Modern interior window shutters provide a great look for every style of room! In nurseries, kitchens, designer bathrooms, studies and living rooms, they easily adjust to suit your needs.
Like it very dark? Try blackout shutters!
Whilst the interlocking design of the wooden shutter frames and shutter edges, plus perfectly fitting louvres, all contribute to reducing light transmitting into the room, if you sleep during the day or have a child’s nursery room requiring total darkness, you can fit blackout blinds with side guiding behind the shutters for extra ‘darkness’ this combination is called a blackout shutter.
Watch the video below to see how they are fitted:
How dark will my room be with shutters?
The question I often get asked is “how dark will the shutters make my room?”
Well, there is no easy way to answer this as everyone has there own idea of the depth of ‘darkness’ they require in their room. I generally say that wooden window shutters will block out as much light as a normal pair of curtains. They do have small clearance gaps around the edge of the louvre blades, this is required to allow the louvres to open and shut.
A great feature is the rebated edges my modern shutters now have. This means the sides of the shutters interlock together which stops the light from shining through the edges of the shutter. Not all shutters have this feature. The frames of the shutters play an important part too. They are designed in an “L” shape, allowing the shutter to fit neatly inside the “L”. This formbackstopstop and again stops the light shining around the edge of the shutter.
I also offer a blackout shutter, which is a can block out more light, which is ideal if you need it dark to sleep or if you need to sleep during daylight hours. This is a combination of a shutter with a discrete blackout blind fitted behind the frame. When the blind is up it cannot be seen, but when you need to sleep the blind can be dropped, the shutter closed and your room will dark!
Shutter Trends
The number of shutters and size of louvre blade you choose plays an important part in how much light is let into the room. A few years ago the trend use to be lots of small shutters across the window which fold up neatly with small 47mm louvre blades. This look would provide a more traditional look and could sometimes make the rooms look busy, and in return make the room feel smaller and darker.
Now the trends have changed, wide louvres and wide shutters are the ‘in thing’ to have. Shutters finish the room, so why fold them back out the way?
Choose large shutters with complementing medium/large louvre blades to maximise the size of your room and allow as much light in as possible. You always have the advantage of tilting the louvres to shut out the light when required. Check out my youtube video to see the different size.
Protection & Privacy with Shutters
Keep sunlight from damaging your furniture or computers, ensure your baby sleeps at night. Get privacy if you work nights and have the added benefit of security when you go away on holidays. Interior window shutters are a great deterrent because you can not see through the shutters, they can be tilted just enough for privacy and passers by will not know if you are in or out. Internal shutters can be left like this all week making your house looked lived in. If your curtains are closed during the day to keep the light out or because you are on holiday it becomes very obvious. Use shutters and a timed security light in your lounge for a good visual deterrent.
Check out how they work on French doors in this video:
Shutters make your room larger!
You will be amazed when you take down those large dark curtains that have been up for years. Your room will look huge! Because wooden window shutters are fitted so close to your window you gain extra depth to your room. Matching the colour of the shutters to your window makes them look more fitted and as most windows are white, they provide a white glow when the light bounces from the louvre blades.
Bay windows are the most noticeable. Most curtains are fitted across the window and if they are fitted around the window they are often on large bulky tracks. Shutters are a great neat alternative that will transform your room.
Save money – choose white shutters!
If you have wooden floors and furniture don’t think you have to match the wooden window shutters to them. Having dark shutters will make your room feel small and dark. The chances of matching the shutters exactly to your furniture are most unlikely, so you end up introducing yet another type of timber and colour into your house. Also, when you want to redecorate, change the colour of the walls, etc, you have an expensive task on your hands as all require changing.
By having white window shutters you can easily add accessories and change the colour of your room without having to think about changing the shutters. They will always look good from inside and outside, adding value to your home. This makes putting shutters in other rooms, in the future, more straight-forward too.
An important factor when thinking about shutters in several rooms is to consider matching across the whole of the front of the home – a complete appearance!
If you just can’t decide on the layout or how much light you may require, then choose the ‘top opening’ shutters as your preferred option. This gives you the best of both worlds. The top of the shutters will open and close independently from each other like a stable door, so in the summer when you want lots of sun and light you can swing the top shutters back out the way. In the winter, when you want to be cosy and warm, just close them all and tilt the blades to suit. Top opening shutters not only finish-off the window, but they avoid the need to introduce another window dressing at the top section, so saving you money!
Careful
Take care though – top opening shutters will only suit windows that are taller than they are wider.
Victorian sash windows lend themselves to this style of wooden shutter. Many UPVC windows are wide and short, they also have top fan-lights. In these cases you can match-up a horizontal rail in the shutter with the rail on the window. If your window has a dividing cross bar, match a rail in your shutters to line up with it. This will allow you to open the louvres independently either side of the bar. Great for privacy in bathrooms or bedrooms! Find out about the different designs in this youtube video.
Children’s safety
Children’s safety is important, especially at night! A few customers have come to me wanting advice on what they can use across their children’s windows at night to stop them falling out. One child had a particular tendency to climb in his sleep!
In the summer when it’s hot and you want to leave the window open, what do you do? I suggest interior window shutters. They are robust enough to withstand rough handling and with the right kind of catch fitted (to your own choice), they are strong enough to stop a child opening them. Windows can be left open at night since the air can circulate through the shutter louvre blades – even producing a little light for those not wishing it quite so dark!