Shutters - why?

[Member786488]

The house down the road from me has shutters in every room. And they’re always, and I mean always, 99% closed.

this is SE England, not France, and obviously they’re inside not out.

I can’t help think that it must be so dark in every room in their house.

I know the couple, they’re fine, I’m not interested in their lives in any way.

if you have shutters, does this mean that you live your life in the dark?

I just can’t understand why anyone in this part of the world would want them, light is everything…

enlighten me…

Could be shift workers.

You can tilt them so you can see out but no one can see in. Even if it’s dark outside and you have little lamps on inside. Ours are white so they look beautiful.

Tilt them one way they let heat out and the room stays cool, tilt the other way and heat stays in.

Nice and dark in the summer when the sun rises at 4am.

So easy to clean.

Best thing we’ve bought for our home

Not everyone likes their house to be light and bright. I have a friend who much prefers dark rooms - partly for TV/gaming reasons as mentioned above, partly because they find bright light overwhelming. She says she'd love to live in a cave or basement! I love light and bright houses, but she's made me realise that not everyone does.

They’re used as a modern alternative to net curtains. You angle them so people can’t see in but plenty of sun light shine downwards into the room.

They might have a velux in the room and as others have said, can be tilted to allow light in, but appear shut from outside.

Lack of light would drive me insane
Are you ok OP? I'm sure the occupants aren't crawling around their house on hands and knees feeling around in the dark! You seem to have an obsession with THEIR shutters and light! Get a hobby that doesn't involve spying on your neighbours 😆.

Yes, the rooms are light inside. You angle them to stop people seeing but you can see out and the light still comes through.
Shutters are great, especially where you look out on a street (better than some naff net curtain) or in a sunny room where you can angle sun out, keeping the room cool but light.

Just an upscale version of blinds

Flexibility. You can angle sections of a bay window shutter differently to stop glare from direct sunlight while still letting in plenty of light. Love ours.

B@Revelatio Same! I have to wear an eye mask as though I love our shutters they are rubbish at keeping light out as in ‘black out’.

May I be nosey and ask how much yours cost for your front room? Do you have a bay window?

@CJ0374 😂 I’m aware it makes me sound unhinged, but every time I pass i just wonder how they cope. I love light in my home but reading these replies I realise a) it’s not everyone’s aspirations and b) shutters don’t cut out all light anyway.

so it’s all good 😅

I love shutters. They look lovely and increase privacy.

I really don't get this obsession with houses with 'lots of light'.

But then I hate summertime and general sunshine so what would I know 😂

To me, louvred shutters on the interior of windows scream “I have money but I know absolutely nothing about thermodynamics”.

It's too late to save me now but please do enlighten us on how knowledge of thermodynamics should inform our choice of window covering. Here I was, basing it all on practicality like an idiot 🙄

Had our plantation shutters put in two weeks ago
Our cat launched herself out of the top bedroom window the other year
All through the summer we were bloody sweating so she couldnt get out
And bring back presents at night

She's very unhappy now but we can leave windows open and she's safe

Shutters should be on the outside, not the inside, like in Europe. It stops the sun from hitting the glass window and heating the room up.

And how do curtains or blinds prevent this?

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!!

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

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'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.

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 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.

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

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.