How to Choose the Right Blinds & Shutters for your Bifold Doors

1. Multiple Panels: Bifold doors consist of two or more door panels that are hinged together. These panels can vary in number, but common configurations include two, three, or four panels.

2. Folding Design: When opened, the panels of a bifold door fold and stack neatly to one side, creating a wide opening. This folding action allows for maximum flexibility in terms of how much of the doorway can be opened or closed.

3. Tracks and Rollers: Bifold doors are equipped with top and bottom tracks and rollers that facilitate smooth and easy operation. The rollers allow the panels to slide along the tracks when opening and closing.

4. Glass Panels: Bifold doors often feature large glass panels that provide unobstructed views of the outdoor space. These glass panels can be single-glazed or double-glazed for insulation and to make the room they're in more energy efficient.

5. Materials: Bifold doors can be constructed from various materials, including aluminium, timber, uPVC (unplasticised polyvinyl chloride), and composite materials. The choice of material can impact the door's appearance, durability, and maintenance requirements.

6. Security Features: Many bifold doors come with multi-point locking systems and other security features to ensure the safety of the property.

7. Indoor and Outdoor Use: Bifold doors are commonly used to create expansive openings in exterior walls, leading to patios, decks, gardens, or other outdoor areas. They can also be used as interior doors to divide spaces within a home, such as between a living room and a dining room.

8. Customisable: Bifold doors can be customised in terms of size, colour, and design to match the aesthetic and functional requirements of a particular space.

Choosing the best blinds and shutters for your bifold doors can offer a range of benefits:

• Enhanced Privacy: Enjoy your indoor space without worrying about onlookers.
• Light Management: Adjust the level of natural light to suit your mood and needs.
• Improved Insulation: Keep your home comfortable year-round while potentially reducing energy costs.
• Aesthetic Appeal: Blinds and shutters come in various styles, materials, and colours, allowing you to complement your interior décor.

Intu Micro Hive and Micro Pleat blinds are specialised window covering solutions designed to complement the aesthetics and functionality of bifold doors. Similar in benefits to both Duette blinds and Pleated blinds respectively, Micro Hive and Micro Pleat blinds are a slimline version that can be fitted into the frame of each panel, allowing you to open the door without having to open the blind. Both Intu Micro Hive and Micro Pleat blinds are excellent choices for bifold doors due to their sleek design, ease of installation, and functional benefits such as thermal insulation and light control. They are designed to seamlessly integrate with the doors, ensuring that the doors can be opened and closed without obstruction. Additionally, their cordless or integrated operation options contribute to their safety and ease of use, making them a practical and stylish choice for enhancing your bifold door experience.

Roman blinds offer an enormous range of fabrics, colours and textures, so they're an ideal choice if that angle is of prime importance to you. Simple to operate, you can opt for motorisation for effortless control too. Choose additional linings, such as a blackout to reduce light flow or an interlining for heat loss reduction. Mounted above the door frame, you'll need suitable clearance to raise the blind and still be able to open the door so bear that in mind.

Sometimes simplicity is a virtue and that's definitely the case with Roller blinds. Uncomplicated and fuss-free they're a solution that combine practicality and prettiness, with modern blinds being available in a huge range of colours and patterns, in much the same way as Roman blinds. The advantage they have over Roman blinds is they require less clearance between the top of the door frame and the ceiling, as the fabric rolls rather than stacks. Blackout roller blinds can help create a more snug look by reducing the light. You can even layer two blinds together, provided there's enough clearance, and this is a popular choice if you want one look for day, such as a sheer, and a different look for night, like a blackout.

Tracked door shutters are a type of shutter covering designed specifically for all kinds of doors, including patio, sliding and bifold doors. Tracked door shutters glide smoothly along tracks top and bottom, in much the same way as bifold doors do. and offer all the benefits above. Dependant on whether you choose wood, composite or vinyl dictates the way the shutters fold and whether or not they fold completely against the wall at the side or not, so bear this in mind.