Shutters... thoughts

ChilliBob

Guys,

Firstly, not sure if this is the right part of the forum, apologies if not.. 

We're getting shutters (internal) for the front of our house - that's decided, my wife has wanted them for years!... What's not decided is:

1. Height - do we go full height or cafe style up to the fanlights (we have what I'd call 'conventional' semi detached windows - not fancy sash or anything)
2. T bar or folding - for the three windows in the middle of the bay window we've been given two options - one is a t bar meaning each of the three panes has its own shutter which can be moved independently, the other is a two and a one - one side will have two shutters which are hinged together.

The first bit is the most important - I think the T bar is the way to go for the second - it matches the windows better and the folding option might sag over time due to the weight of the shutters.

The rooms we're going cafe in are downstairs, and would typically only be used in the evening:
1. The sun would be on the other side of the house then
2. There's not street lights outside 

Thoughts much appreciated!

bolwin1

Much of this is personal preferences, but we had full height ones as I thought the gap above cafe style shutters looked odd (we have deep./ ornate window frames).  

We've gone for the folding ones, but realistically, we never open them fully anyway, so it's a moot point. They are big windows though & the shutters are heavy, so if you are using them a lot, you'd be right to be concerned. 

One thing I would definitely recommend is to get them so you can control the top & bottom half separately. We often have the bottom half of ours closed for privacy & the top half open for light. It's dark outside now, but you get the idea 

Rosa_Damascena

Shutters are a) expensive and b) make the room darker, even when fully open. Whilst they look great in other people's houses I bet people don't even notice them once they're done. 

ChilliBob

bolwin1 said:

Much of this is personal preferences, but we had full height ones as I thought the gap above cafe style shutters looked odd (we have deep./ ornate window frames).  

We've gone for the folding ones, but realistically, we never open them fully anyway, so it's a moot point. They are big windows though & the shutters are heavy, so if you are using them a lot, you'd be right to be concerned. 

One thing I would definitely recommend is to get them so you can control the top & bottom half separately. We often have the bottom half of ours closed for privacy & the top half open for light. It's dark outside now, but you get the idea 

Cheers, yeah we very much intend to have the half half control, definitely useful!

Thanks for the pic. I think my concern was the shutter looking too tall and narrow if it was full height 

ChilliBob

Rosa_Damascena said:

Shutters are a) expensive and b) make the room darker, even when fully open. Whilst they look great in other people's houses I bet people don't even notice them once they're done. 

A. Yep, agreed, our two quotes so far are 3.5k or so.
B. That's a concern of mine, yes, hence the cafe style idea. 

Whether we have Shutters or not is a sailed ship - my wife has wanted them for years and I've agreed! Realistically we won't be in the rooms with them that often, hence why I'm not too fussed either way so happy to let her have them .. She's happy eith me taking over a small room and cupboard for my big vinyl collection he he

benson1980

I'd echo above and just get full height with ability to open/close top and bottom halves separately. Being able to control privacy whilst letting in some light, is handy.

I'm guessing your quote is for fully fitted. Perhaps a bit more complicated for a bay window but if you're just doing standard windows it is easy and you will save a load of money going supply only, and a bit of an eye opener how much of a premium you are paying just for someone to measure up and drill a few holes- whic his basically what it entails.

ChilliBob

Thanks for the comments guys, yeah, it certainly is costly! I've got enough other stuff to be getting on eith sadly, otherwise I might give it a crack!

Funny how both the people we have had over have openly admitted they were made to order in a factory in China! They didn't need to tell me that, and it devalued the product! 

donnablossomm

Let us know how the project goes, I've been keen on shutters for a while!

ChilliBob

Will do - we have a third person coming on Friday!

Chickereeeee

We have a 1920s house with large bay windows to both floors. The windows are the same height on both floors: usually (locally) bedroom windows are slightly shorter. This meant the house looked slightly 'top-heavy', or overbearing from the front.  We added shutters to the bedroom windows, and magically, the house immediately looked much more in proportion, and better overall. The horizontal  lines of the shutters make the bedroom windows appear shorter, and adjusts the perspective. 

That wasn't planned, but pleased with the result!