My client who has put them on most of the windows in the last two houses never ever opens them. In the bedrooms they are full height in the living room half height. She opens and closes the louvers, but never opens the shutter itself. There is no place for them to rest open on many of the windows.

Thanks both of you.

IdaClaire, I was hoping you would answer because I just love what you are doing with your new home. I am a rare poster but have enjoyed watching both your houses evolve. I am glad to hear about the insulation aspect as that is important to me. Do you know what yours are made of? Here we basically have a choice of PVC or basswood, with PVC being recommended for damp areas.

Palimpsest, I don't think opening them would be a problem because it isn't really my intent to do so. However, I will have room to if the need arises. A valid point to bring up.

We have them throughout our house. And we do open them when the weather is pleasant and we are able to open our windows. (Florida, cool days don't come often but when they do I love airing out the house!) I like them so much more then the drapes and other fabric window treatments they replaced. I can't think of any cons.

I had them in the LR and DR of a house we rented in LA. I hated them! But then I love, love, love curtains. Also, shutters must be dusted - hate dusting!

I think you have to be careful regarding the louver side when deciding what to get, because the wider the louver the more clearance it needs on the "window" side. I know that one of my clients had to have some of them mounted fairly far out from some of the windows in her house which had very shallow jamb depth (it was a mid century rancher and some of the windows had minimal jambs and trim). The installers did have "frames" around the shutters, but this did extend out a couple inches from the window.

We have them throughout our home and love them. I find a quick wipe with the dust cloth every time I dust the furniture in a room to be the only upkeep required. I hated the semi annual take down the drapes and get them cleaned chore. We luckily have room to open them out if we wish. We also have full coverage in bedrooms and bathrooms and half height in the living room.

The green striped thing at the top of the window is an awning outside the window.

We installed plantation shutters in most of our house. Love them! But we needed a combination of privacy, sun control and ventilation. And in the bargain we got the insulating properties IdaClaire mentioned. Ours are NOT wood or PVC. Ours are made of "Tropical Polymer." I have no idea what that is but they are manufactured locally, can be repainted when needed (probably not in my lifetime), are weather resistant and can be removed from the frame and hosed down! (haha! not in my lifetime). All of our hardware is stainless steel.

A few things to watch out for: There is framing that goes around the shutters so make sure your window framing is deep enough so you will be able to open and shut your windows and remove your screens once that framing is installed. And as someone else said, they look best when they are as flush to your window trim as possible. And everything Palimpsest said!

I dust the louvers every other week. So that's a factor to consider. Overall, I love the shutters and would install them again.

Augment, thanks so much for your kind words. Our shutters are basswood - although the one in the master bath may be a different material (I just can't remember). Really, dusting is not an issue at all. Since we have cats, shutters actually keep our home cleaner. The curtains we had at our old house were constantly covered in cat fur around the edges and that just about drove me bonkers.

Really, any surface in your house is going to accumulate dust and require cleaning. It was recommended to me to vacuum my drapes with a brush attachment so it's not much different than vacuuming shutters. But these are actual drapes with lining and weighted bottoms so they are heavy enough to be vacumed. We always washed (yearly, I think) the sheers in the house I grew up in although technically they were not washable.

I do not find them dark enough for a bedroom and wish I had not put them there. YMMV

We have to leave our LR and stairwell shutters open so the cats can sit in the window. Otherwise there's no reason to open them.

I agree with what shari said. I do not find them light blocking enough for bedrooms, but I live in an area with lots of nighttime light pollution.

Thank you so much everyone! I never expected to get so many thoughtful replies. It helped me to think over and also confirm various points. I have always had custom drapes and sheer curtains and although I still love the look, there are problems with those as well.

There are three size blades available here. We deal in metric but they equate to 2.5", 3.5" and 4.5". My windowsills are about 4" deep, so too shallow for the largest blades. Since I was wanting the 3.5" it seems to me that will work. Am I right?

Dusting is not an issue for me. Like Palimpsest mentioned, it will be easier than vacuuming my drapes and taking down copious amounts of sheers to wash. I don't like the bedroom too dark, so that won't be a problem but is a good point for those who do.

Our screens are removed from the outside, so they will not be a problem thank goodness.

Ida, I don't have a cat at the moment but you are so right about the fur! They also seem to leave a greasy residue on corners they push past all the time. It will be nice not to have to deal with all that.

It looks like I will proceed. Now I just have to paint all the window frames before I order anything. Not looking forward to that!

Thanks again everyone!

Palimpsest, if you are reading this, do you think the size blade I have mentioned above will be alright for my windows?

We have them almost everywhere in the house except for a few windows that have the accordion blinds, which I plan to replace with plantation shutters sometime when I can get to it. I love the plantation shutters.

Augment,

Do you have Tilt turn windows? If so, there is an Australian company that makes shutters just for them. They look great and are mounted to the window.

Nutsaboutplants, love your name, I am nuts about plants too. Love your garden.

Homepro01, No, not tilt windows but thanks anyway, I appreciate the thought.

Not sure anyone mentioned this but you can customize how much of the shutter opens with a push of the tilt rod. (So basically maybe you just want the top half open in some windows and the whole window open in others). Something to think about.

I read that your window depth was 4" so you didn't think you could use a 4 1/2" louver. This is not correct. Approximately 1/2 of the louver will be in the window opening and the other half will stick out into the room. I have shutters on most of my windows and love them. Here is a blog post about shutters that may interest you and there is a link for an eBook that will give you all the information you could want. The eBook will tell you about all of the different louver materials and what will work best.

https://dressthatwindow.com/beauty-of-shutters/

Good Luck!