio of art next to your back door! They look fantastic there! (Did I suggest that? Or did I just think that was the right spot for them?) I still see Timothy's post. Maybe they vetted him and he proved he wasn't a spammer. That would be nice. We've had a rash of new posters who've come in and done nothing more than pitch a link on multiple threads. I reported on spammer who did that about a week back and the posts are now gone.

You will love the function and the high end look you will achieve...if you like the look of rings some come with that accent too!....check out Halfpricedrapes.com for your drapery linen panels...they offer readymade in many lengths and some can be ordered in custom sizes...also will send you free samples I think up to ten free.