Exterior Shutters - Another Curb Appealing Idea

OK.......This house had done several things right in increasing it's curb appeal.  Hopefully you noticed the red door right away!  Good for you!  Move to the head of the class!!!  What is the other added feature?  Ding, ding, ding!  You're correct!  Exterior shutters.

The last home I owned in Phoenix, AZ had a very strict Homeowners Association and so making changes to the exterior of our home was difficult to achieve.  It had to be approved by our HOA.  So a red door or shutters was never an option.  As a result, everyone's house looked very much the same except for slight changes in house color.  But now......I'm able to set my home apart from the rest by making tasteful changes to my home to increase it's curb appeal. Shutters, here I come!!!!  Let's further "unpack" the idea of adding exterior shutters to your home.

You have window treatments on the inside of your house, but what about the outside? Shutters make beautiful exterior window treatments and you can do it yourself. Installing shutters on the outside of your house might seem like too big of a job for you to tackle, but in reality, it's an easy project with the proper planning and instructions. This article will provide the steps for how to install shutters on the outside of your house. There are two methods for installing exterior shutters: You can use hinges or you can use the direct-set method. This article will focus on the direct-set method since it is the most common method for installing exterior shutters.

Vinyl exterior shutters:

1. Your shutters will have several pre-drilled holes. Line up each shutter in turn at the location where you want to install it. Use a pencil to mark a spot on the house by inserting the pencil through the holes and tracing on the house.
2. Use your drill to make a starter hole for the screws at the locations that you just marked with the pencil. Use a 1/8" bit for drilling through siding and a 1/4" bit for drilling through brick. When drilling through brick, insert a drywall anchor for added support.
3. Place the shutters over the holes that you just drilled and insert the screws. If the shutters came with plugs to cover the screw heads, install them next.
   

   
   



Look how shutters brought this row house back to life.

Wood exterior shutters:


4. If you are installing wood shutters, you might not have holes pre-drilled. This is not a problem: Find the place where you want to install the wooden shutters and pre-drill with a countersink bit in the corners and middle of the outside edge of each shutter. Choose a countersink bit that matches the shape of your screws.
5. Drill a starter hole for the screws in the same way that is described for vinyl shutters.
6. Place the wooden shutter over the holes and install the screws. If they did not come with plugs, you can use the plug cutting bit that corresponds to your countersink bitmake your own plugs.
   
   
   Look at what a difference shutters can make!  They totally change the look of these houses.
   

   
   

   

   

   BEFORE

   
   

   

   AFTER

   
   

   In this example, shutters added to this brick cottage took it from cold hard surfaces, to warm & inviting.

   
   

   Shutters are just another easy and inexpensive way to increase the curb appeal of your home.  Now that the weather is warming up and you're going to be outside, consider adding shutters to your home.