We have 3 rooms that have 12ft openings with 8ft sliding doors. The glass is in four equal sections (panels) and the center two both open over the outside two (stationary) panels. They are wood inside with aluminum clad on the outside. We have two other openings of this size that have french doors and side windows. We really like the sliding doors. They are big but easy to open and close (we are in our mid 50s)and the screens are great to have (we are on a golf course so there are critters). We built the house and have been in about two years. It is a very old world Mediterranean style with 10ft ceilings and 8ft doors and window headers. We did not do any transoms though they look great - it is just a different look. DH really liked the idea of 8ft doors and it did come out nice. People seem to notice the doors (interior and exterior) and we get a lot of complements.

Hi AnnieDeighnaugh, thanks for the links, will check them out. Hi lepages, thanks, I am thinking the roman shades are a good choice for the french door. Hi sweet-tea, thanks for the links, the roman shades look great. Hi sasafras, thanks I'd like to leave them blank but to conserve energy I'd like to add something to save on heat loss in winter and to block the direct sunlight in the window which faces west, the french door faces south but there is a covered porch there and we are way up on a hill so I doubt anyone can see in unless they have a telescope, lol

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When you opened the door, the blinds would move, but it never bothered me. Before we moved in, the previous owners had hung mini-blinds, and there were hooks near the bottom to hold it in place. When we first moved in, I replaced the mini blinds with a roman shade, made by me. And I never used the hooks. When we renovated the kitchen 10 years later, we ended up replacing the door, and I didn't put hooks on the new door. This is when we put the faux wood blinds on. I don't think they swayed all that much because there was support behind them as it was moving. And we never swung the door hard enough to get a good force on the blind. And the trim around the glass sat proud a 1/4" or so, and the blind was slightly wider than the window, so the blinds never touched the glass. Thanks for the compliment on the BS. I had planned to just do white as we were already talking about moving. DH wanted orange. I came up with this "random" pattern to give him his orange without being solid orange. SIL is the only person who ever commented negatively on it, but it was enough to make me nervous when we put it on the market. But both realtors we interviewed also loved it. And the house sold in 2 days. So I guess it wasn't too crazy.