A popular form of shutters, that is no long limited to homes in the Southern US, is plantation shutters. These shutters have been a long time favourite in the US, but they are now gaining in popularity in other parts of the world, particularly the UK and also in the warmer parts of Australia as well.

Part of their rise in popularity is of course due to the ease with which people from all over the world can check out shutter styles on line.  This makes styles that were once peculiar to a certain region or country suddenly becoming in vogue worldwide.  But that’s not the only reason that plantation shutters are popular.

They offer many benefits to homeowners.  First of all, the type of plantation shutters I am talking about are the interior shutters, usually made from either wood or faux wood, or occasionally you can find cheap plantation shutters made from a harder plastic.  Traditionally, though, I think that plantation shutters should be at least wood or composite wood in order for them to look realistic although these are not the cheapest shutters you can buy.

Plantation shutters these days are made up of individual shutters that are sent into panels that are usually one to one and a half feet high.  While originally used to shelter homeowners from hurricanes and other weather conditions, or to protect a house from being looted and robbed by passersby by adding additional security to their oftentimes isolated homesteads, now days they are mainly used to add to a home or rooms décor.

There is not really much value in installing faux-wood plantation shutters over real hardwood shutters, aside from the fact that faux wood shutters generally are quite a bit cheaper than traditional wood shutters.  They are also usually quite a bit heavier, which is something you may want to take into consideration if you are planning on hanging them over large windowed areas.  Wood shutters are easier to manage, to open and close, due to the fact that the real wood shutters are usually lighter weight-wise.

Faux wood plantation shutters are a bit easier to care for. They don’t fade in the sun as much (although some finishes used on faux-wood shutters can yellow if exposed to bright sunlight) and they don’t warp when exposed to dampness or humidity as much as wood shutters do.

Few people are able to tell the difference, from a distance at least, between real wood and faux wood shutters, and in general the faux wood shutters look just as nice in a home as the real wood shutters.  Deciding on what type of plantation shutters to buy will really depend on your deciding first of all what you can afford, and secondly on what is of the most importance to you — their weight, whether you live in a humid climate, etc.

On a final note , if you do live in an area that is exposed to very bright sunlight, and you are planning on opting for wood plantation shutters, you may want to consider purchasing light colored wood shutters as these show a lot less fading from being exposed to the sun.  Thus, they will last longer without needing to be re-finished.

Window shutters are solid window coverings that usually have, as their basic structure, a framework of an outer horizontal rails and outer and center vertical stiles.  Depending on the style of shutter, different materials can be set within the frame, such as louvers, panels, glass or even bamboo.  The materials set in the frame determine what the shutter is called.

You can also have either exterior or interior shutters. Exterior shutters are often used to protect windows from extreme weather conditions, such as hurricanes, etc.  They also provide additional security for a home.

Interior shutters are normally  attached to either side of the window, allowing them to open all the way up and provide access to the window.  Generally, the interior shutters are more decorative in nature, and add to the a home’s décor. Popular California shutters and Plantation shutters have moveable louvers which can open and close, thus adjusting the amount of light that enters into a room.

Plantation Window Shutters

Plantation window shutters are usually built with a 2-1/2 to 4-1/2 moveable louver.  The louvers themselves are usually elliptical in shape, which simply means that they are thicker in the middle and thinner on either end. This makes the louver more stable and stronger, as opposed to flat louvers.

These type of window shutters are perfect for installing over large, wide windows–much better and easier to manage than venetian blinds, which seem better suited to smaller type windows. Even cheap plantation blinds can look very classy!

While they don’t provide complete blockout of light when the louvers are closed, they usually block out sufficient light to make the room almost totally dark. When the louvers are closed no one can see into the room either, so they do offer good security and privacy as well.  Louvers can be rotated to allow varying degrees of light into the room.

Traditional Window Shutters

Colonial style window shutters are once again enjoying popularity in the US. Originating in the North East US, they are now being sold in shops all over the US, and are not limited to this area only. Most of these window shutters have wedge shaped louvers with a ridge down the center.  These small slats are usually placed at intervals of one inch.

You can choose the number of panels you want, but traditionally these come in four panels, with two panels on each side of the window that open out to the side of the window. Commonly these shutters only cover the bottom half of a window, and if the entire window is to be shuttered a separate unit is hung at the top, thus you can open either the bottom set or the top set of shutters independently.

Traditional window shutters, to date, are only made from wood though with their poplarity increasing, this may of course change.

Café Window Shutters

This style of shutter refers to those shutters than only cover the bottom half of a window, leaving the top half open. Usually these window shutters look best on windows where there is a natural horizontal division. The top of the shutter is then lined up with the horizontal mid-way division, giving it a naturally divided look. Having said that, though, it is not essential that they only cover half the window as they can be built to any dimension.

As the shutters themselves are small, usually they are made with smaller sized louvers.  More often than not, the traditional shutter is used for café shutters, although on occasion plantation shutters can also be used.

These type of shutters are great when you want added privacy, as no one can see in through the bottom half of the window, but they allow as much light in through the top half as you like.

As you can see there really is a huge variety of window shutters available, ranging from the more expensive type to cheap plantation shutters, and most can be very simply ordered online.  If you do order online though, be sure to give exact measurements  following closely any instructions given on how to do it. Also, make sure that you have someone who can help you install the shutters, if you are not able to do this yourself.