Check and see if you have The Louver Shop in your area. I have used them in two houses and the shutters are very good quality, very good price and custom sized. They will give you a free estimate and you can pick and choose which windows you want to do. I did the front of the house first and the master bedroom and then added a couple other bedrooms (which were not occupied at the time) later. I did all wood except in the garage which are PVC. I should have done PVC in the master bath as well as the window is over the tub and the paint has chipped from moisture. Otherwise they have held up perfectly and are 10 years old. They have a number of standard colors which match most basic trim colors but they will custom color for a small upcharge. I would consider doing the front of your house first as that will be the most visible from the street, instead of choosing "the downstairs rooms" which might not give it as unified a look outside. Plantation shutters are particularly suited to places you need privacy (bedrooms and bathrooms) as they can be closed completely. They don't work as well where you want light. I put them on my dining room because it was on the front of the house and we thought it would vastly improve the look of our house outside to put them across the front, which it did. However, I have very little light in my dining room now (I also have silk panels). The good news is we are close to the street so folks can't see us while we are eating in there! Another similar product would be wood blinds, either painted or stained. These can look very nice, particularly when you add a little extra money to add tapes to the blinds to cover the hardware. My sister has a mixture of these in her house (both painted white and stained) and has different colored tapes depending on the room and they look great. I also love the look of bamboo blinds to finish a window but they provide very little light control or privacy (they don't look very good when they are lowered), so I have those in my breakfast nook and den across the back of my house where privacy is not a concern. These can be very affordable - got mine at American Blinds and Wallpaper and they were great quality and they always have a coupon.

Funny that you should post asking what I did, since I JUST made up my mind and ordered something! Takes me a while on this stuff lol! As much as I love shutters, I ended up ordering blinds. I got real wood since the natural stone and high graining of the wood floors in my house just did not mesh - in my mind anyhow - with white shutters or blinds and the faux woods I looked at did not hold a candle to the real wood ones I found. They are very unique - Levelor 2 1/2 inch slats in a collection they call the "Estate Collection". I got the color they call "Estate Oak". They are the right tone of stain but what they bring to the mix that is unusual is that they look distressed - flecks of black and lots of variation in the stain so it looks like old wood. LOVE them. Now I cannot say how well they will hold up regarding warpage and such, but have come to the conclusion that NOTHING is a perfect choice in spite of my deep desire for that to be. I got them through StevesBlindsandWallpaper.com. First I ordered the smallest blind for this room with the idea that if I didnt care for it, I could use it on window of the same size in the back room. I did like them, however, so ordered the rest and they will be here in about a week. Steves was really good to deal with. There were some slats that had a tiny amount of sway to them - not at all noticable when the blind was closed but slightlly noticable when it was open - probably only to someone like me. Anyhow, I told them about it - not really complaining but just sort of asking if that was to be expected as I knew I had to order four more blinds that were much larger. They contacted Levelor and Levelor is sending me an entire new blind and not even requiring that I send this one back! I will move this one to the back room, and order one more like it for the other window back there! Excellent experience with them! The other online source that had a good price was Blindsexpress.com. I ordered from Steves instead as they seemed able to get the order to me sooner. After the experience with customer service at Steves, I am glad I did, altho I cannot say that BlindsExpress would have done less. They very well may have been just as helpful, and to be fair, they had the best price up front. Steves just matched them when I brought that to their attention. If you are open to doing a DIY installation of Shutters, I found great prices on shutters online at a store called Theshutterstore.com. They offer all sorts of shutters - stained, painted, real wood and faux. Before I finally ordered my blinds I was leaning very hard toward doing stained shutters in here and the price was not that much more than the blinds. I did blinds mostly because I already had white trim, crown molding and such in here and could not 'see' the stained shutters knitting easily with that. If I could have come up with a design solution, I might have done the shutters as that was the main thing I was struggling with. Given that I found blinds with such character, I think I will be happy. Plus, with blinds, I can pull them all the way up to see my very pretty view. The wall space around my windows would have been tight if I had wanted to open the shutters. I am considering doing the shutters in my bedroom, however, since a white of some shade will go well in there. Plus, TheShutterStore.com offeres a privacy slat that would really block out light. I do question the idea of having shutters only in that room, however. Is it odd to have blinds in the other rooms and shutters in that one? Anyone have an opinion on that to share? I hope you are able to make a choice that brings you peace. I really like the blinds I chose, but as I said, cannot be sure that they wont sway or warp eventually. I got the 'no holes' option - meaning that the slats just are lying in there and not with strings running through them. I figure if a slat gets a sway in it, I will flip it over and let it 'sway' back the other way lol! I think I made the right choice for me.

I love plantation shutters (softened with curtains, not standing alone, please!) and intend to install them in our new house -- we don't have the right windows for them in our current house. Yes to white shutters and white trim. These things aren't cheap, and white will see you through any changes in color scheme you may make later. Also, most people go with wooden floors -- your room can only take so much wood tone. Break it up with white. I'm confused about details though: - Wood, vinyl, or composite -- which will last and be the best value? - Is a plantation shutter in the bathroom (obviously not in the stream of the water) doomed to water damage? - I'm assuming it's cheaper to install the shutters AFTER the build is over -- not the builder himself?

Definitely wouldn't do grey doors, you can do black but it's a bold look. Really any color interior door that isn't white or wood is going to be a harder sell when it comes time to sell the home. Without seeing your home I say go with the regular white, interior doors really shouldn't be the star of the show.