Get A New Handle On Covering
Patio Doors!
A Recent Product Development Offers
A Great New Way To Cover Patio Doors
With Horizontally Oriented Products

It's just the way it is —you cover windows with horizontally oriented blinds and shades, but you cover patio doors with vertical blinds or other vertically oriented products —right?   That's the traditional thinking, but things are changing.  Your customers have probably asked you about keeping a more consistent look between windows and doors, but it just hasn't been practical.  Until recently, it was best to try to coordinate unmatched products.  But now there is a new solution that will give you great results with completely matching products throughout the room.

Why Are Verticals Popular On Patio Doors?
The biggest problem with using horizontally oriented products has been the stack.  On an door with a height of 84", for example, a two-inch wood blind pulled up tightly to the top takes 10¼ to 12 inches to stack.  On a on-inch wood blind, the stack at the top is nearly 19 inches. This means you must either mount the product higher, or leave it so that people of average height would have to duck to get through the doorway.  Many doorways simply don't have the room to install the blinds 12" above.  Of course if you add to the height of the blind, you also will be adding to the stack, so by changing the height of a wood blind to 96" for an 84" tall door, the stack height has also increased considerably, so tall people may still be bumping their heads on the blinds bottom rail to go through such a doorway.  The other big problem has been cords, which, for doorways, puddle up on the floor and may tend to get twisted and even knotted up in day to day use.

Because of problems like these, vertical blinds became the solution for patio doors and have remained so.  Other vertically oriented products that also do a great job include, Duette^® Vertiglide^®, Luminette^® Privacy Sheers^®.  These products offer function at the window and move the stack to the side of the window, rather than the top.  But what if there were a way to eliminate the stack instead of moving it?

There's a great new application for patio doors that does just that --A horizontally oriented product that looks the same on windows and doors, eliminates the stack, with no cord puddling.  It's the new two-on-one headrail option of Silhouette^® window shadings.

How does it stack up against verticals?
Completely.
Like all Silhouette shadings, the two-on-one-headrail version of the product disappears completely into the discrete headrail when the shadings are pulled all the way to the top.  Better still with Silhouette shadings in other windows in the same room, there is no compromise in design between horizontal and vertical lines. There is also no compromise of vane size, the vanes on the windows and the vanes on the door are the same.  There is also no compromise in color, since you are using the same product for windows and doors.  A single tensioned cord at each side controls each of the shadings independently.  It's the perfect way to get the completely unified design your customers are seeking. 

From a sales perspective --consider starting with a Silhouette shading as the perfect solution for a whole room, including the patio door and all of the rest of the windows in the room. You may be surprised at the pricing.  It's right in line with the pricing of Duette Vertiglide and similarly priced to higher end fabric vertical blinds.  Silhouette Shadings also have great solutions for sidelight windows, French doors, angled windows and arches.