Small Upstairs Balcony Ideas With a French Door & Arched Doorway

Arched Transom

• French doors, leading to an upper balcony with a separate arched transom overhead, are an opportunity for theater inside and out. Create a tableau visible from the small balcony beyond the open doors, and frame the view from the interior with the right curtains. Try a pleated sunburst of sheer, fixed fabric, custom-tailored to the arched transom. Matching sheers flank the doors, filtering the light when closed, and moving gently in the breeze when they are pulled back and the doors opened. Finish the set design with rich garnet velvet drapes that draw back to expose the sheers, or close against a chilly night. Integrate outside and inside decor with painted garnet and gilt exterior door frames, mullions and transom arch frame, a small, potted topiary tree and two balcony seats in burgundy and gold-striped canvas.

Simple Arched Doors

• French doors shaped in arches at the top lend interest to a small upper balcony, even if they open inward due to lack of exterior space. A really tiny balcony may have the doors alone without the traditional fixed glass side panels. Add the missing side sentinels with landscaping. Place two very narrow arched trellises on the balcony, one on each side of the French doors. Plant them with summer roses or, for year-round visual interest, try a woody shrub like bougainvillea that leaves a skeleton of branches in winter. Containers for the plants will take up valuable balcony real estate, so set a diminutive bistro table and two chairs on the balcony for sunrise lattés or sunset cocktails.

Canvas Shade Arch

• Emphasize the shape of arched French doors on an upper balcony with a rounded canvas awning that creates shade on the exposed platform and inside the room while it draws attention to the architecture. A custom canvas or synthetic “cabana” can be as wide or narrow as space allows. It curves over the arch of the doors and falls on either side to the balcony floor. The side “curtains” may be pulled back with canvas ties for more light, or provide side columns of shelter from midday sun or a rain shower. The shade from the awning is one benefit; added curb appeal is another.

Landscape Reverse Arch

• Plant a balcony railing with hanging greenery trimmed in a scoop -- a reverse of the arch over French doors. Fasten a window box or railing container to the balcony balustrade, and plant trailing vines on the streetside of the pot, flowering annuals toward the back or house side. The vines will spill over the edge of the container and railing, and hang down — just trim them in a “U” shape to mirror the French door arch. Keep the doors themselves visible and not obscured by furniture or large plants. From the street, the balcony is a symmetrical still life. From a perch on the balcony, the colorful flowers are an intimate garden.