Thanks Patricia! Are you suggesting I use white with another color, or white or another color?

I would add some color! Love the shutters!

white sheers for the bulk of the time, colored drapes for when you close them. make the rods longer so you can totally move the sheers and drapes when needed. I will tell you that when we had a lot of sun outside, we actually hung a large roll down blind on the outside at the edge of the roof in addition. It extended our non ac time by about a month. With Ikea and a big box or discount place the roll down blind the whole treatment should be under $100.

Thanks for your replies.

Our backyard is on the west side of the house. We live in the Sacramento area, and it can get HOT here. Luckily the house is very energy efficient. We've been in the house for one week, and even when it was about 108 degrees with NO window treatments the house stayed pretty cool.

As for color, I'm not sure how I would go about that. This is a great room with kitchen, living room and eating area all sharing a space. Our furniture is neutral, as are our walls and flooring. I love red and have red accessories in the kitchen. Right now the area rug in the living room area has a dark red background. I would like to get a second rug to use as a lighter palate for the spring and summer, and use the red rug for fall and winter. Any rug suggestions? I would need at least an 8x10.

Oops, I didn't mean to post the same picture twice.

I do not know if these are 8x10, they are all off houzz and seemed reasonable, I try to stay under 200. Many if not 8x10, you can look up to see, if they have that size, if not they really are for you to see if you like these kind of differences.

First up keeping in your color scheme but lighter, kinda looks like the walls to me

lighter brighter red

2nd more modern looking

I think this would still go with the browns in your furniture, I know what you mean, I also do winter and spring summer. This way, you could do some different pillows and it is a whole new look.

Now, I am sure there are other great color schemes, I have pictures or more modern or brighter, you can go look at, it just did not really look like your room. As you can tell though I am partial to blue: )

Would like to ask how to clean glass shower door.thanks

Thanks for the visuals Havingfun. That brown leather furniture is soon to be history. I ordered two off white sofas to replace the leather sofa and chairs. I will continue to use the ottoman/coffee table.

The same rugs with work with off white too. just a matter of do you like something different? or different color combos?

if you dont use the door to go in and out in the hottest part of the day you may like a solar shade. if you do go in and out honestly you can't beat verticals. before you dismiss them out of hand make sure you are up on the newer materials. also, if measured to be hung to the ceiling they look more modern than mounted at the upper casing.

we have a beach house with sliders, after mulling every possibility we replaced the verticals with taller verticals. dated, others may say so, but they are functional which is the most important aspect of a window treatment for me. they block sun but still tiltable for some breeze and non-sun view, and easy to open 15" so you can walk in and out. much less stack back than draperies.

these are the solar shades in our full west facing kitchen. they allow me to work at the sink without being blinded but i can still see the trees and pool. they are not dense enough for the dining room though, a setting sun blinds everyone on the side of the table facing the window.

You probably hate plastic vertical blinds as much as I do, but have you tried the more modern fabric vertical blinds? They come in different colors and patterns, some more translucent then others. Curtains is also a good idea. and check this pic on houzz: http://houzz.com/sr/m=7/u=L3Bob3Rvcy82MTQxMDg=

yes, those are the verticals i meant floridian. some people honestly don't know they exist and think verticals mean only the old clacky plastic ones.

Call a window tinting company. I get it. I live in Southern California and my house was unbearable until I had film put on the windows. I also had my hardwood floors, rugs, sofa dis colored from just two years of no window dressings. I thought it would be dingy (that was my fear) but it's not at all in fact I wish I'd gone to a next level of UV protection because it would keep it that much cooler. The 3m film technology has really changed and it's not unsightly from the outside either. Simple white panels hung from a cool rod are perfect for night time privacy.

Thanks, but the windows came tinted. It makes a huge difference. I'm really mostly looking for nighttime privacy. As you can see in the photos, the backyard is small and we have a 2 story home behind us.

so then you can go with nice curtains, which you pull to the side during day. Or you can go with a window film that is like frosted, allowing only light and rough shadows if you are close to come through.

I got a single wide grommet curtain panel for my patio door, it's a one way draw that has a hanging rod on opening side so you aren't always touching curtain. Works well for me.

Blue looks nice with red, and would be a good choice for a summer look. Rugs are from overstock.

We have a condo in Florida that faces west (the lanai and the sliding doors). I'll call your California afternoon heat and raise you one!! We have Hunter Douglass Piroutte (or maybe it's Silouette, I can't ever keep the two straight) long verticals...there is sheer fabric around the 'find'.....love, love, love them.

Woven Wood shades with the vertical option in a white or soft white to coordinate with the color the existing shutters. This is a medium cost treatment with smooth one way or center draw operation.

MarleneM, where did you find a single draw curtain? I've never seen one for an 8' slider. I like that idea. I like the rugs you chose too. I've used blue in some other rooms, so that palette might work. The white woven woods might work too.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. There is so much to think about.

I got one from Amazon, and I'm in Canada so selection is probably more limited than in the U.S. I have a smaller door than yours too, and I think the width of my curtain is 100". The woven verticals posted above are very nice too.

When I was at my storage unit today to bring more things to the house to unpack, I came across some white panels with grommet tops. I had bought them for my other house, then we decided to move. They are still in their packages. They are 84" long. So too short for my sliding glass door. What if I added a border at the bottom to make them long enough? Would that look weird?

It won't look weird at all. I think it gives a custom look to ready made curtains if done properly. http://houzz.com/photos/838357

I was at IKEA yesterday and bought 2 packages of 2 white panels with grommets. Is there a way I can connect the 4 panels to act as one big panel? I would also like to attach a wand type thing to move them so they won't get dirty from peoples hands. Any suggestions where I can find anything like that? Thanks for all the ideas given. You are all great!

I would take them to a seamstress. It shouldn't be a big job to undo side and bottom hems and sew them together, then re-hem.

Here is a link to a wand from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/42-UNIVERSAL-DRAPERY-PULL-ROD/dp/B00A6B3B3G

Thank you MarleneM. I think I could manage doing that myself. I don't know why I didn't think of that. So obvious... :-)
The link to the wand was very useful.

If you do have some panels that are too short, adding fabric to the bottom is a good option when on a budget. Ikea panels are great too ,because they come long and you just hem them to size. While you can get some great affordable ready made drapes, be careful when you choose the drapery hardware. You want to make sure the drapery hardware has strong brackets and the rod has good support, especially if you are pulling the drapes drawn.

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