I recently did an Insta-takeover with Shutterly Fabulous, a nationwide provider of made-to-measure shutters founded in Brighton. During my takeover, I was asked various questions about shutters and figured it would be useful to have all your questions in one place – with answers of course!
The information below combines my personal experience of having shutters installed over two floors at the front of our house, with the 16+ years experience of the Shutterly Fabulous team.
Are shutters expensive?
Shutters are among the more expensive window treatments you can buy for your home, but in my opinion they’re worth it. It’s also worth noting the price of shutters varies massively depending on where you get them. We shopped around and had wildly different quotes. The highest was around £10K and the most reasonable was £3.5K, which was our quote from Shutterly Fabulous. Shutterly Fabulous offer ball park quotes over the phone if you know your rough window measurements, or book a free in-home appointment with them to survey and design your windows.
Do they add value to your home?
Shutters can add value to your house as they appeal to buyers and increase kerb appeal. First impressions count! Letting more light into the room makes it feel brighter and airier – suggesting more space. This is rarely achieved with curtains and roller blinds, so you could argue that shutters are a wise investment, especially if you think you’ll sell up in the future.
What size should we go for?
I would say a size relevant to your home, but really, it’s down to personal preference. Shutterly Fabulous slats come in four sizes, 64mm, 76mm (most popular), 89mm and 114mm.
What size are your shutters?
We went for the Premium Elm range, which has a subtle wood grain, with 64mm slats. We live in a modest terrace house and felt the smaller slats were best suited to our home. While shutters come in a wide range of colours, we went for Bright White, for a classic look that goes with everything.
Do Shutterly Fabulous just cover Brighton or other areas?
Shutterly Fabulous launched in Brighton in 2002 but since then it has grown to be a nationwide business. Wherever you are in the UK, Shutterly Fabulous offers a free in-home design consultation.
During the consultation the design expert will ask questions about how you use the space and will take full measurements of every window. The measurement process is meticulous to ensure the shutters exactly fit each window.
For us, living in a period property where everything is slightly wonky, this was the bit I was most nervous about. Our consultant was reassuring and clearly very precise as our shutters are perfect!
What are the lead-times for made-to-measure shutters?
Average lead times for made to measure wooden shutters are 10-12 weeks. This is pretty standard, whoever you go with.
The design expert actually left us with a supply of temporary blinds that we stuck up inside the window panes to maintain our privacy. We were on a tight renovation budget so this was a god-send, but there are plenty of places you can pick up cheap roller blinds as a temporary measure if you don’t have an existing alternative.
Will plantation shutters block out light?
When they are closed, yes, they will absolutely block out light. When they are open, they will let light into the room. Of course, the solid frame and thin edge of each slat reduces light ingress, but this small in comparison to the expanse of the entire window.
If you are worried about restricting light, go for tier on tier shutters. That way you can have the top open during the day and still maintain privacy. The other thing to note is the slats on most plantation shutters are adjustable, so you have full control over the amount of light you let in or otherwise.
Can shutters be black-out?
Shutters are never completely black-out, but they do a pretty good job. In both our living room and our bedroom, our shutters reach the full height of the windows. When both tiers and all slats are fully closed, the rooms are in darkness. Due to the small gaps between slats and joins in the frame, a small amount of light is able to get in, but it’s minimal. I’d say the result is about the same as you’d get with a black out roller blind.
Are they good for bedrooms?
Obviously as we have shutters in our bedroom, I’m going to say yes! Seriously though, I wouldn’t recommend them if they didn’t work for us, but they really do.
In the morning, the first thing I do is open the top tier to let in the light and help wake me up. Once I’m showered and dressed I’ll then open the slats on the bottom tier. Come evening, we’ll close the bottom slats and before bed, the top tier too. We do this in the summer to avoid being woken up ridiculously early when the sun rises (we forgot the other day and were woken at 4.30am!). In the winter we often leave the top tier open as we like to get as much sunlight as possible during those darker months.
Can shutters be fitted to bay windows?
Yes they can! We have shutters on both bay windows to the front of the house. The frames are made to fit each window and the shutters sit inside each frame. In fact, shutters can be made to fit all kinds of windows – even circular!
No one asked but in case you were wondering, shutters are super easy and quick to clean – a feather duster is all you need.
So if you haven’t already figured, I’m a fan of shutters. In my opinion, if you like the look of them, can afford them and want to add value to your home – it’s a no brainer.