Heating and cooling



Shutters can help bring down the cost of heating and cooling your home. Closing the shutters in the winter will prevent cold drafts from entering a room. Closing them against the blazing sun during the summer will prevent that radiant heat from raising the temperature in your home, which will cause your air condition to work overtime.

Then there's the matter of privacy. With the louvered slats that can be adjusted to various angles, you can let in air and sunlight but keep out prying eyes.

Faded furniture fears

Sunlight is the source of all life, but you do not want to let direct sunlight pour into your living room. In the first place it can shine distractingly on your television screen, which is always a bad thing! However, this sunlight also causes the fabric of your furniture and carpet to fade, as well as the painting or posters on your walls and the books in your bookcases. Because it's a slow process, you probably won't notice this fading until it's too late.

So get those shutters now.

The things that shutters are made of

Shutters come in many materials, but it is generally agreed that vinyl is the best material to use. Wooden shutters can warp, crack or swell, depending on the type of room in which they're placed, such as bathrooms or solariums with high humidity. Even the heat rising from a kitchen sink could have an adverse effect on wooden shutters.

Vinyl shutters are low-maintenance. You need only dust them occasionally. If a child has gotten loose with a crayon , you might need to take drastic steps with soap and water. (Try doing that on a wooden shutter!)

It's always possible to mix and match curtains, shutters and drapes. For example you can hang shutters to obscure the bottom of a window, so that you have privacy at eye level, yet when you stand up you'll be able to see over the shutters into the great outdoors.

Installing these shutters yourself is certainly possible, but only do so if you are an experienced DIY-er. You must measure your windows very carefully...and then measure them again. There is nothing worse than paying a non-refundable sum to a store for specially cut shutters, only to find that they are an inch to short. After you've chosen the shutters you like, make sure you read the directions through completely before even beginning on the project, sorting out all the material and making sure everything that should be there, is there.

Then, carefully, get to work, and soon you'll have a lovely new home accent to please the eye and help with the pocket book.