DH built ours. See photo's and let me know if this is the style you are interested in. We're also in S. Louisiana. He's sleeping right now, but I'll ask him for specifics and pass them on to you tomorrow if you'd you like.

Thank you brutuses. They are exactly what we're looking for.

I'll get some information to you tonight.

Just wanted to make sure you received the information I posted.

Yes Brutuses I did and Thank You so much. Sorry about not getting back to you. We have seen the pine your talking about - your shutters are beautiful ... but we are hoping to use a cedar or red wood. We're told they would last much longer than the pine. The thickness of the wood is what we're having problems finding. Someone suggested we use cedar fence boards. I think we'll check into that this weekend.

I'm sorry, I was going to recommend another wood especially if you don't have a porch to help protect the windows from the elements. Ours are far enough back under the porch roof that they will rarely ever experience rain and the only sun they get is about an hour in the afternoon. Some of the windows will not be protected by the porch but I guess we'll just see how brutual the weather is on them as time progresses and if they need to be changed. If so we'll go with something more durable. DH liked the tongue and groove on these as it matched the porch ceiling, so that's why he chose it.