Shutters - why?

My curtains are currently closed. I hate the light getting in when I'm sitting watching telly. I would love shutters

That’s your opinion. My mum and dad have them and they look lovely. They blend in with the wall colour, allow plenty of light and give them the privacy they want. There’s a couple that live up the road from them and every time they used to walk past you would see them nosing into their living room. In the summer it’s lovely and cool and they help to keep the heating in during the colder months. I would have them if I could afford them.

Don’t worry though, I’m sure Labour will introduce a tax on them when they win the election when they tax us all into oblivion 🙄

I’ve just paid for my sons shutters.
I’ve sent you a pm with link with photos from the company’s pages of my sons that were done toast week
if you just went half way all up I reckon around 650 700
I paid 3k for two large downstairs windows and double patio doors
small kitchen window
2 large bedroom windows

Anyone got a ballpark price for how much for a Victorian terrace bay window a bit like this one might be? Also would people suggest just lower part? Thank you.

We don’t have them but a lot of Victorian houses in our area do, including some of our friends. They look quite classic and go well with the different styles of furniture that each household has.

Of course they do - just like closing curtains during the day during a heatwave helps keep the room temperature down.
Why do you think standing in the shade when outside keeps you cooler than standing in the sunshine?!

I really like them but they are so expensive we won't be getting any.

None of my neighbours have them but by far the majority keep their curtains permanently closed. When I walk my dogs (different times of the day at least twice a day) they are closed.

Along my street there are 11 houses and 7 of them have permanently closed curtains, front and back. Their rooms must be so dark and gloomy. It's all the time, not just when sunny.

On my estate of 200 houses over half have their curtains closed all the time.

I think it is very weird. I like as much light as possible and we don't even have curtains on our downstairs windows. Our road is not that busy and we have very long front gardens.

DH jokes that they must all belong to some sort of cult!

Well, our house was built in 1863, and the shutters are the original ones.

I've thought this too OP! I sometimes see them in new builds with tiny windows. I've got horizontal thin but wide slatted wooden blinds, not particularly fashionable at the moment but do the trick.

I've always thought the same about windows with massive plants in too, they look dingy to me - much like plants I need light to thrive 😁

Ye olde net curtains will inevitably come back in at some point, the ideal solution to privacy and light.

I have them all through my house.

I hate curtains, I think they are unhygienic dust traps.

This reminds me of a thread once where the op was wondering why her neighbours never opened their curtains, some people like shade and privacy

I think they look great on big old houses with big windows. Would look a bit wierd on my little ex council terrace...

I will be getting them in my front room and bedroom as my new house faces out onto a main road. I work at a desk facing out of the window ( in a glass artist, I need the natural light) and honestly some days I feel like a drs receptionist with people walking past, stopping and peering at me through the window. Also, I only work mornings as the sun comes around and blasts through the front windows from 1-sunset and it gets HOT in those rooms.

Are they out? I keep them shut to keep the heat out. Makes a huge difference to the temperature of the house.

The climate is heating up, despite the endless 18 months of rain we've just had, and something we're not good at understanding - yet - in the UK is that when it's roasting outside, you don't open the curtains, blinds or shutters in the middle of the day, you close them. Those who grew up in hotter lands (like my partner) will tell you this.... so they might seem dated and old fashioned at this point but the 1990s days of endless glass buildings, say, are almost certainly behind us.

We're all going to have a lot of learning to do the next few years.

Besides which, unless there are odd smells and bats flying around, is it really anybody's business but theirs?

Nah - we have them on our south facing windows, inside, and they do a pretty good job of keeping the room cool. No doubt exterior shuttering would be more effective still.

To say your not interested in their life, you seem to be, errm, very interested in their life 🤣

We have slatted blinds and you don't have to have them open much to let light in. From the street they probably look practically closed. Also, the street side ones are on bedrooms and the front room, which we don't use so much during the day. The main lounge, kitchen etc are at the back of the house where we have no blinds and tons of light.

This made me laugh
I have shutters in my house on every windows had them about 4 years I do have them for privacy mainly but I’ve always like them

just paid for my son to have shutters installed in. His house and they were installed on Friday

They look amazing and have really finished off the house

he's got them in the kitchen and on the back to windows and patio doors plus upstairs in all three bedrooms

you can have part of them open / closed or the whole shutter open / closed but even when closed you still get light

they have 3 skylights in the living room as well so that helps

Cost 3600 for the whole house

The patio and back windows are called perfect fit shutters so they aren’t traditional
shutter that you can open wide
But the other shutters are traditional type ones

I love my shutters, mine are inside and they stay closed. I like darker rooms, it’s more cozy to me. And they keep my house cooler. Brightness hurts my eyes so I love having them on my windows.

So all of you who have them, are the rooms light inside?

Yes.

Shutters don't have to mean you're sat in the dark! It does mean you can choose how much light you want coming in though which can be helpful.

I've got shutters. I keep them open during daylight hours and closed when dark outside.

I live in a very old house and shutters suit the property.

Not shutters but I have day night blinds and people walking past my kitchen probably think I live in the dark

It's right on the pavement and I get kids banging on the window if the blind is open so it's permanently closed

I love mine, I don't tend to like overused trends like wood slatting or panelling etc but the shutters look great in my house and aren't dark at all, but I have an older house and only have them fitted in two four window round bays, they don't overwhelm the room and look fitting with the proportions and style. I wouldn't have had them in my previous semi where the ceilings were low and windows small

We have Venetian blinds at the bay windows. I kept them open until about 10 pm this evening. I really don’t care about people looking in . My main concern is keeping them clean!!! They are actually disgusting and not sure how to clean them!!

And how do curtains or blinds prevent this?