I help clients all over the world, and especially North America, choose the right colours for their home. This means, I’m always looking at houses with or without shutters and giving advice on whether we should keep, add or eliminate them.
The general rule of thumb with shutters is that they primarily belong on windows where they visually look like they can close overtop of the windows (like this example below).
And they definitely belong on this recent clients house (below:
Before
Here (the specific exterior colours will be posted on the Exterior Masterclass Facebook page)
But sometimes, there are exceptions to this rule.
For example, on this house (below) I would remove the shutters.
And here’s a home I posted on the blog in 2020 that had shutters on the first floor. Here I felt they worked on the second floor. See the before pics here.
After (see the before here)
To see the follow up post with all your submissions, go here.
Related posts:
Ask Maria: Does my House Need Shutters?
The 2 story house with the 3 additions sticking up do not look good through my eyes.
Those are called dormers and I think it’s a beautiful house where the colors looked great both bedpans after.
Can I correct the auto correct?! That was supposed to say- the house looked beautiful both in the before and after.
Maria, I am so excited to see you address this subject on your blog!
I’d say 80% of homes in my small town are 50’s ranchers that look just like the first photo and just last night when my husband and I drove into town I pointed out homes just like that and said these homes shouldn’t have shutters. My raised ranch house included, and the shutters need to go!
Here comes the color conundrum; what to do if you have vinyl siding when you take off shutters that have been there for 26 years and there’s a dark color difference where the shutters were from sun fade? Is there a solution for that? I cannot be the only person dealing with this. My husband is checking into that today.
I just love your blog. I’ve learned so much. I’ll say it again, you have a gift, Maria. 🙂
I’m in the same boat! In addition to the darker color, there will be holes in the vinyl where they are attached to the house as well, UGH!!!
Maria, the link for sending pictures of houses isn’t working.