Plantation Shutters for Windows

Plantation shutters are the favourite interior blinds of many. Usually made from either wood or faux wood, most plantation shutters today are made to go on the inside of a window. In America's pioneer days, Plantation shutters were usually affixed to the outside of the windows and they were used primarily for protection against storms, hurricanes and thieves. Today, they are mainly used to dress up or decorate a window.

Some plantation shutters are built to only cover the bottom half of a window, which allows light to freely come into the room through the upper section of the window yet still provides a good deal of privacy through blocking out people from seeing inside through the bottom section.

Although we commonly refer to a particular type of internal shutter as Plantation shutters, or in some cases California blinds, they actually originated during the Middle Ages when their primary purpose was to protect the homes from poor weather, especially as most homes those days had no glass in their windows. It was much later that early American pioneers saw the use for these type of shutters on their homesteads, especially on the plantations of the South with its hot, sometimes turbulent weather and hurricanes. Robbery, especially of the rich plantation owners, was also a problem those days so Plantation shutters not only kept people from looking into the homesteads but it kept them from sneaking in through open or easily accessed windows as well.

With the shutters normally attached to the inside of a window these days, they are usually on hinges that allow the shutters to fold out of the way to the side of the window, providing easy access to open and close the window itself whenever needed.

Many plantation shutters these days are made from faux-wood, which especially to the untrained eye or casual observer, looks no different than real hard-wood Plantation shutters. They are cheaper than buying hard wood shutters, and although the faux wood itself is a little heavier than wood, this really isn't a problem unless you are buying very large shutters which could then be awkward or difficult to open and close with ease.

Normally they are either painted or stained to match your existing décor. Light wood Plantation shutters hold up best in hot climates, as both faux wood and darker shaded real wood shutters can become bleached in extreme hot sun.

If you can afford Plantation shutters, even discount plantation shutters, they really do add to your décor and the overall atmosphere of a home, giving it both a classy and a homey look at the same time.