Hey yall. It had been a while since I’ve written over here but then last week I got a surge of energy and posted TWICE. Now I’m back again. Feels good.
Today I want to talk adding shutters to your home. When we updated the exterior of our home back in 2018 no shutters felt like a breath of fresh air. I had even originally planned on it:
But when I removed the old vinyl ones, it just felt light and airy. Plus, I knew they could always be added later.
But since then, specific room makeovers (this one and this one) have helped me hone in on the style I want for this house. Traditional cottage? Modern traditional? I have a hard time with the labels but adding shutters is back on my radar again.
I want the feel of a cozy cottage. These images have inspired me.
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| image via Sabatier Architecture |
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| image via Sabatier Architecture |
These color combo inspires me:
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| image via At Home in Arkansas |
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| image via David Anderson Architect |
I want the shutters to look like they’re functioning. Real shutters, ones that actually protect windows look different from the ones we mostly see here in suburbia Texas that just add style to your home. Here’s what ours looked like when we bought it:
So first off, when closed, they should fit the width of the entire window. They also aren’t flush against the house because they’re secured with hinges.
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| image via Southern Living |
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| image via Southern Living |
See what I mean from these images? They give a little more depth and character in my opinion. I need your help now. I did a quick mock up of a house with shutters. I measured the windows and I’ll make each one exactly half of the windows width. This means each set of shutters will be a different width. I want to hear what you have to say about shutter and door color and placement. Here we go..
This first one is a taupey beige color shutter. I’m looking at “felted wool” by Sherwin Williams. See how the ones on the second story are really wide? That’s because in theory, I want them to look like they’d actually cover the window.
That as opposed to making them all one width:
The only exception is the pair to the right. I’ll make those shutters
1/4 of the full width since its a double window. Upon inspecting shutter picture after shutter picture, larger window shutters are bi fold and have hinges in the middle so that they could unfold to the right size. See the pic below? That would be the whole width. It’s a little much. (pardon my bad photo shop job with the short shutter as to not cover the plants… They’ll be the length of the window. Promise.)
This one also has a
dark grey door. “Urbane Bronze”, like the color I recently painted the patio door. I really like it in this mock up but I’m worried it’ll look so dark in real life..
This picture is the same color shutters with the current front door color.
I photo-shopped that on because the door was open. Here’s a better view from the reveal. It’s sw “lei flower”
So then I considered not doing shutters on the top which I think I may like better.
And last, here’s a lighter taupe color. It looks a little pinky here but maybe something like sw ‘amazing gray’. (felted wool and amazing gray are on the same color swatch as urbane bronze. That’s always a good place to start.)
and this one with no shutters at the top again.
So this is where I’m at.. Any thoughts on any of the images? Paint colors? I’m excited to get started My dad and I made shutters for our last house so I feel pretty confident about everything but the installation….on the second story.
Appreciate you for letting me run through my thought process. And type the word shutters 475 times. Let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading, friends!
