Printable View
We had them on the house when I was growing up. I think they were the vinyl kind. After awhile the edges started to crack and warp, and they became highly popular shelters for the local yard lizards.
Are there really any good arguments in favor of decorative shutters, that would not be better addressed by designing your non-shutter-requiring house in a manner that does not require the appearance of shutters?
They provide additional places for bugs to nest directly outside you windows.
Oh wait, that is probably not a good thing.
I think about this a lot, actually. Very plain brick buildings tend to look naked without them. Of course, making them functional would go a long way towards finishing the look.
I hate it when the fake shutters are no where near large enough to actually cover the windows--if they worked.
We had fake wood shutters on my house when I was a little kid. I always loved them because it looked like a fairy tale cottage. :(
I grew up in a house with fake shutters. I think most of the houses in the subdivision were that way - and thinking about it, I can't help but feel like the houses would look weird without them. Of course one never needs to worry about yard lizards in Michigan.
But if I were building a new house, I probably wouldn't include them.
I'm curious as to why functional window shutters are really popular in Germany but not in the Anglosphere.
The house I grew up in had them, and they were kinda awful. But it's true that the houses in the neighborhood that didn't have them looked kind of bare. I think the problem with ours is that they looked flimsy and fake.
To be honest, I've never been sure what the purpose of functional shutters is.
No kidding. Check this one out:Quote:
Originally posted by Oliveloaf
http://www.stokesrealtor.com/listing...orgia-st/1.jpg
What the hell is that? What is going on with the second floor windows, especially? How would that even work? Are we to presume that the shutters would ideally stretch out accordion-style to cover all three windows? It's a nice little house otherwise, but I fail to see how the fake shutters add anything.
I guess I can see how fake shutters might help to enliven a very plain brick building, but surely that is just an admission that the building was designed poorly to begin with. For example, I believe that Georgian-era architects often favored plain brick with interior shutters, instead using the windowframe itself to provide exterior balance and contrast.
Here's a fairly plain brick cottage that I think still works well:
http://0.tqn.com/d/architecture/1/7/...cod1000424.jpg
Okay, that first one is an especially silly example.
I asked when I was in Germany as they're near ubiquitous, with many modern homes having electronic shutters like a shop unit might. It seems that in Winter it keeps in more heat, and in Summer it keeps out the intense sunlight, thus keeping it easier to cool the house.Quote:
Originally posted by Orual
The shutters on the first house are ridiculous, and I could see how they might add something to the second. Having said that I would take either of those houses as is right now.
Ah. So the answer is "Germans are crazy". Makes sense.Quote:
Originally posted by The Original An Gadaí
While this is undeniably true, at least they use the shutters that they put on their houses.Quote:
Originally posted by Orual
"The intense sunlight of a summer in Hamburg is TOO MUCH for my pallid flesh to handle! Better cave-ify the whole house!"
Are fake window shutters ever not in bad taste?
Yes, but only when they match with paired awnings!
If my German-American relatives are any indication, it's more likely the aftereffects of constant beer-swilling that causes the aversion to sunlight.Quote:
Originally posted by Orual
Apparently that is the "Juliet balcony" mentioned in the video. Evidently Shakespeare was under the impression that the term "balcony" is Italian for "door in the wall, with safety railing."Quote:
Originally posted by jali
Personally I would have some ethical reservations about hanging the term "balcony" on an architectural feature which does not incorporate any balcony part, but then I'm not in real estate. Now that I think about it, my uncle owned a hunting shack which featured a charmingly rusticated "Tempest roof."
I notice that the Columbia apartments also feature bogus shutters, so all their bases appear to be covered. I think we can all agree that avocado green and cream yellow vinyl siding is a classic look which will never go out of style. The giant shelf brackets supporting the eaves add a warm hardware-store feel.
Also, they have cabinets! I can only imagine how many potential residents were lured in by those cabinets.
"Enter your master bedroom through double entry doors!" Even if you're uncomfortably huge, Columbia at Sylvan Hills can accommodate you.
They don't specify how you exit the master bedroom, though . I hope that's not what the Juliet balcony is for.
These shutters are available in different material like wood, aluminum, vinyl etc. Basswood is generally recommended for shutters. In case you live in the coastal region then you may go for vinyl shutter as the climate will not be suitable for wood shutters.
[URL="http :// www.ocplantationshutters. com"]long beach shutters[/ URL]
That depends on how to present that shutter? They are useful too and they seems good and many houses and apartments have this.
We have fake shutters and they look fine. I understand the aesthetic/practical objection to them, but I don't share it.