Even if you decide to get shutters, the brick work would still need to be done. I guess I am a little confused as to why the shutter question needs to be answered right now. They can easily be added after you move in.

My opinion is that your house was made for shutters. : ) It will be a classic cape cod type look.

As far as them taking up too much of the face of the home: you don't have to shutter every opening. I wouldn't shutter the front door but would definately shutter the garage windows, for example. Add a couple of window boxes, too, while you're at it...it will be charming!

I wouldn't shutter the door opening, either, and don't understand the problem. There is plenty of room around your windows for "real" shutters---just divide the width of the window in half and that is how wide each shutter should be. I would put them on every window, and would use iron hinges and shutterdogs. They will be a beautiful addition to your home.

If it were my house, I would just do shutters on the 3 garage windows. On the porch, a shutter on the leftmost window would be so close to the edge of the house that it wouldn't look right to me. And I don't care for shutters on tiny wondows, so I wouldn't put one on the square window, either. I would have them do a fancier brick pattern around the door or use some bigger, fancier moldings?

Just MO, from someone who has no decorating bone in her body - LOL!

I think what he may be referring to is that the shutters on windows under the porch would be close to each other, not touching, but close. I would be more concerned about the outside corners of the porch. I agree with straitlover that there may not be enough room there if you planned shutters that are 1/2 of the window width. Many of the architects and builders on the building forum hate shutters just "plopped" on the exterior. Worthy comes to mind. I think the problems (in their minds) are more with non-working shutters, i.e. those placed there for decoration only. That being said, it's your house and you should do what you like. Our plan called for shutters but we've been in a year and haven't put any on yet. I am busy with other $$ projects like shutters and landscaping so the shutters and shutter dogs will have to wait.

I just don't think you are going to have room for shutters without making the house look "phony." Have you seen a rendering of your house at completion to see how it will look with/without shutters?

Sorry, looks like I worded it wrong. I'm not putting shutters by the door. I don't think the house will look right without shutters. But you're right, I'm not sure if there's enough room, esp at the left end of the house. if you put the shutter on, it's going to go all the way to the edge.

busybme - I'm asking this question now because if I decided on no shutters, I was going to do some kind of design w/ brick around the windows. I understand I have plenty of time to put shutters on, I just need to decide if I want them or if I should do a design around the entire window. This is the only image I have of the house & it only shows it at an angle. I wish I had Photoshop & I could play around with it & what kind of front porch looks good! Thanks for the comments!

What a charming home you are going to have! I can see it being lovely either way. You could have the brick trim and mouldings be very attractive with or without shutters.

Best of luck! Let us know what you decide.