Shutter design, tips and features for window shutters

Let us start with an apology to you all, I know it’s not the best way to start off, but we have been asked a lot lately about how shutters are made and what they are essentially.  Anyways we'll explain all in around 60 seconds...if you read quick.

It’s easy to forget if you know a business that other people don’t know as much as you and we’ve been asked by a lot of visitors what the heck these things are: plantation shutters, california shutters and all those other terms for these beautiful window treatments which we all just take for granted!

So, lets start with the simple basics. Shutters are basically a frame which fits to your window opening. Inside the frame are panels of slatted wood (or plastic - hey). These panels are hinged onto the frame which is screwed onto the window opening. That’s it my friends, seriously that is the basics of what window shutters (interior) are! How simple was that?!

Now all those terms you read rattling around out there in the big bad world, all basically mean the same thing, we don’t give a hoot if you call ‘em plantation shutters or interior shutters, as long as they are made up really good and rock solid, and fit real nice, we’ll be happy. And that is exactly what you don’t want in your shutters, rattling! That means finding a simple product that has been made real well in the right materials.

Think about a hinged opening holding up a good few pounds or kilos of weight. Well you don’t want that lot falling off onto your loaf do you? You sure don’t want thin little budget screws holding the frame up, nor shutter slats which squeak or don’t open right either. And there we are mentioning a new thing - slats. These refer simply to the strips of wood which make up the panels of your shutters. Now don’t fall asleep please at the back, you’re gonna need all this tech stuff when you choose your shutters for DIY installation (LINK) aren’t you? If you are gonna get a pro to install them for you, well lucky you, you can stop reading this and look for some shutter companies instead can’t you.

So where was I, oh yes, slats make up the louvers which make up the panels of your shutters for windows. These will have a mechanism for tilting the position of the louvers so you can see out of your window - that is unless you have solid shaker styled shutters, but we ain’t talking about those kinds right now.  So this mechanism which lets you see out your window is nothing fancy either - just a rod attached to the louvers, either front or backside. Now we got some fancy names for them, push rod, tilt rods, louvers rods and some branded names like ‘open sky’ - but all that’s just willy nilly as all it means it do you wanna see these rods or not? Do you want them in front or behind your panels. Well which is to be my friends? Hey well you don’t gotta decide now - you can check out our shutter design section for some more ammo before you do decide. I say leave it to the room to speak to you. If it wants some nice sharp lines maybe don’t have ‘em at the front of the shutters. If it wants a bit more action, and a bit more practical, then have them at the front.

Now we could spend some time talking about quality, craftsmanship and all that jazz, but you gotta go look for that later, we are focussing on the parts which make your shutter operate here. So anyway we looked around and found a manufacturer in the States, and the good folks making shutters at The Shutter Store took some of the weight off our hands by making up these fine movies which you can sit back and enjoy. Check them out on their site or you can watch them at Youtube how to install shutters

So, it’s real easy, slide the frame into your window opening, screw the panels made of louvers onto the frame, make sure it’s nice and tight and square, then twist your tilt rod to open and close your shutters. We love the simplicity and design style of shutters for windows, I guess that’s why we’re here after all!

Hope you’ve enoyed and found this here useful, let us know your thoughts...