To ventilate a room and make it more comfortable, the louver shutters in many older homes were designed to open allowing air to circulate inside. The louvers were adjustable to protect the interior from too much sun and rain. Today, however, shutters are mostly made of vinyl and used more as decoration to frame windows and add texture and contrast against the siding.
Designers tell us to make a house look larger choose a shutter color that blends with the color of the siding; conversely, a contrasting shutter color makes a house looks smaller because it cuts up the space. You’ll find a selection of colors and sizes of shutters available at home centers and building suppliers; the best advice is to choose those that are about half as wide as the window.
A contractor will charge $820, which includes labor and material, to install four pairs of 15-inch-wide shutters on four windows. If you’re handy and have a cordless drill you can buy the shutters and hardware for $245 and install them, saving 70%. Installing shutters on a one-story house is relatively easy, and you can do it in an afternoon. However, if you have a two-story house you’ll be working on a high ladder, so it’s good to have a helper on another ladder holding the shutter while you attach it.
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Pro Cost — DIY Cost — Pro time — DIY Time — DIY Savings — Percent Saved
$820 — $245 — 7.2 — 5.0 — $575 — 70%
