The trend in home design lately seems to be leaning towards a cookie cutter design of houses that all look the same. It is no longer abnormal to drive through a modern suburb and feel a strange sense of de ja vous as you look at the front of each property. They all have the same driveway, are made of the same materials, and even have the same style windows and doors. Some people try to break away from this similarity by enhancing the outside of their home with house shutters.
There are three basic materials that exterior house shutters are made of; wood, aluminum and vinyl. Wood has stood the test of time, being the original material that has been used for many hundreds of years. For those of you that want a traditional and classic look, wood shutters are the way to go. If you choose to with wood, you can further decide whether you want the natural raw look of the wood, or have them painted. If you want the grains of the wood to show through on your shutters, then you are going to want to have them lacquered or stained. If this is your choice, then you will need to regularly maintain hem to keep up their appearance, and to protect them against the harsh weather. For a little more protection, you may decide to have your wood painted. There is an endless array of paint colors that you can get for wood shutters, and having a contrasting color to the rest of your home can make a great statement.
Vinyl is becoming a very popular material to use as well. The obvious benefit of vinyl over wood is the price. Wood shutters are generally quite expensive, whereas vinyl is a lot easier to manufacture, and therefore a fair bit cheaper. On top of the price benefits, vinyl will usually have a longer life span. Unlike wood, very little maintenance is required with vinyl house shutters, a regular wipe over will keep them looking great, and they will not suffer from the fading effects of the sun like wood can.
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The four most common styles of shutters for the home are Plantation, Colonial, Tudor and Bahama. Plantation shutters are the original shutters that were used back in colonial days to protect homes from bad weather and hot sun. They are characterised by their thicker slat style and are the perfect choice for larger windows.
Colonial style shutters originated in the North East of the United States. They have smaller panels, which, when opened, lay on either side of the window, flat up against the wall. Many people prefer this style for the look they give the home when they are opened. In fact, there are people who have fake colonial shutters that are just attached to the wall for the look and do not open and close at all. The real colonial shutters have the benefit of providing an uninterrupted view out of your window.
Similar the colonial shutters are Tudors. This style works along the same principle of having a double panel up against the wall either side of the window, but instead of slats, they generally have a more solid appearance. This means that when the shutters are closed, there is no light entering your home at all, giving you optimal protection and privacy.
Bahamas are a unique style of exterior house shutter that do not swing open on hinges on the side, but open from the bottom with hinges on the top. To hold these shutters in place when open, they will usually have a telescopic arm that keeps them propped up. The downside of this style of shutter is that you lose the view out of your window, but for those windows that are not used much, it can give your room great protection while still catching any breeze and funnelling into your home for those hot summer days.
As with anything in life, the most important opinion is your own. After all, these shutters will be on your walls, and it is ultimately you who will be looking after them, or replacing them in a few years time when they start deteriorating. Wood is of course the more natural choice of the two, that cannot be denied. However, there is a difference between natural and environmentally friendly, which many people don’t seem to get. Just because it came from a real tree, doesn’t make it an eco friendly solution. On the contrary, chopping down trees for use on homes has become a major environmental problem and one which more and more people are deciding needs to be fixed.