Window coverings for French doors are a problem -- that's one reason I much prefer the new gliding doors that have "the look" but function like sliding doors: No inswing, easier to cover with a curtain. I have French doors now and am not crazy about them. I have "roll up" fabric shades on each door. Then I have a curtain that can close across the whole door unit -- though we never close them. If I were starting this project from the beginning, I would choose gliding doors with blinds inside the door. I wouldn't worry over-much about these "interior blinds" breaking -- unless I had small children who might operate them roughly. This post was edited by MrsPete on Wed, Sep 24, 14 at 15:37

We changed our lever handles to round ones and it is better but we still have to open carefully or our hands will knock the blind out of track. We got the blinds without holes - i.e. the strings don't go through the slat, the slat just sits on the string with a little notch to hold it in place - also a nightmare the seller didn't tell us about. They are perfectly stable on the windows but not on the doors that we use often. I researched the extenders but they were expensive and I couldn't find one I was sure would fit our lever handles so we went with the new round ones. We also thought about cutting out a space for the lever but I just couldn't envision it looking right. Good luck; I'd love to hear what you come up with!

I;ve done this with standard roller shades before. I saved the spring loaded roller from old, torn shades. I cut fabric to fit the window opening, adding an inch to the side dimensions and a couple inches to the length. I turned in a tiny side hem and sewed it closed, but you could do the same with fabric glue if you don't sew. I made a pocket hem in the bottom for the wooden rod to go through and sewed that. Then I soaked all the fabric in a mixture of water and liquid starch to give it stiffness, and let it air dry. Once it was dry, I ironed out any wrinkles in the fabric. I attached the fabric to the spring loaded roller with a glue gun, and then rolled it up and hung it. Viola! New shades! Sorry, I don't have any pix of these shades, but they were easy to do.

Thought I'd update the information posted here over the past year. Here's the scoop on the Reliabilt products Lowes sells. The Reliabilt name is an exclusive name Lowes puts on their inhouse items sold in certain areas. The Reliabilt products are made by different manufacturers across the nation depending on the market you live in. Here in the Upper Midwest & across the Northern U.S. the Reliabilt doors & windows are built by Jeld-Wen. Lowes has specific guidelines manufacturers must follow when making products carrying the Reliabilt name. No matter where you live in the U.S. the different product manufacturers are suppose to build them all the same way. Just like everything else we buy it's just some make their products better than others. It all differs from market to market. The problems Johnny faced with his new door coming in the wrong size was probably related to a bad measure of the existing opening. One of the biggest problems in todays market is replacing an existing entry door with a Therma-Tru replacement. The standard door opening height since the cave days (just being funny) has been 82". Over the past few years some of the manufacturers out there, including Therma-Tru, decided they should change it to 82-1/2". This works fine for a new construction application but creates huge issues in the replacement industry. If you don't specify a unit height of 81-1/2", you'll be getting the 82". Some modifications will be in the cards on the day of installation. So make sure you specify your unit size or rough opening size when ordering replacement doors. As for French Styled Hinged Doors, I'm sold on Pellas new style just recently put on the market. Both doors operate and lock by using their individual levered handles. Both doors have 3-point locking functions and come from the factory ready to go. There's no field drilling for manual flushbolts in the head or sill because there's no manual flushbolts anymore. The doors have mounting plates pre-applied already set to the right locking position just by a slight lift of the handle. This makes the installation much easier on the installer when they can latch the doors shut from the start. The old doors had to be set in place and then drilled for bolts afterwards. This was always a royal pain in the rear making sure you drilled properly for each bolt to work without binding. Then you had to make sure both doors sealed when closed. This could always be very frustrating at times during the process. The new doors make it much easier to install & even offer the normal DIY'er the ability to install them with ease. If you haven't seen them check them out. They are a little more expensive than the competitors. It's just the nature of the beast. You can always negotiate your pricing no matter where you buy your wares. So always take the time to chisel the price down.