Updating Your Patio Doors

Patio doors function as the gateway between your indoor living room and your outdoor space. Closed, the patio doors can illuminate the interior with natural light and capture a beautiful view of the outdoors. Open, you can bring the outside indoors or retreat to the patio to relax in the cool breeze of a summer night. Patio doors can even enhance the look and feel of your home.

So if your patio doors are outdated — from sliding doors that stick to glass that is more opaque than transparent — it might be time to start exploring the variety of door styles, features and options that are available and upgrade to new patio doors that will bring a modern aesthetic to your home.

Hinged Patio Doors

If entertaining guests is a common occurrence in your home, hinged patio doors are best suited for high traffic areas. These easy-to-open doors are hinged from the side and open from the center, allowing them to open into a room (inswing) or out into a patio (outswing).

Hinged patio doors, also known as French patio doors, are a combination of function and style, offering an elegant but traditional look for a welcoming entryway.

For these Iowa City homeowners, wood hinged patio doors with white exterior paint were part of their efforts to improve the aesthetic of their home. The doors also offered improved energy efficiency, thanks to Pella’s energy-saving InsulShield glass collection.

Sliding Patio Doors

Sliding patio doors allow homeowners to do more with less. To make the best use of limited space, these doors utilize one sliding sash that operates on a single track within the frame, rather than swinging into or out of your home. This affords you more usable space inside or outside.

The large panes of unobstructed glass fill your home with an abundance of natural light and can offer a stunning view of the outdoors. Sliding screens can also be installed to allow in airflow while protecting from bugs. And built-in blinds are a nice option for adding window treatments that are always out of the way.

Homeowners from Dallas incorporated Pella’s Architect Series® sliding patio doors into their new construction home. The design flexibility of the doors opened up their living room space and the clean lines of the contemporary style integrated nicely with a modern look and feel.

Multi-Slide Patio Doors

If one sliding patio door isn’t enough, you have plenty of alternative options that give you more! Pella’s multi-slide patio doors offer up to 10 operable panels that can open from one side or the middle for incredible design flexibility.

The doors can tuck out of sight within a wall pocket or stack together, allowing you to determine how to best open up your space and connect interior rooms or to the outside world.

If you have a beautiful view, like these new homeowners in Dubuque, and your vision is to incorporate as much glass as possible to capture the beauty of the outdoors, multi-slide patio doors can provide a spectacular panoramic view that you and your guests won’t soon forget.

Bifold Patio Doors

Perhaps the least common but the most unique are the bifold patio doors. These accordion-style doors consist of two or more glass panels that hinge together and can be folded to expand your space, creating a wide opening between the indoors and the outdoors.

To modernize their residence and have their patio serve as an extension of their home, Tulsa homeowners had Pella install bifold patio doors. Customized to fit their needs, the wood patio doors, with large panes of glass and sleek frames, provided a contemporary aesthetic.

These real Pella projects may inspire your patio door buying. You can also design your own patio doors. With a wide variety of choices at your fingertips, you can create the patio doors that are going to enhance your home, be unique to your personal taste and fit your budget.