South Tampa Shutter Game
Real shutters are beautiful, useful and practical. They protect against storms, provide relief from the sun, create privacy, darken a room for sleeping—a worthy investment. But even if yours are strictly decorative, you still need to get the shape, size and style right.
All Houses Aren’t Meant To Have Shutters
Shutters with pictures cut into the top panel are for Colonial style homes. Board and batten shutters are for Spanish style homes. Plantation shutters are for plantation style homes. And some homes, like mid-century ranchers, are often not meant to have shutters at all. If you don’t know what style shutter belongs on your house, ask someone who does.
Oof. Brown shutters are too tall and too narrow. Bonus negative points for mismatching yellow shutters on side of house.
Well done, cute yellow house! This house knows that oftentimes, no shutters are the best choice.
No Shutters Are Always Better Than Bad Shutters
If windows are the eyes of a home, then shutters are the eyebrows. The money you spend on that fabulous front door or the time selecting the perfect color palette will be wasted if your shutters are bad. Sometimes the fastest way to boost curb appeal is simply to remove them.
If I can prevent just one person from putting shutters next to a bay window, it will be worth it. This is wrong.
Fake Shutters Can Look Great
There’s nothing wrong with shutters that are strictly decorative, provided they look functional. An excellent resource for getting shutters right is The Old House Guy blog. His must-read article includes helpful rules of thumb like, “If your windows are wider than they are tall, don’t do it.”
No shutter should be anywhere near the giant window on this Spanish style home, especially not a tiny louvered one.
Bad Fake Shutters Make This Guy Angry
Carpenter Scott Sidler owns a company that preserves heritage buildings. He’s been documenting hilarious shutter fails on Instagram @thecraftsmanblog. “You can take a random piece of plastic and screw it to the siding next to your window and call it a shutter,” says Sidler. “And you may be fooling yourself but you aren’t fooling anybody else.”
What in the name of good design happened here? Simple fix: When you repaint, remove those silly shutters. Don’t put them back.
South Tampa Shutter Game
Much of South Tampa’s original architecture is from the 1920s or the 1940s. If your house was built in the 20s, it probably had gorgeous shutters. If your house was built in the 40s, it may not have been meant to have shutters at all: Mid-century style often did not include them.
This lewk proves the rule of thumb: If your windows are wider than they are tall, they will look stupid with shutters.
Shutters on the windows that are meant for shutters, none on the ones that aren’t. Five stars.
Five Tips For Flawless Shutters
Even if your home was not originally designed to include shutters, and even if your shutters are fake, they can still look amazing. Just keep these tips in mind:
You don’t need shutters on every window.
If your window is wider than it is tall, don’t shutter it.
Attach shutters to your window trim, not outside the trim.
Make them short enough. It should look like you could close the shutters if you wanted to, so they have to be sitting above the window sill.
Make them wide enough. It should look like you could close both shutters and exactly cover the whole window.
Christy Rosen Clement is a Pricing Strategy Advisor®, Seller Representative Specialist®, Military Relocation Professional® and REALTOR® at Palermo Real Estate Professionals in South Tampa