Do you have folding/sliding doors in modern room? Tell me how you stop the room feeling soulless at night

[YesImSinister]

We recently moved into house with a big set (5 metres) of folding sliding doors leading on tot he garden. All was great in the summer and long summer evenings. But now it is getting dark earlier, it is making the room feel soulless, as there is just a huge expanse of reflection on the glass (as we don't have blinds or any window dressings).

What do other people do to overcome this? As the doors are already in situ we cannot have integral blinds installed. We can't have curtains, as it would spoil the sleek, modern look of the room. And there is no space above them for blinds to be attached.

Any ideas or inspiration for me?

Thanks

[SparkyToo]

We have outdoor lighting which when switched on just makes the garden look slightly magical and creates interest - also makes the indoor space feel larger as not looking at an expanse of black. I love it.

[berno]

we have sunseeker folding sliding doors with integrated venetian blinds.
having lived with them for 2 years now, we have got used to the clean futuristic look and if we want to make the view more interesting, we open the blinds and look at the subtly lit patio.
on the plus side, as adamadam said, the blinds are brilliant! they NEVER need cleaning and with no-one being able to touch them, they can't (touch wood!) go wrong.
of course, this isn't the cheapest option if the bifolds are already in place!

[Optymist]

When I was at the Kloeber stand at the Home Improvement show this year I said I wasn't keen on integral blinds and the salesman agreed that they did have rather an "office" look. I said I was thinking of installing thin voile curtains using one of those thin modern-looking steel wires across the 3.5 metre opening I am having built - for privacy and to make the room more cosy - although I will also have lights in the garden to allow for the curtains to be left open as well. He said that this could be easily done by drilling into the door frame. Alternatively the curtain wire could be installed in the wall above the door frame.

I have seen some gorgeous voiles in John Lewis - really modern designs (I'm not keen on the old-fashioned net curtain look!) and as they are so thin they won't take up much space when pulled back - nor will the curtains be gathered at all - I will get just a bit more fabric than the actual width of the doors).

[fossil97]

It's interesting the previous poster's comment.
I used to go meetings in a room that was kitted out as a dance studio with an entire wall of mirrors. To avoid everyone getting distracted we needed to cover the mirrors. We ended up making 2 mega-wide hemmed muslin panels (about 4 or 5 widths each) and hung them on a steel wire with those rings that have a clip to attach the curtain. (possibly all this from Ikea?). The curtains werent gathered at the top or anything. Eyelets would probalby work well too.

Because the muslins were so fine they opened back to almost nothing but were substantial enough to close off the mirror.

If it was me I'd look carefully at the Ikea kvartal system too. But well designed curtains can still look modern and "sleek" (awful word!) - they don't have to be frilly and flowery.