When when it comes to modernizing blinds, curtains, or windows may first come to our minds, but shutters can be an elegant way to transform any room into a warm and comfortable retreat. Be it solid or stained closed, or swung completely closed, shutters with hinges add charm to your interior decor. And year-round, interior shutters for windows are energy efficient. The louver construction traps air to insulate against the cold and heat, no matter winter or spring.
In addition to helping reduce the cost of energy, custom shutters can boost your property’s value as well as provide an incredible curb appeal. They’ll leave a lasting impression on potential buyers thanks to their ability to discern the subtleties between contemporary and traditional or coastal and colonial style.
The secret lies in your unique mix of the colors, tilt rod position and the number of panels and frame design.
Are you interested in discovering the secrets? Here’s what you must be aware of to choose the best shutters that are custom-designed for your living space.
First, A Brief History
The first window shutters appeared within Ancient Greece. First designed in marble, static shutters served to defend the dwelling from the harsh, and sometimes stormy, Mediterranean climate.
When shutters for windows spread across the continent during the Middle Ages, changes were implemented in their designs. The change from marble to wood enabled the builders to create louvers that can be shut and open which allowed more control over light, ventilation and privacy, while preventing rain.
In the 18th- and 19th-Century American South, the name “shutter” was first officially coined, and louvered shutters extended the luxury and splendor of Southern mansions.
How to Choose The Best Window Shutters Oxford
Today, shutters are fitted in homes of different shapes and sizes on windows and doors small or large. They’re available in many colors, natural wood stains, materials, hinges, and frames. Here are a few suggestions to help you pick the ideal shutters to fit your house.
Things to Consider When Choosing Color
When choosing a color for your paint or stain, take into account your home’s exterior as much as your interior design. You’ll want to select a color that works well with both the design aesthetic and the palette on your home’s exterior.
Making the Right Choice for Your Panel Configuration
Shutters look best in a way that they match the style of your windows. In this case, the vertical components of shutters are aligned with the horizontal frame of your windows. Single-panel shutters are the most popularbecause they can maximize light and view outside. Particular windows might prefer a more traditional bi-fold panel style. To maximize lighting, try to avoid obstructions by fitting the biggest possible panel size.
Hidden Tilt Bar Vs. Visible Tilt Bar
A center tilt rod that is visible is the traditional design found on traditional shutters. They are perfect for accenting Colonial or cottage-style homes. A hidden tilt rod adds a more modern look to a room and provides the most light, and visibility when shutters have multiple panels.
Frames Can Be The Final Touch
Visual transitions between the wall and shutter is an important aspect that should not be ignored. Thin or thick or contrasting in color or coordinating, the shutter molding can dress up the opening. Choose from L-shaped, T-frame frames, casing frames and more.
What Shutter Materials are Available?
Wood Shutters
There’s something warm and inviting that warm and cozy shutters made of wood bring to a space. They’re less heavy and more durable than poly or hybrid shutters. However, wood will warp in humid areas, whereas faux wood proves to be far superior in humid conditions.
Faux Wood Shutters
Made from polyresin, and offering the looks of traditional wood, faux wood shutters look as real and offer moisture resistance when humidity is high, similar to bathrooms. False wood shutters are scratchproof and more durable.
Poly Shutters
The same strength and feel of real wood shutters The poly shutters we offer are manufactured using patented recyclable, non-toxic, and flame-retardant construction. With a clean, patent-pending finish the shutters are easy to clean and care for. No painting, no repairing, no replacing necessary.
Hybrid Shutters
Hybrid shutters mix the timeless style of wooden frames and the toughness of polymer panels. They result in a custom window treatment that does more than just look nice. The panels help insulate windows and doors up to 65 more effectively than standard shutters which helps keep energy costs down and the rooms more comfortable. The glass-like paint that is laser baked finish of the panels protects against harmful UV Rays. It is not affected by cracks, yellowing, chipping, splitting or warping.
Made-to-Measure Shutters
Regardless of what style elements and materials you choose regardless of the design elements and materials you choose, your best option will always be our easy-to-install, custom-made interior window shutters that will fit the unique dimensions of your windows.
How To Measure For Inside Window Shutters That You Can Mount:
Make sure that the window is wide enough to hang shutters on the inside of the frame. Also, examine the depth from the glass to the outside edge of your window’s casing. If the window’s casing’s depth is less than 2 3/4 inches, you’ll need to choose an outside mount.
Then, measure the width from left to right at three locations: the top, middle, and bottom. Next, measure the height from the top left, middle and bottom right down to the window sill.
How To Measure For Outside Mount Window Shutters:
Simply repeat the steps for taking measurements of the inside of the window mount measurements.
For standard L-frame shutters, add 4 inches to the width measurement. You can also add 2 inches to height for windows that have a sill. You can add 4 inches in case you don’t have a sill.
For shutters with designer frames that are designed to be designer-frame, add 5 inches the width measurement. Add two inches for height in the case of windows with a sill. Add 5 inches to the height measurement if you do not have an existing sill.
How to hang Interior Shutters
The light streaming through windows could be a bothersome distraction. It’s not even counting the neighbors who are more likely to have longer evening time to stare into your brightly lit living room. It is possible to install shades to block out the eyes of your neighbors however swinging shutters made of wood will definitely make a difference.
Interior shutters were the first “window treatments” typically found on Southern and urban houses, and are still a great way to give architectural and historical details. They also help keep out winter’s cold winds or summer’s intense heat. It’s easy to mount them on any window because they are attached to a thin frame, which is placed within the opening of the window or around the exterior part of the capping. If the frame is properly placed, the shutters will swing free and then close the day’s distractions by the click of a button.
Determine the Window Opening
Measure horizontally in between window jambs at three locations three places: top, middle and the bottom. Three places are vertically measured too.
Select the smaller of both sets of measurements and forward your measurements to shutter manufacturer for custom shutters.
TIP: Use the folding rule along that has a sliding extension instead of a tape measure to get the most accurate measurements on the inside.
Make sure you have the shutters ready.
Position each pair of shutters on the edge with the mortises of the hinge facing up and the louver control bars oriented towards one another. (This makes sure that all bars will be facing the same direction when the shutter is hung and allows one shutter of each opened right, while the other opens to the left.)
Put a hinge in a mortise. Use your drill or driver with a Vix bit. Place the bit into a screw hole in the hinge. Drill a pilot into the shutter. Repeat this process for all holes in the hinge.
Be aware that many shutter hinges are configured to open to the left so you’ll have to cut pins off half and reinsert them upside down, to ensure that every right-side hinge has an opposite left-side hinge.
With a Phillips-head bit in the drill/driver, screw all hinges to the shutters.
Attach the hanging clips
A second person should hold the shutter open against the wall, its hinges turned outwards so that they’re within the jamb. Adjust the entire shutter so that its hinges are protruding from the jamb enough so that the shutter is able to out of the casing when it is close to the wall. Draw a line on your jambs behind each hinge.
Keep the hanging strip in place against the lines. With a 1/8 -inch drill bit that is inserted into your drill/driver the pilot hole (one each at the top and bottom) into the strips and down into the jamb.
Then, using a square-head screw using your drill or driver, screw the hanging strip on the jamb. Repeat on the opposite side.
Tips To use the screws, drive them into the hanging strips at an angle that will prevent them from working loose as time passes.
The shutters should be aligned in the opening
With the assistance of your friend, place the shutters inside the window’s opening, then slip shamming into them at the top and bottom to secure them. Adjust the shutters to ensure an equally space between the window jamb as well as between the shutters.
Mark the casing at one end of the hinge’s knob. Set shutters aside.
Mark Hinge Positions on Casing
With a combination square transfer the mark on the casing into a strip on the jamb and then attach the hanging strip. The mark will help you determine where to line up the hinges on the window.
TIP: When marking hinges, you should make use of the top of the knuckle rather than the pin to guide you. This corresponds to an upper part of the hinge plate.
Place the shutters on the Strips
When hanging your shutters attach magnetic catch plates to their bottom (or top) in the corners.
Close a shutter, and then position it so that the L-shaped hinges sit comfortably in the corner formed by the window strip and hanging strip jamb. Make sure that the upper edge of every hinge plate with the line of each.
Mark the screw holes , then take the shutter back and set it aside. Use a 1/8-inch drill bit to create pilot holes near the locations you have marked.
Secure the hinges by loosely screwing them onto the hanging strip using Phillips-head screwdriver. Close the shutter and make sure it’s level all around. If necessary, adjust it after which you can tighten the screws.
Tips: Use a hand screwdriver instead of a drill/driver in tight spots. It gives you more control and makes damage less likely to happen.
Make sure you install the Magnet for Catch.
Attach a catch-magnet to the metal plate of the shutter. Close the shutter and make sure that it’s in line with the side and back of the window.
The magnetized catch is placed on the window sill, mark the exact location of the screw holes.
Remove the catch from the shutter, and then place it over the marks in the sill. Attach the catch to sill using a Phillips-head screwdriver. Repeat for the other catch.
Tip: A shutter (or door) is aligned correctly by having the two halves of each hinge rest perfectly and squarely against the with the door closed.