100% agree with NRE about French doors taking up a lot of space and time the benefits of fiberglass. It also is more durable because it has expansion properties similar to those of glass, so when the window heats and cools, both expand and contract similarly. Fiberglass can be painted, if one wants to paint it.
This is what we got (with 2 glass panels of matching height and almost matching width on both sides).
https://www.pella.com/doors/sliding-patio-doors/pella-impervia/
This is what we have:
https://www.marvin.com/integrity/doors/all-ultrex-sliding-patio
These are custom-sized to 1/64", so you can get the exact size you want. I think they are quite a bit cheaper than Pella, as well.
Pellla has a local manufacturing facility, so their prices were quite competitive. Plus, their install crew was absolutely awesome. That sold the product to us. Of course, they are not the only game in town, so it pays off to shop. 
When I did all the windows in my house, Pella was more than twice as expensive as Marvin.
And don’t even get me started on “Renew by Andersen”.
Wow!! Talk about regional price differences. We made a coin toss between Pella and Milgard (both are made locally literally 10-15 miles away). Pella won because of their crew - the guys had to work around our massive siding project and deal with a not perfectly rectangular opening for the slider. Renew by Andersen is overpriced garbage.
Might not be a totally fair comparison because I don’t think Pella had fiberglass windows at that point, so I was comparing Marvin fiberglass with Pella aluminum-clad.
I made the mistake of letting the Renew guy in my house for an estimate. After 20 minutes of calculations, and factoring in the “if you sign a contract right now” discount, he came up with a price of around $1500 per window, which was more than 2.5x what I paid for the Marvin Infinity windows I went with. I laughed him out of the house. And as you say, they are junk.
I feel sorry for anyone that thinks Renew by Anderson is the way to go to replace windows. These are actually franchises of high priced retail middle men/women that happen to sell Andersen products. With a hard sale approach for unsuspecting homeowners. Yes, you might get installation thrown into the mix, but who needs to spend that much money for a middle man?
Question???
Since I have to provide some kind of window covering across the glass sliding doors, should I get the type that has the blinds incorporated between the glass? Has anyone every purchased these? Do they look horrible? Do they operate well over many years?
I have a white vinyl sliding door on another area of the house that is ocean facing. The door itself has held up really well after 20 years, but the hardware is shot. The handle is completely corroded. Anything that says ‘powder coated’ is a recipe for disaster ocean front. I have had numerous exterior light fixtures and finally had to resort to plastic light fixtures for the front of the house.
To me, they’ve never been worth the expense.And I’ve always been fearful that they could break, and then you are screwed because they are basically unrepairable.
A bigger question is why you feel you need to provide window treatments for your tenant. Let them buy their own, they may not want anything at all.
At this point I think my intention is to rent ‘furnished’. Mostly because I am targeting someone who is probably moving from out of town and I might do some short term rentals this summer to take advantage of Comic Con and the high rent gained from summer vacation rentals. Then I will transfer to a long term renter in the fall. I definitely will provide window treatments because there is a privacy issue and really don’t want a tenant hacking around trying to install curtain rods in the walls.
I am going to pass on the blinds inside the glass because I don’t think they look good. For the side windows I will do top down treatments because I like how you can lower them and get great natural light at the top portion of the window, providing privacy on the bottom portion of the window.
Do not get the glass panes with blinds built into the glass! When the blinds are drawn up, they can obscure almost half a foot of view and make the window look shorter. The Pella sales guy talked us out of that feature. Mr. wanted it bacuse… cats. Glad we did not get them.
Here is the vanity I have chosen for the bathroom:
I have white handmade subway tiles from Mexico that were left over from a friend’s high end remodel and I might put some kind of inset into the shower tile design, but haven’t decided yet. The vanity comes with brushed gold handles, so I am doing brushed gold for the shower fixtures and towel bars. It might be a bit much, I will see when it all comes together.
Because the shower will be very neutral with the white tiles and the kitchen will have neutral white cabinets, I am going to go with a patterned floor through the bathroom and kitchen area.
This is a light grey (pictures look brown)
https://www.homedepot.com/p/MSI-Menza-Grey-Encaustic-8-in-x-8-in-Glazed-Porcelain-Floor-and-Wall-Tile-NHDMENGRE8X8/301351824
This is the one I put into the Del Monte project, less expensive but probably too much blue and not neutral enough
https://www.flooranddecor.com/ceramic-tile/lotto-ceramic-tile-100411743.html#start=21
I like the Del Monte tile a lot. It gets my vote. I think blue is very San Diego.
That bathroom vanity is beautiful! I like both of the tiles but I agree that there may be too much blue with the second one.
We had the blinds between the window panes in our slider in our very first home (we inherited them) and I have to say that I loved it. No dusting and they worked beautifully. That said, with your view, not a chance that I would want anything that couldn’t be completely opened and gotten out of the way!
“https://www.lowes.com/pd/allen-roth-Presnell-37-in-Navy-Blue-Single-Sink-Bathroom-Vanity-with-Carrara-White-Natural-Marble-Top/1000514723”
@coralbrook
I happen to like the white version of this vanity. And the website says “accessories NOT included” in the ad for the vanity, so I dont think you are committed to gold finish fixtures, which I think would look dated.
I think the white vanity would make the bathroom look bigger.
I do like your second tile choice.
I did not notice that it was available in white! White gets my vote, too. It will definitely make the bathroom look bigger. And it will be easier to coordinate with everything. Don’t do brushed gold. It will be more $$ and not much more return. Go with trusted and proven chrome. Cheaper, more choices, and I don’t think it will ever be out of fashion.
Keep in mind this is rental property, and you want to appeal to the widest possible range of prospective tenants. So my recommendation is that you keep everything as neutral as possible. That vanity comes in white, get that version. Chrome fixtures, not gold ones. No patterned floors. Beige or light gray walls, etc. It’s boring, but rentable, which is the bottom line.
Also, expect that everything you put in there will be destroyed. Do not put in expensive top-down window shades, the cat you are planning on letting the tenant have will shred them. That marble vanity top will get broken. Floors will have their finishes messed up, tiles will get chipped and broken. Vertical blinds by the slider will get pulled down. Kitchen cabinets and counters will get abused. Etc. It’s almost never worth putting top-end items in a rental, unless you are aiming for the very top of the rental market.
There definitely have been vendor changes with windows. When my dad was building in WI, Anderson windows were cost effective as they were mfred in MN, so best deal on high quality. We live in AL. Peachtree (mfred in GA) were the cost effective high quality ones for us, and we had a local sales office to interface with - were maintenance free too. So the paradigm is different now. Researching the variables and deciding the vendor and installation…get what you want but with costs and features in mind.
Many many years ago, when closing in a screen porch, I insisted on the blinds between glass Pell windows -(the only company who had that feature in our area, at that time).
Contractor tried to talk me out of them for cost - but my response was that in the life of those windows, I’d be saving a ton on window treatments and hardware.
The blinds were the pivot kind. They did not raise and lower. Twist a knob and you could pivot them just enough to deflect incoming sun, or fully for privacy. Still worked perfectly well when I sold that house 25 years later.
I’d say, reconsider.