I'd remove them. they really don't do much for the overall look of the home.

Here's a before and after where they removed the shutters and did some trim around the windows

This one kept the shutters, but look at the overall change. they did a vertical board and batten instead of the regular siding. (and of course landscaping will add a lot to the overall look of the home)

some other ideas

Some windows don’t have them at all, most don’t have them wide enough to cover the windows. Remove them.

Your home is lovely, and I agree with @Beth H. : about permanently removing the shutters. Even though they are non-functional, they should each be half the width of the window, So, yours are too thin, and I don't think there is enough room for them to be the proper width.

The examples @Beth H. :posted are bold and would really transform and update your home, Which color(s) are you painting your exterior?

We are currently leaning towards these colors. Not a drastic change. The blue/grey is the main color. The off white for the trim and the red was going to be for the shutters (if we keep them) and front door.

I really like those colors! Will you be painting the garage doors?

Yeah, right now they are the same color as the house (grey). So they will likely be blue. I wish we could switch them out for wood doors!

Would remove the shutters and if you're not going to save them for a patio project or other use later, consider donating them to Habitat for Humanity. They could be used for interior plantation shutters -- perhaps not inside but maybe if you have side windows in your garage or, perhaps, as doors for a cabinet in the garage or basement or children's play room.

No shutters. I like your color choices!

Yes remove them all and I have to say I do not like blue with brick I am much more drawnt to a sagey green to compliment the brick New garage doors IMO should be a must with some windows in them .

Those darned things are atrocious! We opted to not put them back in place after we had our house resided many years ago. We are just hoping that the neighborhood scouters from the HOA with the clipboard dont notice.

Those things are so stupid, stupid, stupid. Ours were not real shutters and most of them are not. They are just awful, usually plastic, usless decorations that add nothing whatsoever to the house.

This is a matter of style over function. And, in this case, both style and function are without value.

Real shutters I would think twice about removing. But these are without function or value or quality.

How did this nonsense become the norm? Time to think outside the box and stop the insanity. Why pour resources in to a well appointed exteriour with all your own carefully chose options and finish it up with this nonsense to conform to some standard?

What difference would it make that these things dont appear to be at least half the width of the window? What does it matter? They are not functional.

I dont mind shutters, some houses do really need them. Your house does not need them. I love the colors you picked. They all go together very nicely.

suezbell, what many are removing from the sides of their windows are not wooden. If your house was built as part of a development, those things are plastic. They are no more than a piece of plastic or vinyl.

If you have real shutters that were intended to function, those would, traditionally, be made of wood and your house is most likely to be an old build or a custom build. Most of them in the burbs are just for decoration are just vinyl.

You do see these old reclaimed real shutters being sold at salvage venues. But, the vinyl ones go into the landifll where they can be as usless in eternity as they were when they were new and attached to your modern suburban house.