Drapes for sliders have been a genuine pain for me. For one, it would be best to have a single wide panel. These are not readily available in good variety. So I have a pair of panels that both draw to the left. They are pinch pleats hung on a traverse rod with rings, and the stack back is 42"!!!. Do you have that much wall space on the stationary side of your slider? If not, you will be blocking the light even when the drapes are open. If you don't get the blinds will you be forced into a decorating decision due to the need for privacy or a dislike of black glass at night? I'd rather not be forced into choosing fabric before I'm ready. I'd get the blinds. Also, I like to layer windows, but it's hard to layer a sliding glass door. With the built-in blinds you have a built-in first layer. You didn't ask, but if I had a choice between french doors and a sliding doors I'd take the french door in a heartbeat. A center opening is so much easier to work with, and you can attach sheers or blinds directly to the doors, which really opens up the options.

Parma, I love your WT, so pretty! Kismet, do you sew? Or have you found a good site for ready mades? Or do you want to hire custom mades? I think I would cover the windows to either side of the slider with the same drapes IF those windows are quite close. But that might require a very special custom made rod and HUGE curtains. To get your drapes/curtains to clear your slider, you just have to mount the rod so it's several inches wider than your window, allowing room to pull the drapes clear back off the windows. Maybe there is room for drapes to gather up opened between your slider and the windows? Another choice is to use some type of blinds (Roman, Balloon, Austrian, etc) that pull down from the top. That could look very pretty. The windows could also be grouped all together with one valance, again if they're close. Hard to advise without seeing a picture. Can you post one?

There isn’t enough room for you to stack back all that fabric. Consider a treatment like this Roman shade from etsy.com. Installed on one rod, each panel can be raised or lowered as needed. What I do suggest is you have the panels lined . Don’t dismiss continuing the shutter look…from Hunter Douglas...

If this is to be a retirement home for the two of you, focus on creating a one bedroom home downstairs and make sure you are able to close off any upstairs or attic guest rooms to control heat exchange -- save on heating and cooling cost and potential for clutter and cleaning issues. If your garage is going to be 26'or28' of the 42' width permitted on the front road side of the house, put the garage on the limited window side of the house. Have a living* room behind your porch and an entry (entry that can be closed off from the rest of the house with a glass wall and French Door or sliding door) alongside that garage with the entry from the garage into the house within same front entry (space saving) -- and put your stairs in that front entry as well, adding another French Door to be able to close off the stairwell from the rest of the entry to save on heat/ac when upstairs/attic is not in use. Put the kitchen behind the back wall of the garage -- more cabinet wall on windowless wall -- and use high windows above shorter / lower easier to reach overhead cabinets, except, if possible, over the kitchen sink -- put a traditional window there. Behind the living* room, you'll want a hallway beside the kitchen. Behind the kitchen, create a family* room kitchen with both dining and sitting area that extends all the way to the back wall of the house -- except, build a closet or small storage room at the back CORNER of that family room. Building only a closet on that corner could create the "room" needed to block the neighbor's view of your patio from that kitchen/ family room side of the house to create the privacy for at the back of the house, yet still leave the patio large/wider than if between two actual full width rooms, thus letting in more light to your family room sitting area. Also, If you make your bedroom elongated -- longer front to back rather than wider -- that, too, could make your patio larger/wider (as well as make your family room sitting area wider) and let more light into your family room sitting area -- where I suspect the two of you will be spending most of your time anyway. On the living* room side of the house, behind the living* room and across from the island between kitchen and family room, create a square hallway with a door to close the hallway off from the kitchen/family room areas. From that square hallway ... have a door that leads toward the back of the house into your master bedroom, have a door that leads toward the side of the house and into a large walk in closet, and have a door that leads toward the front of the house into a bathroom with a high window. The reason I put an " * " beside living* room each time is because, with well placed recessed lighting rather than a central overhead light fixture, you could actually use that front living* room as your large formal dining room area. If possible, use the high windows where you cannot have a standard window. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/167970261073723332/ OR see if you can be permitted to create a bump out for a modified bay window with the larger center portion of the bay be solid -- for art -- and have narrow windows that open and close in the sides of the modified bay window ... each facing front and back rather toward your neighbors on either side of your home. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/496310821404734990/ https://www.google.com/search?q=square+bump+out+bay+window&client=firefox-b-1-d&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=KZbqRoZ5mvXeXM%252CRZ1bU2OJzUOxBM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kQ9rJciHuSvHa90gXhXpSgPLElcfQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjK28f4x_TwAhW_EVkFHWABA5wQ9QF6BAgKEAE#imgrc=KZbqRoZ5mvXeXM&imgdii=HZ5HelmzkhSQQM https://www.google.com/search?q=square+bump+out+bay+window&client=firefox-b-1-d&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=KZbqRoZ5mvXeXM%252CRZ1bU2OJzUOxBM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kQ9rJciHuSvHa90gXhXpSgPLElcfQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjK28f4x_TwAhW_EVkFHWABA5wQ9QF6BAgKEAE#imgrc=KZbqRoZ5mvXeXM