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If you are anything like me, you love having glass doors. They bring in all the natural sunlight and brightens up the house. There are times, however, that I go into vampire mode and want nothing to do with light of any kind. Having properly mounted coverings over my doors is a must, because I can choose what I want, depending on the mood I am in. Of course I like to experiment with different styles as well. I have drapes on my French doors; horizontal blinds on windows in the daughters' room; a rolling shade in my son's room (easier to clean for his dust mite allergy); and vertical blinds that are falling apart in my bedroom. My project? To add mini blinds to the glass panels on the kids' bathroom door and I really want to change the blinds in my room. Eventually I'll add drapes or shades, something more stylish, but for right now I just need cheap and functional. Blinds may be cheap, but they are also really easy to install! I didn't realize that until I started researching. All you need to be able to measure and install blinds are: Measuring Tape Level Pencil Blinds Mounting Hardware Power drill with the following bits: 1/8", 7/64" or 3/32" Screwdriver Installing Blinds on a French Door Here are the most important things to consider when installing blinds on a French door: 1. Measure the Door Blinds for a French door will be an outside mounted set of blinds as opposed to inside mounted blinds that are usually used on windows. Outside mount simply means that the blinds will be installed over the entire window panel of the door, including a couple inches of the door itself. See how the blinds below cover more than the window? These are outside mounted blinds. In comparison, look at these blinds: They fit just perfectly inside the window. This is what inside mounted blinds look like. Blinds for a French door cannot be mounted on the inside of the window panel because there is not enough depth to do so, like an actual window frame. Remember, when ordering or shopping for blinds specifically made for doors, you will get the exact size you ask for. This is why measuring correctly is so important. If you do not have molding around the glass panels, measure from the edge of the glass to the edge of the glass Measure the width, then the height. To the width, add approximately an inch to ensure proper coverage of the entire glass panel. To the height, add about 2" to the top and 1/2" to 1" to the bottom. This will give you enough room for the hardware and the hold down brackets. You have to decide when purchasing your blinds whether or not you want to have hold down brackets. These brackets are used at the bottom of outside mounted blinds or shades on doors to keep them from banging into the door or bouncing around whenever the door is opened or closed. If you want to have hold down brackets, you have to ensure they either come with the blinds your purchase, or purchase them separately. If you have molding around the glass panels, measure from the outside edge of the molding to the other outside edge. Then you add the extra amount just as above to the width and height to make sure no light comes through when you want the blinds closed. One thing to note is that you need to measure both doors. Do not assume that both are the same exact measurements. One may have been shaved ever so slightly to fit the glass panel in. Whatever the case, you may find your measurement for each door is a little different. 2. Take into consideration the door handle If your door handle protrudes like mine does, then you have to choose something that requires little clearance space. You can choose mini blinds that are 1" inch wide when fully opened, or you can opt for something like roller shades or the honeycomb shades. Another thing to consider with a door is the tilt mechanism of the blinds. Your door handle may get in the way of the tilt rod, so you need to ensure this mechanism is made on the hinge side of the blind. If you are having the blinds custom made, you can specify the side you want the tilt mechanism on; if you are using store bought blinds, you'll just have to deal with it. 3. Check your purchase This may have you shaking your head, but I cannot tell you how many times I have have been in the middle of a project only to find that what I had purchased was missing something. Take out your blinds and your hardware. Unpack Every. Single. Piece. I check each item against the list that comes with the instructions. 4. Make your marks Take your blinds and hold it up above the glass panel of the door or the outside edge of the molding about 2". Using a level, make sure your blinds are straight. Make a pencil mark on both ends of the head rail. I would also mark about 1/4" past the end of the head rail. Take the mounting brackets and line them up with the outside mark and the top mark. Open the 'door' of the bracket (if this is the type of bracket you have) and you will see four holes on the inside, like on a die. Mark the top right hole and the bottom left hole. You really only need to drill and screw these two holes, and besides, you only get two screws per bracket. 5. Drill your holes Take your 1/8" bit and drill pilot holes into the wood where marked. A pilot hole is a small hole that is drilled as a guide in order to insert a nail or a screw, or to drill a larger hole. The reason for making a hole is to remove some of the wood in advance, so that later on when you are inserting the screw, there is no splitting of the wood. 6. Drill in your mounting brackets Take the two screws for each mounting bracket and, using a screwdriver or your power drill, drill the screws in place as marked. 7. Install your blinds into brackets and test blinds Insert the head rail of the blinds into the open mounting brackets. Depending on what type of brackets you have, you will either snap the brackets closed or snap the head rail into place. Lower the blinds to make sure they are working. 8. Hold down bracket I don't know about you, but if my kids were opening and closing a door with blinds on it, I know I would go crazy with all the banging. And I doubt the blinds would last very long. For me, just to keep them from warping and/or breaking, I would choose to the hold down bracket. I could still tilt the blinds open and let the light in. They are not permanent either; you can simply detach the pin from the bracket at the bottom if you want to open the blinds all the way up. Should you choose to have a hold down bracket for your door, insert the pins for the hold down brackets into the holes on the end caps of the bottom rail. Of course, if there are no holes, you will simply have to drill holes into the end caps. Using the 7/64" or 3/32" drill bit, drill a hold into the center of the end cap on each side of the bottom rail. Insert pins into the holes. With the blinds down, insert the bracket part of the hold down bracket into the pin and hold the bracket where you want the blinds to end. Draw the top corner of the bracket. Just as with the top mounting brackets, line the hold down brackets up to the the lines you just drew and mark your holes, two for each bracket. Raise the blinds and drill your pilot holes for the screws. Drill the brackets into place and voila! Your blinds will not move when you open or close your door. Do not let the word installation scare you away. With a little know how, the right tools, and a little bit of patience, you can install anything. I will go through the same steps I laid out here to install blinds on my kids' bathroom door. When that is completed, I have a few more projects on the horizon. I will replace my bedroom verticals, and I think I am ready to play with cellular shades for my daughters' room. As I go through each project, I will explain step-by-step how I did what I did. Remember, I'm not a professional. I think with the right side of my brain, more in abstract form, so if I can do this, so can you!

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