Decorative Shutters Can Spruce Up Your House

If you want to quickly improve the appearance of your house, you should add exterior shutters. Exterior house shutters used to be needed to guard a home from Visigoths and squirrels. Nowadays, exterior shutters are primarily purchased for aesthetic reasons. There are a plethora of shutter styles you may choose from today which can make a home look much more established.

You may opt for vinyl or wood shutters. Wood shutters normally cost less, but need to be painted and maintained. Vinyl shutters are actually less expensive in the long run. Vinyl shutters are available in a variety of colors and styles which can improve the appearance of your house.

If you choose wood house shutters, you will want to choose cedar. Cedar easily handles wind, rain and sun and needs little attention. Oak is another sturdy wood used for exterior shutters. You will need to maintain these shutters periodically by either staining or painting them. Most of the wooden shutters have neither been stained nor painted and must be prepared prior to installation.

You need to choose a dry clean place for painting or staining new shutters. Should you plan on painting them, you need to prime them first, otherwise the paint will not go on evenly. Use an exterior paint on the shutters that is not water soluble. When the paint is dry, you should protect the paint with a appropriate sealant to extend the life of your shutters.

If instead you stain the shutters, you can stain them with a wood stain that is oil based. There are products that can stain and seal with one coat which will save you effort. Staining does not result in a flat color, but retains the woodsy grain of the shutter while adding some color. Whether you ultimately stain or paint the wood shutters depends upon your taste.

An effective way to discover what design of house shutters that strike your fancy is to drive around and view different properties with exterior house shutters. Viewing these shutters mounted on different styles of homes may give you a new perspective and can give you a more educated opinion of how they will look on your home.

Mounting exterior shutters is relatively easy, though it would help to have some basic carpentry skills in order to complete this task. Perhaps you might hire a professional to hang the shutters if you are uncomfortable with this process. Remember that the shutters are on the exterior of the house and anyone passing will see them, consequently you want to do a professional job when mounting the shutters. Most shutters are packaged with the hardware that is required for hanging and the process is fairly easy.

Exterior shutters offer an inexpensive way to add a bit of décor to the exterior of any property and allow it to stand out from the other homes. Most newer homes do not include shutters. By mounting exterior shutters, you can upgrade your home and your curb appeal.

Jazzy Brick

Decorative Shutters Can Spruce Up Your House

Leave a Reply