Best Practices for Selecting Replacement Shutters

Black Vantage shutters on white brick Colonial

Replacement shutters are one of the easiest ways to give the home exterior an instant facelift. Simple changes in shutter color or style can transform the façade with minimal work—it’s a small investment that can net a big payoff.

“For the cost and labor, shutters should come to mind more often for home improvement projects,” says Matt Bjorkstrom, Associate Merchant for Lowe’s, which exclusively distributes Vantage shutters. “When you change out the shutters, it really makes a difference to the façade.”

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you choose new replacement shutters for the home:

Consider size: When choosing new shutters, sizing is just as important as color and style. Even though most shutters today are solely decorative, they’re meant to mimic real, operable units. So when choosing a size, ensure the new shutters “appear” that they would close properly over the window. Otherwise, they’ll look inauthentic.

In addition, make sure the replacement shutters are the same size as or larger than your current shutters.

Choose replacement shutter styles that complement your home exterior: Certain shutter styles go better with some materials versus others. For example, panel-style shutters are ideal for brick or fiber cement facades, while louvered shutters go well with vinyl siding, traditional homes, or coastal homes. Board-and-batten is well-suited to Craftsman exteriors or more contemporary looks.

Also keep your neighborhood in mind: Are there HOA requirements or restrictions? What styles will be complementary to (though not necessarily match) neighboring homes?

And be sure to use the same style shutter throughout the exterior; mixing styles on the same home will look off. The same goes for shutter colors.

Vantage open louver shutters
Vantage open louver shutters are the perfect complement to this traditional-style home.

Seize the color opportunity: Because shutters are an easy, relatively affordable way to refresh your exterior, it gives you more freedom to experiment and be bold. Black shutters will always look great, but why not try out new, eye-catching color combinations, Bjorkstrom suggests, such as teal shutters on gray siding?

The front door is another place to experiment with bolder colors, so consider matching the entry door and the shutters to create pops of color and really set the home apart from others.

Blue Vantage shutters on brick Colonial home
Blue Vantage shutters with matching entry door differentiate this brick Colonial-style home while still feeling authentic.

• Seek out inspiration: Shutters are a component that make a façade feel complete yet don’t stick out. Look to sites like Pinterest and Houzz for shutter inspiration—what adds to a home versus distracts? What color combinations pop without looking garish? Also, be check out Vantage’s idea gallery for more ideas.

To find Vantage shutters at your neighborhood Lowe’s, visit our Where to Buy page.

Video: How to “Be a Good Neighbor” With Vantage Shutters

Vantage shutters

Nothing adds instant curb appeal to a home like the perfect pair of shutters. But those same shutters can detract from the exterior if they’re not maintained properly.

This new video from Vantage sums it up well:

If your drab exterior is fodder for neighborhood gossip, Vantage shutters offer an ideal solution. Along with adding a pop of color and style to the façade, Vantage shutters are engineered for durability. Made from advanced color-through PVC, the shutters eliminate worries about cracking, peeling, or fading; color lasts for decades without painting. 

And that means less maintenance, a longer-lasting look—and no pesky neighbors on your back. 

Neighbors like these:

The shutters come in four styles: open louver, raised panel, board-and-batten, and louver/panel. In addition, buyers can choose from a range of accessories, including elliptical arch tops, quarter-round arch tops, transom tops, and decorative hinges and S-hooks. 

See how Vantage shutters can give your exteriors a boost. Visit our inspiration gallery here

Two Simple Updates Give 1960s Ranch Home a Dashing New Look

Boral Building Products Vantage board-and-batten shutters

When lifestyle blogger Maggie Kern bought her 1960s ranch home in Charlotte, N.C., its old red-orange brick and rotting teal shutters simply didn’t suit her style. “I like everything clean and simple with a Boho flair to it,” she says. With an active toddler underfoot, Kern needed a fast, easy fix that better fit her aesthetic. To freshen up the façade, she paired new shutters and paint in a pretty mix.

A Clean Slate
To create a light, modern underlay, Kern, the blogger behind Polished Closets, first had the home’s entire exterior painted white. “With a white background, you can change up the accessories to keep a simple feel with added interest,” she says. Classic black dresses up the ironwork and gutters while also creating contrast. The deep emerald green of the front door was inspired by the color of her grandmother’s door when she was growing up.

A tried-and-true Southerner, Kern wanted shutters both to keep to the local architectural aesthetic and to infuse a pop of personality. “I think shutters add a cool design detail to any house—they can really change the look and feel,” she says.

Though most of their neighbors had open-louver or raised-panel styles, she and her husband, Neil, chose pre-colored Vantage board-and-batten shutters with spacing. “It’s fun to peek through the boards and see the [home’s] paint underneath,” Kern says.

Made of easy-care PVC with a wood-grain effect, the shutters shouldn’t crack, peel, or fade. “I already have too many things to maintain in my life—this is one less thing to worry about,” she says.

Painless Process
From start to finish, the work took a week. Professional painters from Beyond the Paint in Waxhaw spent three days prepping and painting the exterior. The next Saturday, Kern had the shutter company help with the shutters, though she was able to do most of the installation herself.

Since the shutters were surprisingly lightweight, Kern lifted them into place to align with the brickwork. She then drilled holes through the shutters and into the mortar between the bricks, hammered in matching fasteners, and hung the shutters. “It was so easy,” she says. Putting up nine sets of shutters took just a few hours.

Seamless Style Throughout
Inside the home, black accents, flashes of emerald, and a clean, airy white palette happily harmonize with the exterior. “It looks nice and clean and modern outside, then you walk in and it feels the same,” Kern says. Warm wooden furniture beckons people to sit a spell, cats Gracie and Olive lounge lazily in sunny spots, and tall plants wave their fronds pleasantly at guests.

Kern house before the remodel.

The End Result
These days the house presents a crisp and cheerful face to the street. “It now makes a good first impression,” Kern says. The paint gleams and, thanks to their durable material, the shutters still look bright. “It’s always the details that make a whole look come together. And the shutters were the perfect finishing touch.”