I've been wanting some on my front windows. I like that you can keep the bottom ones closed for privacy and open the top ones for light and to see out. The price on them really made me wince though.

The only cons I've heard about is not only the price but the bi-fold take up quiet a bit of room within the room if you push them back. In other words not good for a small room.

We had them throughout our home in FL. Seemed to be a necessity there. In NY, we have them over a large window by our tub. On other bedroom windows, we have opted for wooden blinds.
On the big set over the tub, we stopped at a natural halfway mark. We never open them, but often change the angle of the louvers so that light comes in. I think they would take up way too much room opened.
I like them, but boy are plantaetion shutters expensive!
Jo

Gina, we have the bi-fold shutters on our big windows in the living/dining room. Yes, they take up a lot of room when open, but we we rarely open (fold) them, unless I'm washing windows for the season. I love mine, but they are expensive. (Fortunately for me they were already there when we bought our house.) They also tend to block a lot of light, which is good for me in the summer (our house is southeast facing), yet with the angle of the sun in the winter, I can get as much light as I need. The only curtains I have right now are in the bathroom/my bedroom, so I guess you could say I'm not a big curtain fan either...

OK y'all are scaring me. I can't find how much they cost online - everyone wants you to call them first. Dun, dun, dun!

You know besides putting on a roof, windows and the ''treatment'' of them seem to be the most expensive thing about owning a house. I'm grateful I didn't have to buy mine, but we did have to have ours painted, as the original paint color looked fine from the inside, but clashed with the color of the outside of our house. (As our siding is stone, something had to be done, and painting the plantation shutters was the path of least resistance. As IF that would ever seem like the easiest thing to do!) So because of that...just as a word of caution, if you do go this route, make sure you like the color looking into your house as well. Hiring a painter to paint all those louvers wasn't inexpensive either! I can easily see how this might have escaped the previous owner's attention, or perhaps she was colorblind. Either way, it helps to pay attention to what's happening on both sides of the window.

I hate, hate, hate curtains! When we moved here in 2000 I bought wooden 3" blinds for all the windows. Last year I replaced them with plantation shutters and I love them. They have gone down in price, or at least in Texas. They were about $1500.00 cheaper last year than they were when I checked in 2000.

I like alot of light. Our living area is in the back of the house and those shutters stay open all the time, it faces the fenced back yard so no one can see in. The shutters in the kitchen and dining are closed in the evenings and opened in the mornings. I keep our bedroom closed and the other two bedrooms I usually have the top or bottom open if I have plants in there.

Hey Gina,

I love the look of plantation shutters. DD & DSIL used Maggie's Shutters to do their other house--something like 26 windows! I thought the work was excellent and after shopping around they found the price to be very competitive.

I love the look of plantation shutters, but they are too costly for our budget. My sister had them in her last house, and although I loved them, she would get frustrated by how much room they took up when she opened them. I'm not a big curtain person either. I finally have a look I love in my family room - wood blinds that can be pulled up so you don't see any window coverings, and cornices that my DH and I made with fabric that complimented our furniture. Now to figure out the living room.....

I don't know anything about Plantation shutters, but do know that I love my Silhouette blinds. I almost always leave them partially open so that I can see out, but no one can really see in. When I want my windows to look completely bare, they roll up and disappear into a tiny "tube" that is hardly noticeable and takes up very little room. When we need complete privacy, we shut them completely. I also like the horizontal look they give when they are partially open -- very contemporary for our decor.

I want bypass, not bi-fold, plantation shutters on patio glass doors and want them to slide onto wall and completely clear the glass. When shutters are closed over the glass, the head rail extends onto wall 24" Does anyone have a picture of how this looks. Some recommend a vertical trim bar from end of header down to the floor as a trim finish/stop/stabilizer. How would these 2 things look half-way across the 48" wall on each side of the patio windows. Thank you.

Hi Gina -- haven't you been MIA lately? Good to see you!

I love the look of plantation shutters but they would not work for me and they cost too much.

OMG, just noticed the date on the original post! I hope Gina has gotten her shutters by now.