Shutters - anyone ordered from B&Q or John Lewis? Or should I look elsewhere?

[daisie4]

Hi, we're planning to put plantation shutters in our en-suite and bedroom. Has anyone got any experience of the DIY version in B&Q or ordering through John Lewis? Or any other recommendations? We're in the SW.
I'd like good quality painted, so not plastic looking, more matt eggshell.
Thanks.

we got some recently and used Lifestyle Shutters who were fantastic - may be a bit far away for you I don't know - based in South East. If you do go with them let me know and I can do you a friend recommendation and you get 50% off fitting and I get 20 quid or something (they were recommended to me by a friend). I was very nervous as we were getting 2 floors done but they were great I have to say and we love them. We got 4 quotes and they were by far the best. There is also another thread on here somewhere with good recommendations for Shutterly Fabulous and some other smaller companies - don't know what the B&Q ones are like in the flesh or the JL ones - but they look a bit rickety in the shop? (JL).

I wouldn't attempt self install unless you are or are married to a builder/carpenter btw (we were considering it) having seen the process first hand.

The most important thing I can tell you having recently been through this process is do not under any circumstance ask for a quote from Sandersons Blinds - you will ever get rid of the salesman, who will quote you some ridiculous price with a discount if you decide on the spot etc etc all the old double glazing tricks, and then they spam you and call you multiple times a day until you threaten them to stop.

We have got plantation shutters from Shutterly Fabulous and they are lovely. The whole process was easy, no hassle, professional.

And avoid Thomas Sanderson (is that the same as Sanderson Blinds?), they pestered me with calls for weeks after I made an enquiry but then went elsewhere.

We have just had ours from hilaries. In our living room and kitchen dining, they are lovely but where a month late and only offered, 250 pound off.

yes AVOID AVOID AVOID Thomas Sanderson and Hilarys

We have ordered shutters, but not had them fitted yet. We found this company by knocking on a near neighbours door when we moved in - liked the look of theirs! We are in the SW, pm me if you want more details. Neighbour appeared to have done the research in terms of cost etc.

Can anyone on here give me a rough guide to the cost? Per window with fitting. As we are hopefully moving soon and would love to get shutters but wonder of they are totally out of our budget.

I think it works out roughly 350 per window

I think we paid circa £230 per sq metre including fitting etc, price does vary depending on type and finish, and how fancy you want them to be. HTH

John Lewis [though it's with a firm called SCraft] here. Just ordered and waiting for install. Way more expensive than the other postings. Circa £650 per sash window but this was with blackout blinds built in too at extra cost of about £100 if memory serves. Install was about £200 so it's worth trying to do all the windows in one go. 4-6 types of wood/cost and we chose second cheapest I think.
Fairly painless experience so far aside from the cost. Not quick - booked in JL, two weeks to come and measure, we had two weeks to decide before quote expired, and then 8-12 weeks for delivery. Looks like it will be 8 rather than 12 though which is nice. Good to have curtains before I inadvertently flash the neighbours when the mornings get dark again.

We ended up using Clement Browne through John Lewis. The whole process was really simple. We did have a couple of local companies come round to measure and quote but it just felt quite awkward and too hard sales. I liked the approach Clement Brown had. They kind of knew exactly what we wanted, had some examples, an iPad to measure it all out and show us renders on how it would look and to be honest the price wasn't much more than the others... I felt more comfortable buying from a company which John Lewis trust in.