The sunny weather last weekend made me realise we need to crack on with our plans for the downstairs spare room. As I mentioned in my post a few months ago we’ve decided to put French doors in this room so it would be good to get it all done and dusted soon so we have new access to the garden during the summer.

This brings me on to the subject of the post; patio doors. There are many things I love about our house but the plastic windows aren’t one of them. However we have a lot of frames and already have four sets of patio doors (both the living room and kitchen have them out to the patio, the dining room has a set leading to a tiny courtyard and we also have a pair in our bedroom opening to a Juliet balcony). I found a very old article in The Telegraph by Christoper Howse claiming ‘Plastic window-frames will rot your soul’ which seems a tad OTT but I get his point. Some of the cheaper styles aren’t particularly pretty and the ones we had in our previous cottage were double glazed but highly inefficient at keeping in the heat.
I can’t ever imagine we’ll be in a financial position to change the uPVC windows to wooden replacements but it’s on my long term wish list to take the windows back to their original glory even if it’s just the ones on the front of the house. I’ve seen many people put the old frames on Gumtree as I know there’s always someone in the market for recycling uPVC windows for various projects.  Sometimes,late at night I look for inspiration on sites like http://birminghamdoubleglazing.uk/ I’m always surprised to see what people are doing these days.

Anyway back to these patio doors. I’m wondering if I can get away with something a bit different for this room or if I have to stick to the same design as the doors we have in the rest of the house.
Bi-folds aren’t required as the opening will be too small, and the same goes for pocket doors and sliding ones. Obviously the dream would be to have aluminium Crittall style but who am I trying to kid? Let’s all have a look though just for some inspiration. That stunning image from Homes and Gardens with the planters above it suggest you can bag yourself an alumininium set for around £10K, which is a shame as that’s my budget for finishing the entire house.

Current options are the following:

Mirror The Existing Doors

Getting another set of uPVC doors will keep the look consistent and keep the budget on the lower side. Here are a few instagram snaps of the current doors and back of the house. In the image with the tree and pergola, the window to the right will be replaced with doors.

French Doors

We could move into more of a french door style territory and get a set of white timber doors with a panel at the bottom that wouldn’t look out of place with a decadent cremorne bolt. Then I can pretend I’m ever so slightly Parisian but look out over a shed rather than the Eiffel Tower. Although that panel at the bottom isn’t going to offer heaps of privacy I think it might be a better option if this room will be used as a guest room.

We could also get roller shutters for my business made for the outside at some point similar to the image below from Canada Custom Shutters. Rather than the minty green louvre doors we would probably go for the same paint colour as the new fence.
Canada Custom Shutters

Colour

With the french doors above we’ll stick to white wood, however one option that I did consider would be to use a coloured door frame set against the same coloured backdrop. I love this image from Remodelista and think it really highlights a separate living space away from the rest of the house. California New Build with painted patio doors
There’s a really helpful article on Houzz if anyone is looking for advice on the pros and cons of uPVC, aluminium and timber as well as all the different styles of doors available.
What do you reckon? Stay in keeping with the current doors or try something a little different? Do you have any experience in shopping for patio and french doors and how did you reach your decision?