How Window Shutters Contributes To Home Improvement
Among the most underemphasized areas of a home are its windows. When considering a home improvement project to take on, adding shutters is among the easiest ways to give your house a facelift. You’ll increase the value of your property by adding curb appeal after mindfully selecting the right window shutters for your style of home.
Shutters also help protect homes in geographic locations known for intense storms. For example, Florida tends to be one area of the country that is often hit by hurricanes. Homeowners know that by adding shutters to their windows, they protect the glass from shattering and the contents of their homes from being destroyed by the high winds and torrential rainfall.
This guide will help you determine which types of shutters are right for you, the style that best meets your needs, and how to have them installed.
Different Types of Window Shutters for You to Choose From
You’ll be presented with many choices when shopping for window shutters for your home. When narrowing down your options, you may want to think about the cost as well as the aesthetic you’re going for. Think long and hard about the materials that make up the shutters, too, because they lend to the durability of the product.
Indoor Shutters
Indoor shutters styles that are available for sale now are:
- Shaker
Similar to the traditional Shaker style, these interior shutters are great for blocking out excess light as well as bad weather.
- Café
Louvered and covering only the bottom half of a window like you would see at a fancy café, this style of a shutter is as beautiful as it is functional.
- Polywood
Built-to-last, they won’t show were the way that other shutters will. Chips, cracks, warps, and splits aren’t an issue with the durable material that makes up this premium option for your home.
- Ovation
Hand-built and stained to match your furniture, these interior beauties have a truly rustic feel to them. If you like the look of weathered wood, you’ll love Ovation-style shutters.
There are many factors to account for when deciding to shutter the inside and outside of your home. You may feel it more important to address the exterior of your home now and wait to tackle the interior at a later date. Or, you may feel like the inside of your home needs new shutters more than the outside and choose to shop for Shaker, Café, Polywood or Ovation shutters first.
Outdoor Shutters
Outdoor window shutters for your consideration include:
- Raise Paneled
Raised up enough to be higher than the top perimeter of the window itself, this type of exterior shutter is ideal for use with window flower boxes. They are made of wood and painted to match the home’s colors or to give the window areas a pop of color if the home is painted in a neutral color such as beige or white.
- Louvered
Among the most popular styles of outdoor shutters, the frame on a louvered shutter contains uniform slats that overlap each other. Almost always made of wood, this style of the shutter can be painted any color that you want and withstands the elements well.
- Board and Batten or BnB
Far more decorative than the previous two shutters listed, this style of shutter consists of two boards joined together with battens and cut into shapes to fit unusual windows. The shutters come in arch-top, square, spaced or joined styles.
- Plantation
Complete with wide louvers, this shutter is often found in homes in the southern states because they provide extra protection against hurricanes. The shutters can also be opened to allow air in during cooler weather, making it possible to do without air conditioning during the milder months of the year.
- Bermuda
Originally used in the Caribbean as a way to deal with the intense heat, this shutter style adds a tropical flavor wherever it is installed. Homes in warmer states such as Florida and California often have Bermuda shutters. The shutters come in a variety of colors including brighter shades and are very affordable. When a person wants to open them, they simply lift the shutter up and use small metal bars to keep it in an upright position. When they want to close them, they unhook the bars and lower the shutter back to the window frame.
- Cut-Out
If you’re looking for something with a bit more flair, this style of the shutter will do the trick. Shapes and designs are cut out into the wood shutter to give it a more elegant look. Think about a gingerbread home and how it has hearts cut into its shutters. That’s what you can expect from a modern-day Cut Out.
- Scandinavian
Very distinctive in their pattern, these shutters are solid in color at their based and complete with a joined board and batten design. There are cut-outs and brighter colors used to create the patterns which seem to jump off the shutter.
Some common materials that make up the different types of outdoor shutters that you’ll find for sale include wood, faux wood, vinyl, synthetic foam, and Medium Density Fiber (MDF). Each has its own visual appeal and level of durability. People who want to protect their homes from the high-speed winds caused by tornadoes and hurricanes will not opt for the same shutter style as someone who is wanting to add a decorative touch to their windows would.
Cheap energy efficient affordable shutters are visually stunning and are beneficial in many ways. If you’re looking for an easy way to update the look of your home, you can invest in interior and exterior shutters for a minimal cost. Doing so adds to the value and appeal of your property if you do choose to sell it one day.
Benefits of Having Shutters Inside or Outside of the Home
Interior and exterior shutters have their advantages. In fact, if you want to know what makes them ideal, you’ll learn rather quickly once you have them installed. You’ll soon see why they’re an essential part of many people’s property.
Some of the benefits you’ll receive from having shutters inside or outside of the home are:
- Added privacy
Interior shutters keep people from looking into your home. They can be closed at night or when you leave your property during the daytime. Whenever you don’t want your neighbors or people driving down the street to see what you’re up to, simply exercise your right to privacy by closing the shutters. Knowing that your family is safe from the prying eyes of strangers while they interact and sleep is very important. It’s also a great way to keep people from knowing that you’re not home throughout the day or when you go on vacation.
- By controlling the amount of light that enters the home
Similar to blinds, interior shutters can be opened and closed as a way to control the amount of natural light that enters a room. During cloudy and dreary days, they can be closed and overhead lights can be used. On sunnier days, they can be opened as a way to illuminate the space and bring warmth to the area of the home. Being able to control the light entering the home helps you prevent discoloration of furniture, rugs, and curtains, too, because you can limit the amount of time the objects are exposed to the sun’s rays.
- By lowering home energy costs
When you’re able to regulate the temperature of the space by changing the amount of sunlight that enters a room, you save money on heating and cooling bills. This can amount to significant savings throughout the year. You may even find that you won’t be running the heater or air conditioner as much as you did before you had interior shutters installed. If you’re looking for ways to stretch your budget, stop depending on the utility companies so much and start using the natural solar power to keep your home feeling nice year-round.
- By protecting your windows from bad weather
Outdoor shutters make it easy to keep the glass inside the frames intact despite hail, sleet, and high winds. Having them installed to the exterior of the home is ideal, especially if you live in an area of the country that has four seasons and experiences relatively wicked storms at times. Learning how to open and close the exterior shutters is ideal because it increases your sense of safety if bad weather is approaching your area of the globe.
There are distinct advantages to investing in shutters for your home as mentioned here. From helping you lower costs of protecting your windows, you can see the purpose of interior and exterior shutters. Now, it’s up to you to find a company to buy them from and have them installed onto and inside your home.
How to Find the Right Shutter Company to Buy From
There are many companies selling interior and exterior shutters. Knowing which to buy from saves you time and may even save you money. Getting an idea of the different companies available, their selection, pricing, and installation services allow you to quickly determine if they’re right for your needs or not.
Here are some ways to find a shutter company to trust:
- Read online reviews
Among the easiest ways to learn about a company and its level of customer satisfaction is to spend some time reading online reviews. Customers are often brutally honest. They’ll pay testimony to a job well done and be quick to tell the world what went wrong. If you read a batch of reviews and they all have the same sort of sing-songy flowery language, chances are, they’re not legitimate. The best reviews are done through verified account services such as Yelp, where people must be registered to leave a review.
- Ask your neighbors who they’ve used for their homes
If you want an honest opinion, ask the people that live in the same neighborhood as yours who installed their shutters. They’ll let you know and even tell you the story behind the services they requested. Selecting homes where you like the shutter style ensures that you’ll be able to find similar styles of exterior shutters available. Your neighbors will be a great asset in helping you find a company to work with that you can trust.
- Visit a few shutter stores in your area and get a feel for their services
Pay attention to their inventory, installation policies, and staff. Are they quick to want to help you out once you’ve entered the store? Are you stuck waiting for assistance? Do they have the answers that you seek or required to ask someone else to help you? Do you already feel like a valued customer? Are they asking for your business or ready to let you take it elsewhere? If you feel like you didn’t get the time and attention that you deserved when you visited a store, go with your gut and visit another retailer where they actually want to serve you well.
- Request a free consultation
If a free initial meeting or visit is available, take advantage of it. That way, you can get a feel for how the company operates and learn more about the quality of work that they do. You can also ask questions and request recommendations during this time. It’s a getting to know your type of meeting much like an interview so don’t shy away from asking what is on your mind about interior and exterior shutters. An informed customer makes empowered decisions about how they spend their money and who they spend it with.
To recap, the style of shutter chosen should match the style of the home. It should also add to the overall look of the property as they could serve as a selling point if you were ever to list your house on the real estate market. Shutters up the curb appeal considerably by helping draw attention to the windows and serving as a sort of framework that the eyes can travel to.
