External decorative shutters

This example of decorative window shutters perfectly illustrates how your house could benefit from decorative shutters. Not only is this property a good example of a weather boarded house which looks great with decorative shutters, (although not only properties using weather boarding look great with exterior window shutters), but it also illustrates how to use colours when defining the exterior of your property.

Taking a lead from traditional Scandinavian summer homes, this property has been painted a deep red on the exterior. If you travel to Scandinavia, in particular Sweden and Norway you will come across many of these homes in the country painted in this fashion. These houses lend themselves perfectly to exterior shutters, as the summers are hot and the winters can be bitterly cold. External shutters offer an extra layer of protection for the home, being closed shut whilst families are not at the house, or shut over night when snow storms are prevalent.

These shutters have been made using hardwoods (always try and source FSC hardwoods where possible to protect our environment), which when painted as a regular window frame will require maintenance every few years. However once sealed in this bright white gloss paint, these decorative shutters will keep the weather off for several years to come. Treatment could be done every four or five years, generally about as often as you would paint your regular wooden exterior window frames.

There is some subtle nice detailing on these decorative shutters, a semi circular arc on the tops of the inside of the window shutters provides a break in the slat design which is non movable for maximum weather protection. Generally these types of exterior shutters will have catches to keep them open when the summer months are milder, allowing light to flood in the windows naturally.

In these window shutters the whites of the shutters have been matched across the property design, with clean lines flowing upwards from the exterior shutters, creating a retro chic Scandinavian look suitable for any property aiming to achieve this style of design.