It's Getting Hot in Here....

Again, I am stricken with my over ambition of not taking pictures from the beginning of my project.  We will have to use our imagination for a minute, imagine the walls and ceiling are olive green in the picture you are viewing.  Perhaps it will not be hard to imagine since you can't see the wall paint all that well because of the glaring sun coming in from the sliding glass door.  The door you are viewing faces southwest so it gets all the hot evening sun.  Initially I was thinking that we would leave the window uncovered since it faces the backyard which is relatively private.  However, the heat, and a few break-ins in our neighborhood last spring and summer caused me to change my game plan.

Pic #1

Pic #2

I struggled with an appropriate window treatment choice for this door. I had two purposes I was hoping to fix: 1-create privacy so burglars do not have a big picture window to glare into the house, and 2- a choice that would help insulate this room from the daily evening heat-up. There was one other concern- I did not want curtain panels that would go behind the garbage can. I strive to keep things clean, but the garbage area in one's kitchen is not known to be a super clean area.  I thought about relocating the garbage can do a different spot in the kitchen, but there was another reasonable option.  Finally, I did not want to go with traditional vertical blinds because I am just not a fan of that look.

Surprisingly, I did find a vertical option at JcPenny's that fit my needs. I stumbled upon the stylish Linden Street Cotton Duck Thermal panel System. I thought this was the perfect solution to my problems. It provides the thermal protection against the heat, provides privacy if needed, but can be slide back and forth if needed. I struggled with selecting the right color. I was between cream, desert khaki, and the chocolate options. I like lighter window treatments, but was worried that the cream would get dirty since the panels are within inches of the trash can. The desert khaki was nice, but it just didn't go well with the Bittersweet Stem paint color. I kept gravitating to the chocolate, but worried it would be too dark, and make my very sunny kitchen cave like.
After much thought, I pulled the trigger on purchasing the cream panel system.  I couldn't be happier with my choice.  This panel system is a wonderful solution to my needs.  Although I would have preferred to keep the windows open, I think this is the next best answer.  It looks wonderful in my kitchen.

I apologize the pictures are so dark, but I forgot to take shots this afternoon.  So what do you think?  Have you come up with any creative solutions to cover your sliding glass doors?  Do you have window treatments on the windows that face your backyard?