9 Sliding Glass Door Window Treatment Ideas To Instantly Make Your Room Look Bigger

If you have a smaller home, adding sleek sliding glass doors to your outdoor space is already a huge help to make it feel bigger. This feature will bring a sense of visual continuity, significantly increase the amount of natural light, and save you floor and wall space by eliminating swinging doors. With that said, sliding glass doors can also make your space feel bigger, depending on how you decorate them. 

The right window treatment has the power to trick the eye and elongate the room, creating the illusion of higher ceilings. When it comes to sliding glass doors, you can opt for blinds, shades, curtains, or creative window covering hacks like privacy film and frosted glass. However, it's always important to consider how those choices affect the perception of space. Details like the length, rod and track height, pattern, color, and opacity of your window coverings can all play a role in making the room look bigger. Here are nine window treatment ideas for sliding glass doors that will open up your space instantly. 

A patterned window treatment is both a simple and easily accessible option if you don't fancy a big change. Whether you're on team curtains or team shades, striped fabric is a tried and true formula to create an optical illusion of height or width. Vertical stripes help with the former, while horizontal ones magnify the latter. Similarly, a clever design with a contrasting color or print on the upper half of the covering can also draw the eye upward. However, stick to subtle patterns and neutral colors to avoid overwhelming the space. 

Vertical blinds follow the same principal of a striped pattern with the added benefit of taking up less wall space than curtains and allowing a more balanced distribution of light throughout the space. This window treatment often gets a bad rap for looking cheap, flappy, and annoyingly dusty, but the market has heard these complaints loud and clear. These days, you're able to find vertical blind designs that are sturdier, wider, easier to clean, and offer fabric options that look much more modern and elegant. 

If you're wondering what length curtain you should use for a sliding glass door, the answer is quite intuitive. Shorter drapes on floor-to-ceiling glass doors create a disproportionate look that may make the room appear smaller. Curtains that "kiss" or graze the floor, or gather in a puddle-like heap are the two best options for enlarging the space. However, they may be inconvenient in high traffic areas as they can easily be soiled or stepped on, especially if the door leads to the backyard. Stick with curtains that hover just above the floor for a clean look.

Light is the ultimate tool to make interiors feel spacious. As mentioned, having sliding glass doors to begin with is half the job done, but you can enhance the airiness by opting for window treatments in soft neutral colors that reflect light. Whites and creams are obvious options, but you can play with the light that shines through your windows, too. West-facing windows get warm afternoon sun that gels beautifully with pale reds and pinks, while the early morning glow that washes eastbound homes works best with soft greens and blues.

In the same vein as color, fabric density also affects the amount of light entering a space, and, therefore, how big it feels. For more compact rooms, sheer and semi-sheer fabrics like batiste, chiffon, and tulle are ideal. Not only do they let more light in, but they're also a lot subtler than thicker curtains. When you have a small room, you don't want the decor to look too busy. Soft, translucent curtains will make your sliding glass doors look put-together without overwhelming the space. Opt for semi-sheer if privacy is a concern.

With all the inconspicuousness of light colors and sheer fabrics, you might be craving a little panache. A great way to achieve that without compromising on roominess is to go all out on the hardware. An eye-popping curtain rod in a contrasting dark color with stylish finials will attract attention to the ceiling, creating a sense of height. More than just purely functional, this piece serves a decorative purpose, and can really bring the drama in window treatments when you need to keep the coverings low-key.

On the topic of curtain rods, placement is key. Typically, they should hang at a distance of at least 4 inches above the window, and a few inches below the ceiling to make your sliding glass doors look even more expansive. For rooms with lower ceilings, however, it's better to take the curtain rod all the way to the top. If you have space, extend the rod at least 6 inches past each side of the windows. This will conceal their limits, making them appear wider, and allow you to fully uncover them for maximum light.

If you have really low ceilings, particularly a dropped ceiling, it might be best to forgo a curtain rod altogether. In this case, it'll just be taking up precious wall space and creating a horizontal line that can visually shorten the space. Instead, consider hanging your drapes in the gap between the dropped ceiling and the wall. If there is none, opt for discreet recessed tracks that are slotted into the ceiling itself.

If privacy and constant light aren't an issue, you can always ditch blinds and curtains to give your sliding glass doors a sleek new look. Yes, drapes can be a beautiful way to decorate a room, but when space is limited, they can also become additional, unnecessary noise. If your sliding glass doors are facing an enclosed patio or a narrow pathway, and are not situated in a room where complete darkness is needed for sleep, why not leave them bare? This will play up their architectonic value and visually extend the room.