Buying Shutters
10 mistakes to avoid when buying plantation shutters
None of these are unusual. We see all ten regularly, and most of them cost money or come with the shutters for the next fifteen years.
Advice & Inspiration
Everything worth knowing before you choose shutters
Written by the people who survey, make and fit them. Real prices, real trade-offs, and the occasional recommendation not to buy shutters at all.
Latest
More from the advice desk
Installation & Aftercare
What happens at a consultation
People put off booking a consultation because they do not know what they are agreeing to. So here is the whole thing, described honestly, before you commit an hour of your Saturday.
Installation & Aftercare
How long do plantation shutters last?
Lifespan is the argument that justifies the price, so it is worth being precise about what lasts, what does not, and what the guarantee will and will not do for you.
Rooms
Are plantation shutters suitable for bathrooms?
Bathrooms are the room where the material choice stops being a preference and becomes the whole decision.
Period Homes
The best shutters for sash windows
A sash window is a moving object, which is what makes it more interesting to shutter than a fixed casement.
Period Homes
The best shutters for Victorian houses
Most of the houses we work in across London and the home counties were built between 1850 and 1901, and they present the same handful of problems again and again.
Materials
Wooden shutters vs MDF shutters
MDF is the material most budget shutters are made from, and the difference between it and hardwood shows up in weight, span and how the panels look in five years.
Privacy & Light
Do plantation shutters keep heat in?
Shutters help. They are not insulation, and anyone quoting you a percentage saving is guessing.
Privacy & Light
Are plantation shutters good for privacy?
Privacy is the single most common reason people call us, ahead of light control and well ahead of looks.
Privacy & Light
Do plantation shutters provide blackout?
This is the question we would rather answer before you order than after. It is also the one where most of the industry is quietly misleading.
Buying Shutters
Plantation shutters vs curtains
This is less of a competition than it looks. The two products do different jobs, and the best rooms we work in often use both.
Buying Shutters
Plantation shutters vs blinds
We sell both, which makes this comparison easier to write honestly than it is for a company that only sells one of them.
Design & Inspiration
Which louvre size should you choose?
Louvre size is the decision people spend the least time on and notice the most afterwards. It changes the character of the panel far more than colour does.
Design & Inspiration
Café style vs full height shutters
Two styles that solve the same problem in opposite ways. One covers the part of the window people can see through, the other covers all of it.
Design & Inspiration
Full height vs tier-on-tier
Nine out of ten shutters we fit are one of these two styles. They look similar in a photograph and behave very differently in a room.
Costs
How much do bay window shutters cost?
A bay is usually the largest single piece of glass in a house and the most common shutter enquiry we take. It is also the one where quotes vary most between companies.
Bay Windows
The best shutters for bay windows
Bays are the windows we are asked about most and the ones we most often see done badly by somebody else. The style matters, but the configuration matters more.
Buying Shutters
Plantation shutters: a complete buyer's guide
This is the guide we would hand to somebody at the start of the process. It covers the whole decision in order, and links out to the detail wherever a topic deserves an article of its own.
Buying Shutters
Are plantation shutters worth it?
It is the question we are asked most often and the one companies answer least honestly. Shutters are a considered purchase, not an impulse one, and they are not right for every window in every house.
Costs
How much do plantation shutters cost?
Shutter pricing is easy to explain and almost never explained. Here is how the number is arrived at, what pushes it up, and roughly what you should expect for the windows most people ask us about.
Reading only gets you so far
The louvre size, the style and the colour all become obvious in about ten minutes with samples held against your own window. That visit is free and there is no obligation.