Except louvers up is a pain to keep clean...at least here in Florida where we have spiders and lizard poop. Decorative shutters are decorative.

palimpsest, by louvers up do you mean the open parts facing upward?

MAddielee, yes that's an issue here--not lizard poop, but just dust and grime. My current ones are filthy.

I think the raised panel style would be very elegant on your house, and would help alleviate the dust and grime issue.

How about trying with no shutters? If you find it dull maybe add flower boxes. I think your house is lovely.

I do like the house with shutters wide enough to cover the window when shut too.

I usually dislike nonfunctional shutters that are not on historical homes, but I also feel like my house looks weird without shutters. For the record I'm going with a medium or light gray (color TBD)... black shutters, and white trim. If it matters. The bigger shutters indeed look way better. Ever since this board taught me about shutters I have hated too-skinny shutters!

No shutters is certainly more modern, isn't it? I like MCM/modern/transitional...

I think it looks fine without shutters.

But yes, louvers up, even if they are decorative. Because if they Did work, they would then be louvers down when closed over the window. Louvers up is upside down, and you wouldn't put an arch top paneled shutter on upside down even though that's only decorative. I know most people don't know. I know people probably think louvers up is wrong, but I live in a city with tons of actual real shutters.

I guess without shutters it looks like the windows are too small, to me. Maybe it's just a change, like when my dad shaved his mustache and beard and I cried and was afraid of him for a week when I was a little kid!

I am also planning to have window boxes installed ,so that would help articulate the windows more... anybody have the skills to mock up window boxes along with NO shutters???

(Roarah, you're an impressive mock-up-er!)

Flower boxes sans shutters.

With to scale shutters, I like this version best or sans shutters and sans flower.

The windows ARE too small! Perhaps think about changing them first. As for window boxes...well, they're a PITA to keep watered and usually look like the devil by July unless one lives in a cool, moist climate and also has someone to water them daily.

If you decide to go with shutters, I highly recommend Timberland shutters. The quality is outstanding, they are totally custom, and their prepainted ones are excellent (DD did that 2 years ago - mine were painted on-site). Be sure to buy the copper caps for them - they will prevent moisture from getting down in the louvers and rotting.

Your house looks good w/o shutters. Would you ever do black trim w a light-mid grey?

Hi jmarino--do you mean black window surrounds? I have the worst time picturing changes to the outside of my house. Inspiration pic? I do have a light-mid gray in mind, though I don't know which shade yet. (I am open to suggestions for true greys--I don't want beige, pink, or blue...)

Here are two inspiration pics I liked :

Anglophilia, the problem with changing the windows is money. We just got new windows three years ago and we replaced like with like. I am sure that the cost of brand new BIGGER windows would be exorbitant, esp considering what we've already spent on the existing replacement windows! I wish we could, though!!

Also: even if foliage isn't growing in the window boxes, I still think they look nice. I'd put stuff in them over the holidays too, just fake greenery, etc. (Or am I thinking of this all wrong?)

thank you roarah! those are such helpful mockups!!

Sorry I tried to find nicer boxes to scale and angle but to no avail. I love your first inspiration house!

Me too! I am just not sure whether it is possible to pull that off with mine. Mine lacks symmetry, dentil moldings, and dormers... not much inherent charm, which I'm hoping to change.

The other thing is that literally every colonial around here has these shutters. I want to change them at least, but I'm not sure about doing away with them. They just seem to be par for the course.

And I loved your mockup, roarah!

Roarah, I am interested in knowing what software you use. I have been considering getting/learning Photoshop but dreading the commitment of time to learn it.

I am very rough at it but I do it on my phone or iPad using moodboard lite and pages for instant alpha stuff. Not hard at all but not as good as my laptop photoshop was.

purrus, I actually see a lot of similarities in your house and the inspiration. Yes the inspiration oozes with historical charm but the scale is so similar look what happened when I mixed the top of your house with the bottom of the inspiration. Maybe just change out your picture three window group on the first floor.

Wow, that is a creative vision! I'm very impressed!

Like the upper windows we also recently replaced the lower windows, so I don't think replacing those would be in the plan.

We have the house's original doors, so I still have storm doors on the outside. That's one reason why you can't see the color--they are currently red double doors, just really hard to see. I'm certainly open to a new color though. Maybe I will try taking off the storm doors... I just worry about temperature fluctuations and the occasional super windy day!

Also we did switch out the original light fixtures for much bigger ones--they're just super hard to see under the porch roof!

I guess I need to mull it all over. I just have the hardest time picturing it.

You house is very charming it just looks like it needs a fresh coat of paint and larger or ,minimalist version, no shutters. What are your front steps? I think making them more of a feature, like the red brick in the inspiration photo, might enhance your enterance a lot. Also maybe a taller shrub under the left window to hide its diminutive size might be a solution too. Though your landscaping looks very lovely as is. Your house has its own sorta of charm yet I think it could have a similar vibe with similar painted brick and siding as the historic version.

Thank you Roarah! We are also getting the front porch steps redone, either this summer or next.

Well, I drove around today and found all kinds of houses that look sort of like mine that have been painted all one color and also stopped by BM to get some samples. One was Gray Owl--I can't remember the others. I may post some of the house pictures I found later.

I like this second house a lot. But, i don't really have that much white trim, so I'm worried that a darker grey like this one will just look overwhelming on my house. Thoughts?

We saw an interesting house the other day that had black window trim against a light grey house (or white) and thought it looked really nice (we were surprised). I don't recall if it had shutters or not, but will try and pass by to take a picture for reference...

wow, thank you--that'd be great!!

Instead of removing the storm door, could you also paint that red? I have heard of people painting their metal storm doors.

Of the ones you showed, I prefer the raised panel shutters. That's what I have on my house (plain ol' 90's tiny vinyl sided ranch).

Re paint color, I'd not go too dark on the house color w/ that porch. Looks like you'd end up w/ a dark cave-y area if the gray's too dark.

There is another option, you could add a bigger molding around each window and have no shutters. The new molding would be painted the color of the window so it would stand out.

Hate to go back to the louvers up or down discussion, but here's our story. My grandpadents' house, which they built in 1947, had functional shutters. A relative came to visit from Denmark and said "hey, the shutters are upside down. The louvers should be up so that when the shutters are closed, the louvers are down and the rain runs down the louvers." So they switched all the shutters.

But it isn't the norm to close the shutters here, hence when it stormed the water ran down the louvers behind the shutters and leaves and tree seeds got trapped in them. They realized it was starting to mildew and rot behind the shutters so they switched them back to louvers-down when open.

Moral of the story: if you're going to decorate with accuracy, treat the decor accurately and close the shutters when it rains.

Oh great, my shutters are upsidedown. Good thing I've been wanting to replace them. I love a gray house with black shutters and white trim. I think your house looks best with the correct width shutters, either louvers or panels.

straitlover, I am concerned about the porch being way too dark--that's a reason why I had also considered just a nice bright white, black shutters, red doors. It's classic, can't go wrong, right? Whereas gray is a gamble... and then there's the issue of painting the gutters white in addition to the rest of the house.

Also, a friend commented about a house she saw recently that had been painted blue. She said it looked unnatural around all the trees and stuff (we're in a neighborhood with lots of mature trees)... and that got me thinking, will gray look unnatural around all my trees and the general natural state of the neighborhood?

Speaking of the porch, should I get the porch floor painted too? It's just concrete right now. I have another thread about porch steps, so those are going to be replaced with much wider steps that span the existing porch. I hate to put all this time and money into painting the house and getting new porch steps and then just leaving our ugly old concrete porch floor.

yayagal, I hadn't thought of that--something to consider. Part of the issue really is the way-too-thin trim.

Grey will certainly look natural. Tree trunks are more grey, squirrels are grey (or black, or even red or white). It's classic. A blue-grey can look wonderful, it's the brighter or purer blues that must be carefully considered.

Bam! I'd do everything within budget to make it look like Roarah's photoshopped picture! The ivy over the windows, the large black pots on the wider porch, those large lamps.... Wow, that just looks like a whole new house!

Thanks to all! I'm getting cold feet and thinking I might just go with a nice white with black shutters and either red doors or other pop of color.... help me stay strong! I do love the grey.

I have Timberland shutters also, and we've been very happy with them. We painted them on site. I think I prefer your house without shutters but with the trim beefed up. I don't think the window boxes work that well there, plus they're a maintenance issue if you want them to look good. You can't always count on the rain to hit them because of the overhang from above.

I hope you don't settle on white for your house because it's telling me it wants to go grey. I like the darker greys in your photos because they seem richer to me. You could even go with 2 different greys - one for house, one for trim.

https://ctabuilds.com/projects/show/mid-century-sanctuary/

Your storm door is hiding nice double doors which I think are really an asset to the front of your house. I'm seeing a lot of glare from the glass in your picture, but maybe it's different in person.

If that were my house, I'd hire an architect to come out for an hour just to give me his/her opinion especially since you're redoing the steps. They'll just come out with some tracing paper and make suggestions. They don't mind if you're upfront about just wanting an opinion. 'Beats sitting in the office twiddling their thumbs when thing are slow. If they don't have the time, you just find someone else.

You have a very nice house and with the right colors, it's going to be an exciting change for you.

I wouldn't worry so much about the shutters if budget is a issue. To me that entry-door-porch area is stopping the house from being wow. A nice wide door surround in white would look nice coupled with a vibrant door color. You can go a bit brighter because it's in shadow. Perhaps a new door that didn't require a storm door. Maybe a single door with two side lite windows. Frame the porch area in with white posts. Spend your money on things to bring the eye to the entry. Whatever color you choose for the house the white surround and columns will pop in a good way.

I have a boring white house that after your post and the stripped umbrella post I can not wait to change to a yellow or a grey! Hold strong your vision is perfect!

Have you considered putting in a skylight over the porch area? It would admit a lot more light than the current setup. If you decide to go with a mid or dark gray you might want to consider an off white for trim instead of bright white. Especially if it's a warm gray. Just a thought.

I don't have a strong opinion on any of the options, but you could always remove the shutters and paint the house and then live with no shutters for a couple of months. It would give you a chance to get used to it (like Dad without beard) and you might decide you like it. Or you might still think it looks barren, but at least you'd know.

Housequester has a good suggestion plus I want you to please stick with your dream. Go get paint samples of the gray you want and try it in a spot at the back of the house. You'll get a clear idea of what it will become if you paint it.

You guys have such great ideas!

I'm headed back to ben moore for paint samples tomorrow... going to get some slightly darker greys.

Justerrilyn, I don't think replacing the doors is an option this year--we are also redoing the porch steps and walkway and landscaping, so that's all going to add up along with painting!! But I am definitely interested in it. I'd like to just remove the storm doors, but they do also provide one more step between my 3-year-old and outside, when he's feeling impulsive.

Regarding the grey, I'm just afraid of making a big, huge expensive mistake that all the neighbors hate. If I could be guaranteed that it would turn out like roarah's mockup, I'd do it in two seconds!

(Any paint suggestions for that kind of grey, in the inspiration pic?)