Plantation Shutter Installation in Vermont

Louvered panels built to your opening, not cut to fit

Shutters are the one window covering that becomes part of the house. We measure the opening ourselves, have the panels built to it, and come back to hang them. From Middlebury we install shutters through Addison and Rutland counties, in the older village houses around Stowe and Rutland, and in the lake houses on Champlain.

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Which Shutters Suit The Room

Most of this comes down to the room, the light and what the window has to do. Here is how we talk it through at the estimate.

Get A Price On Shutters

We measure at your window and bring the samples to you. The estimate is free and there is no showroom to visit.

What A Plantation Shutter Is

Panels of horizontal louvers set in a frame that is built to your opening and fixed to it. The louvers tilt on a rod so you can aim the light, and the panels swing back on hinges when you want the window clear. They mount on the room side of the glass, which makes them a different product from the storm shutters bolted to the outside of a house.

Three things decide how a set of shutters looks and works: the material, the louver width and the frame. The room usually settles the material. The louver width changes the view and the character of the panel. The frame decides the fit, and when all three are right the shutters look like they were always part of the house.

Shutters Or Blinds

A blind costs less up front and can be lifted entirely out of the opening, which a shutter cannot. If you want the glass completely bare at times, or the window is in a rental, or the budget has to stretch across a lot of openings, a good blind is the right buy and we will tell you so.

Shutters win on everything that comes after the purchase. There is no cord to fray, no fabric to fade, and nothing in a headrail to fail. They are built to an out-of-square opening instead of fighting it. And they stay with the house, which changes how the cost looks over ten years. On a bathroom or kitchen window where steam would eventually ruin a wood blind, a poly shutter is often the better choice for that reason alone.

How The Job Runs

We come to you with samples, look at the window with you, and measure it ourselves. The estimate is free. There is no showroom to visit, which is part of why the pricing works.

The shutters are then built to those measurements. Most orders arrive in two to three weeks, and the person who measured comes back and hangs them, so no one turns up who has not seen the window before. Middlebury is home. We cover Addison and Rutland counties, the lake towns, and the ski areas, with the north end of Lake George in New York on the same run.

What Plantation Shutters Cost, And What Moves The Number

We quote after measuring, because the opening decides the cost far more than the room does. No one can give you a real number over the phone. What changes it:

• The size of the opening, since material scales with it
• How many windows you are doing in one order
• Whether the opening is square, or arched, angled or otherwise shaped, because shaped frames are built rather than assembled
• Hardwood, composite or poly
• Louver width, and whether the tilt rod is hidden or on the front
• Whether the window needs a frame built out to take the panels

Shutters In An Old Vermont House

Very few windows in a Vermont farmhouse are square. Openings move as a house settles, sills are deep, and the casing is often a profile no one has made in fifty years. That is where shutters do better than anything else, because the frame is built to the opening as it is. A window that is out by a half inch at one corner stops being a problem the day the frame goes in.

The other old-house question is heat. Shutters cut drafts around the opening but they are not insulation on their own. On a cold wall the usual answer is a cellular shade behind the shutter, which we can measure for at the same visit.

The Questions We Get Most

• How much do plantation shutters cost?

  The opening decides the cost more than the room does, so we quote after measuring. What moves the number is the size of the window, how many you are doing at once, the material, the louver width, and whether the opening is square or needs a shaped frame. Shutters cost more than a blind up front and tend to be the last covering that window ever needs. The estimate is free and we bring the samples to you.

• How long does it take to get shutters installed?

  Most orders arrive two to three weeks after we measure, and we hang them the day they arrive. Shaped or arched frames can run a little longer because they are built rather than assembled. We give you the expected timing at the estimate.

• Shutters or blinds, which should I choose?

  Blinds if the budget is tight, the room is a rental, or you want to lift the whole covering out of the way and clear the glass. Shutters if the window is staying as it is for a long time, the opening is out of square, or you want something that looks like part of the house. On a bathroom or kitchen sink window, a poly shutter is often the better buy because nothing on it can rot or warp.

• Do plantation shutters add value to a house?

  They are usually treated as a fixture rather than a furnishing, so they stay when you sell and get counted with the house. Whether that shows up as a number on the sale price depends on the house and the market, and no one can promise you a figure. They are one of the few window coverings a buyer sees as an improvement instead of something to replace.

• Will shutters work in an old Vermont farmhouse?

  Usually better than anything else. Openings in an old house move as it settles, sills are deep, and the trim is often a profile no one makes any more. A shutter frame is built to the opening as it is, so a window that is out of square stops being a problem. We measure everything ourselves on site rather than working from numbers over the phone.

• Are these the same as exterior storm shutters?

  No. These are interior plantation shutters, mounted on the room side of the glass. We do not do exterior storm, hurricane or security shutters.

• Do shutters block the view?

  Open the louvers and you see out much as you would through a blind with the slats tilted. Fold the panels back and the window is clear apart from the frame. Wider louvers give you more of the view with the panel closed, which is one reason people choose them on a window that faces something worth looking at.

• Are shutters warm in winter?

  They add a layer at the glass and cut drafts around the opening, though a cellular shade insulates better on its own. On a cold north or west wall plenty of people put a cellular shade behind the shutter and get both. We can measure for both at the same visit.

• Can you fit shutters to an arched or shaped window?

  Yes. Arches, angles, circles and odd shapes are normal shutter work, and an arched opening is often where shutters make the most sense because very little else can follow the curve. The frame is built to the shape, so there is nothing to trim on site.

• Which shutter brands do you carry?

  Norman interior shutters alongside the Hunter Douglas and Graber lines. We bring samples from more than one to the estimate so you can compare louver profiles and finishes against your own trim rather than a photograph.

What Customers Say

4.8 stars from 33 Google reviews