Shutter Design Guide

Today we’re going to talk about different plantation shutter designs that are available. Hopefully, we will help you to choose the design that is best suited to the windows that you have in your home.

There are five main shutter designs –

• Full height
• Half height
• Top opening
• Track mounted
• Shaped

Full Height Shutters

The most popular plantation shutter design is the full height option. This is a single height shutter that fits between the sill and the top of the window. A full height design will have louver blades running from the top and down to bottom of the shutter.

You can choose this particular design to come with or without a horizontal dividing rail. Windows or doorways that are over 1.8 metres high will be required to have a middle rail. It’s standard and it will add strength to the shutter panel.

The rail will usually be positioned to match the corresponding rail on the window, then when you look through the louver blades you do not see the shadow of the window rail through the louvers. With a rail, you can also choose to open the louver blades independently either side of the middle rail, this gives you more flexibility and privacy.

The full height design is good for wide windows, like a typical double glazed window. In these cases, not having a middle rail will give your window a bit more height. When the window is too wide for bi-folding shutters, extra vertical posts, called T posts, can be built into the shutter frame so they match the vertical mullions on your window. This means the width of each shutter matches the width of each window section.

They also help support the weight of the shutters and allow each shutter to open independently, providing easier access to the windows.

Half Height Shutters

Next up is the half height design, or cafe style. This style of shutter only covers half of the window and is normally popular if you just want some extra privacy, or you’re using plantation shutters with curtains.

Half-height shutters don’t look as good on wide windows; they can make your windows feel even wider. The same with double glazed windows, as they have handles that stick out and the shutters have to be fitted further away from the window, which can look a bit odd.

Try and keep the shutters fitted to the window itself and match the shutter color to the window frame, because you’re going to be looking at both the window and the shutters together so they need to blend in and look good. Half height shutters are popular on Victorian sash windows because they can be fitted directly to the window.

They are tall and narrow and have a natural split where the two sections meet. This gives you a nice place to stop the shutters.

Top Opening Shutters

The top opening design, also called tier on tier, allows the top and bottom set of shutters to open independently from each other. They are split like a stable door, providing more flexibility for privacy and light.

A typical top opening shutter would have eight shutters across the window. The top set would have two shutters you can fold into the left, and two shutters by folding to the right. The bottom set would have the same. This tier on tier design only suits windows that are tall and narrow, like a stable door.

If you try and have top opening shutters on a wide window it would look a bit squashed and you’d end up with lots of rails running across the center of the window, and not many louver blades.

Track Mounted Shutters

If you have a patio door, or wide window, and you prefer the shutters to be folded back to one side, then a track mounted option could be the answer. Rather than being hinged at the sides, the shutters have small wheels mounted at the top that run along a top track. This means the weight is supported and you can have four, six, eight, or even twelve shutters hanging from the track.

Track shutters usually come with a bottom guide. This makes it easier to slide the shutters open, or close them. With the track option it’s still important to match the number of shutters to the number of sections in the window or door. All of the shutters need to be the same size to allow them to operate properly.

Shape Shutters

Finally, we come to shape shutters. Plantation shutters can be made to fit almost any shape, angle, or curve. With a shaped window is still important to match the layout of the shutter to the design.

Shape sections can be separated from the main shutters using horizontal or vertical T posts. they can still be hinged open, but it does depend on the design of the window and how far they will open.

They can also be hinged downwards, or just mounted on magnets. Or maybe they need to be hinged inwards, towards the highest point of the window, to allow them to be opened. This would normally be down on the T post.

Fitting the shutters towards the outside of the recess will still allow the shutters to open and wrap around the wall, as long as your ceiling is not in the fitting. Inside the recess may limit how far you can open the shutters before they hit the top of the recess.

Remember, you will normally keep the shutters closed and only adjust the louver blades to let the light in and out, so how they open is not really an issue. You can choose how the louver blades are positioned within the shutters, for example in a curved window you can keep the louvers horizontal or follow the curve around the shape in a fan.

The frame design is important with shaped windows. Choosing a Z frame on a curved window, for example, can create really nice, neat finish because it will hide any imperfections of the curved windows itself.

Window Design

Remember, the key when choosing a plantation shutter design is to let the window do the designing for you.

What we mean by that, is that most windows lend themselves to one of these five designs naturally. If you’ve seen photos of some fancy top opening designs in a magazine, but you have a wide double glazed window, then really you need to choose a full-height design to match, as opposed to the top opening design.

Just because it looks nice in the photo, generally if your window has a horizontal rail then it will be best to have a rail on the shutters. That way, everything will look good and match.

If you would like some help with your design you can contact us and we will get back to you with ideas about the best handmade shutters for the windows and doors in your home.