Pro's and cons of plantation shutters?

[Dixie2016]

I got a quote yesterday for installing plantation shutters in to the living room and bedrooms in my house. We have big windows so curtains and blinds are always expensive and at the moment what we have looks terrible.

The quote I received was slightly better than feared but I'm still a bit unsure as they are so ubiquitous!

Can anybody tell me the benefits and downsides of having them?

I can't think of any downsides. We have them in our current house (and in our last one) and I love them. So easy to clean (I use the brush nozzle on the vacuum) and they look beautiful.

I guess you might have a slightly issue in summer if you like bedrooms to be pitch black but they do block out lots of light.

If you wanted to save money and could measure up and install them yourselves then I can really recommend Californian Shutters. (I don't work for them - I've posted lots of things on Mumsnet property threads). They have great video guides to measuring/installing on their website and I think we paid about £1.3k for a big bay window and two big bedroom window. The sometimes have 10-15% off.

Fine if you live in a plantation, otherwise they look wrong.

I adore mine!! Though only have in living room. i think they're v stylish. I need a blackout blind in bedrooms.

...on a...

Downsides I can think of

1. They are always there. In theory you can fold them back fully I suppose, but because they are bulky when folded back, most people seem to just leave them across the window all the time. So you do lose your view out, and a fair bit of light, even with the slats opened. Whereas with curtains or blinds, once they are open you get a clear window.

2. They don't soften a room in the same way as curtains or blinds - so you may find the bedroom feels a bit "hard" with shutters compared with curtains. Though you could get some cheaper curtains for decorative purposes only and hang them at the sides I guess. Or up the fabrics elsewhere eg throw and cushions on the bed, rug on floor.

3. Suspect they may not keep warmth in, or light out, as well as properly lined curtains. But better than thin curtains.

Could someone who has them say how "thick" they are when folded back? About to order and would be good to know....

I never fold mine back. No need, if I angle the shutters right they let loads of light in. They're not thick if folded back though

We are waiting for our california shutters can't wait!! They are doing 20% off ATM. (I don't work for them either)

Thickness when folded back - but depends a lot on whether they would be folded in half or not? If you fold each shutter back "in one piece" rather than also folding the shutter panel in half, they would be about 5 cm thick I guess. But folded in half it's more like 11cm

(NB I am guessing from memory here rather than measuring!)

I think the main con is you lose your view. They are pretty thick, and over the window all the time, so it makes it harder to see out.

Overall I really like them though, very smart looking and quick to use.

You'll love them, Boom. Quick tip: they label the boxes, e.g. left hand upper shutter for you, but it's not always correct (we had this issue and so did my sister). It should all fit fine but if not then try others in it's place. Bit of a faff but we saved so much money it was worth a bit of head scratching.

ours don't fold back as set into the internal window frame so can only sit straight out when open, which is a pain,

but, the house had them when we bought them, they do look smart, less fuss than curtains, do work well at keeping heat in

I think they are super in situations where you don't want to be able to clearly see out of that window. So like the front bay window close to the street, bottom half of front bedroom windows etc.

In those situations, no downsides as you want the privacy.

We have a massive bay window in our front room and had them installed about three years ago. Quite expensive but thoroughly worth it. We can choose to open up the top half completely letting loads of light in and either have the bottom shut or open and angled etc. You can also choose to close a small section either for privacy or to stop sunlight. Wouldn't be without them now and they also look very elegant.

Thanks for that top tip crumbelina, I'll be thanking you no doubt when we come to fit them

We don't have a view worth looking at - it's only other houses.
Our windows are big and awkward shaped bays. The curtains and blinds we have currently look wrong. We tried wooden venetians but they didn't cut out much light at all so we still needed curtains over the top.

Another thing for us is that some of our bedroom windows don't have small openings which is dangerous in our children's rooms. So we rarely open their windows. I'm hoping with shutters that I can open the windows but still have that physical barrier stopping any little people toppling out?

Dixie re safety, yes the shutter would be an additional barrier but it would be easy for a child to fold open the shutter and get to the open window, unless you get some sort of latch to hold the shutter closed. If you have sash windows you can get window stops so they can only be opened a little (but appreciate may not be sashes).

I love mine, have them in my front bay cafe style so you can still see the stained glass above. Our road always has lots of people walking up and down & I love the privacy they give.

We installed shutters on all the front facing windows of our house following a major renovation last year. Love them, they look amazing, and so practical too, especially on the big rectangular window we have on our landing that is stunning, and really needs some kind of covering for privacy purposes, but looked utterly shite with either the vertical blinds we inherited or with curtains. The shutters are the perfect solution.

They are brilliant not just for privacy but for filtering and angling light when the sun shines directly on a window. The front of our house gets full on sun in the late afternoon and early evening, which in summer becomes uncomfortably hot, and we used to just shut curtains which felt a bit grim. Now we can just angle or close the shutters to filter the light and it's great.

Minor downsides are: they don't totally block out light for a bedroom, and they don't soften a room as curtains or blinds might do. We solved this issue in our lounge (which has oak-effect laminate floor too) by having curtains at the back of the room over the French doors to the back garden, and shutters at the front only.

We also get full sun in the afternoon and it shows up every spot and smear on the windows. That's something else I'm hoping the shutters can disguise 😄

What style do you all have? I've been quoted for full height with a mid rail and hidden closures.