Can you paint the siding? Would be better to put the money into some landscaping. as I agree, looks nice with no shutter. BTW, small child thinking..."It looks like I can make a run for it!"

I wonder if washing the siding will make a difference. I think shutters in a light wood look would look nice, if you have to put them back up. I also like a raised panel version.

Try washing the siding before any decision is made.

I agree wash the siding first I do not like the shutters on there at all and definately not in wood where they really have no connection to the house, plus the fact there are only 2 windows that can even have shutters and those are the 2 small ones on the right on what appears to be the garage. Those areas will fade with time and IMO still better with no shutters. The landscaping is what you really need to do and that will pull your eye away to it instead of the small difference where the shutters were. BTW what kind of siding is that ? If not vinyl then the whole thing can be dealt with with painting the siding

Thanks all! We washed the siding on the garage and unfortunately that’s the siding clean. I didn’t know you could paint the siding (it’s vinyl) but you’re right it might be a fix till we can redo the house siding.

We definitely are going to tackle the landscaping next. Though we’re still under lockdown for the most part in NY, so it’s definitely a slow process. If anyone has landscaping suggestions we’d love any.

The boys are 1.5 and 3.5 and luckily we have 2 acres. They are a handful!

Don't paint the siding! Vinyl siding will not take the paint well and will become a maintenance nightmare.

Thanks Bichonbabe. We’ve never had to deal with this before. I don’t want a nightmare. Especially because I am guessing new siding is going to be at least $10k and that’s not happening right now.

So we’re back to shutters unless we want the faded shutter look for the next few years. Any recommendations on shutters/colors? I promise we’ll not put them back once new siding is in the budget. For now, I’d rather spend a few hundred and not have the discoloration.

Thanks!

Painting Vinyl Siding

https://www.bobvila.com/articles/how-to-paint-vinyl-siding/

https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/project-ideas-inspiration/exteriors/vinyl-siding-ideas-inspiration

https://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-collection/vinylsafe-colors-for-vinyl-siding

Naturally, do your research first.

I wouldn’t paint vinyl myself. I’d leave the shutters off the brick since that didn’t seem to fade and put them back everywhere else. if it were me I’d do that rather than take any more risk. Painting a house that size isn’t going to be super cheap even if the siding isn’t vinyl...

I like the look of shutters on your home. They seem to provide a nice finishing touch.

Roccouple that's an idea. We can put them up on just the vinyl. I was thinking the suggestion was just to paint the shutter outline, but it seems like it might be risky.

IdaClaire-I appreciate it, as it seems everyone wants them off. I didn't hate them, just the plastic look. Ideally we'd have new siding. But that's not going to happen. So it's either paint the vinyl or new shutters. Any colors or shutters you'd recommend we check out?

I also think the shutters look good on your house. One of the arguments against putting shutters on a home is if they aren't functional or even appear to be perfectly functional, don't include them. As long as the shutters aren't visually too narrow or too large or just don't complement the house, I consider them simply to be frames for a window and often an attractive enhancement for the house. If we ditched every house embellishment that isn't functional, than adding fake cupolas to a structure would also be a sin.

@jay06, not that the shuttes have to be functional. Just look functional.

Thanks Patriceny. Thank you for your support/advice. I knew what I as in for when I posted. But we knew the old shutters were coming down either way. They were faded and we wanted to freshen things up. If we had the money we would 100% do new siding. But we aren't sure we could color match the siding to paint the shutter outline, so I think we'll just focus on new shutters for now. Either paint the ones we have, or my husband wants wooden ones. I'm not sure it would match our house, but we aren't sure how to know either. We just know we had a similar house in TX and houses like ours in TX had wooden shutters. The best color/stain is what we're trying to figure out.

I suggest either a wood stain similar to the brick color. On another note, I have painted very worm plastic shutters on a few of homes. While not as perfect as new shutters, in the big scheme of things it saved a lot of money and looked good. Then I've spent the savings on landscaping.

Sorry for the typos. Should be wood stain similar to the dark or mid tone of brick and very "worn" shutters.

Cris, the house will look nice with or without shutters. I do understand the fading issue. The shutter advice given here (and in your other thread) was simply meant to be helpful regarding shutter design and use. Not a forum quirk at all. It's your house...bottom line is what looks good to YOU. :-)

I would put the shutters back up, but leave them off the brick portion.

can you get a match of the 'faded siding' and just paint the 'shutter' part?

If not, just paint the shutters and put them back. Try Urbane Bronze or Iron Ore

??? black, match roof brown, match siding...

You can definitely paint plastic shutters. I've done it several times. Clean them well, sand, clean again - then get outside trim paint and they hold up fine.

To anyone with a smidgen of architectural knowledge the shudders are, of course, hideous. But to the 99.9% of the population who could care less, the fading is more offensive. Until re-siding is in the budget, better to leave them on.

Till then, as Miranda says,

Shudders? 🙄

Thank you so much Beth and mdln for your suggestions. The pictures and color choices help. I'll go to SW when we're able.

I would recommend wooden shutters. Wooden shutters are a classic option because they were the first to appear in ancient times, and they were used by our ancestors to protect their homes. These are the ones I set for myself at home with the help of a shutter installing service. Wooden shutters come in both indoor and outdoor versions. Internal execution of shutters has the function of sun protection and decorative design unit of the facade. The functionality of external shutters is more aimed at protecting the house from intruders.

Not getting into the shutters smackdown.

Landscaping: Go to a small garden center and see if they have landscapers they work with who can choose tallish native perennial plants that work with your light and moisture conditions. With a large expanse of lawn and a large house, an

island + foundation plants (some of which you have--add more on the right) as shown below pulls the eye forward. The downside is that you have to remember to check on the island plantings to keep them looking tip top--watering, trimming, weeking. Mulch can be a good way to take care of some of that work.

Traditional Front Landscape - Germantown, WI · More Info

just put the shutters back up on the vinyl until you can afford to possibly reside.

Custom colour-match some vinyl paint to the faded portion of the vinyl siding. Paint the un-faded sections. I bet it will be un-noticeable. If it still isn't to your satisfaction, repaint the old vinyl shutters with the fade-matched paint and reinstall them.

I know this is a year old but why do people hate shutters so much? I hate seeing the same colour/material on an entire facade (my orange brick house). I would love some variety and colour. What is the hate?

TMac, it is not hating shutters, but discussing what windows should or should not have them.

TMac: Because it’s an example of hive mind. Once a few started claiming crowd unapproved shutters were “shudders”, not architecturally correct, get your tape measures out, only allowed in certain cases, blah blah blergedy blergh ... everyone got excited and started repeating it ad nauseum on every shutter thread as if it was hilariously witty and the absolute truth.

It’s not.

In some cases shutters are functional. In some cases, for decorative purposes only. In some cases both. In some cases, they might not be best. No different than other trims and embellishments on houses — case by case, personal preference, not one universal truth.

If you like them, use them. There will always be bizarre superiority complexes about them.

As I drive through my town and see once beautifully traditional or historic homes whitewashed and clean-lined, and gaping black windowed, with all character removed, I’ll lament how boring it all is now .... but, hey, it’s group-think “correct”!

The thinking is that shutters only look good if they look like functioning shutters. So they have to be wide enough that they would cover the whole window if they were closed. To that way of thinking, they look jarring if they're too narrow, or if they're on very modern homes, or if they're on "landscape" rather than "portrait' shape windows.

I can see that point of view but on the other hand almost no houses these days have real functioning shutters, so who are we fooling even if they're the right shape and on the right house?

In my neighbourhood (1973 tract homes, two storey) lots of houses have shutters and they dress up the facade a bit. I especially like the red brick, white trim, black shutters and roof. I think of them the way I think about eye liner. Nobody naturally has a black stripe above their lash line, but if you like the look then go for it.