The vintage orange shutters that I used for the windows in my recent office remodel came from the home of my mother-in-law. They have sentimental value — and fit my 1960 acid trip decor very well. However, when I went to get the shutters out from under the basement stairs, I saw immediately that they were missing some important pieces of shutter hardware required to hang them properly.
Luckily, I had a few pieces of the special hinge thingies that you need to hang shutter flush with your window trim. They were not attached, so I had to play around with them to figure out how they worked. Once I understood, I went online to find replacement hinges. I wanted to start from scratch — replace all the hardware with the same design. I didn’t want to spend a fortune. It took me a while of searching, but I thing I found a good source for replacement shutter hardware: Shuttermedic.com.
I liked this site because they had good drawings that helped me make sure I ordered the exact size I needed, which is important. It had the kind of aged bronze color that was exactly what I wanted. Before I ordered, I even called to make sure this was a real person. It was. My order came super fast, even though it was small. Ta da, task completed with minimal drama. That does not happen very often.
PJ says
Nice job!
mico gomez says
Thank’s for the information! For quite sometime, my family planned to re-decorate our house except for the the window shutters since they all have sentimental values for us. We really had a hard time looking for a shop online that can help us in restoring our old shutters. Thank you so much for sharing this idea.
Margie C. says
Pam, this is the timeliest posting I’ve ever seen! I just spent my morning taking down the shutters on my 1958 peach/yellow bathroom window and my pink half bath window and am about to go to a furniture stripper to have them stripped! Thank you so much for this information! I’ve been worried I wouldn’t be able to get the right hinges if I want to replace the originals.
By the way, if anyone out there with a pink bathroom wants to get super compulsive (like I am) and have pink toothpaste, too, licorice-flavored Botot is nice and pink! It’s available on several web sellers’ sites, but here’s one:
http://www.amazon.com/Botot-Toothpaste/dp/B000UES66Q
mollie d says
we live in a mid century ranch and have these shutters on our large front picture window, One needed replaced and I lost my mind trying to find it- this is great, thanks
Martha says
I love the way the color of the shutters matches those pops of orange in the wallpaper.
pam kueber says
Thank you! It was “a gift” for sure, that those shutters were that color! The original paint finish on them is amazing, too – surely oil paint from the way back time machine days!
Sarah says
I grew up in a midmod house with lovely shutters throughout. As a child I had domesticated a wild squirrel from outside and we would feed him by hand and he would sit on our shoulders. Well one day while we were out of town my grandfather must have left the door open while getting the newspaper and the squirrel got in! He tried very hard to escape and chewed up the shutters in the master bedroom! My mother was soooo upset! Insurance wouldn’t cover the damage because it was ‘rodent damage’. Luckily there were extras in the attic and she was able to replace/ fix the chewed up ones… Thank goodness! As for the squirrel, when we finally got him out of the house he never came back… To freaked out I suppose : (
Meredith R. says
This is tangential, but on the topic of shutters. Exterior shutters, that is. The question is: do they look right on windows without mullions, i.e. clear-paned windows? My house is a colonial, circa 1950. There are marks indicating that it used to have shutters and it’s crying out for some adornment and color, however I suspect that the louvered shutters on the similar houses throughout my neighborhood will look wrong on my un-mullioned windows. Any opinions out there? Pam, I did read your great (old) post on shutters.
Lisa says
Windows without mullions look fine with shutters. The best look is real, operable shutters. Second best is to make sure the proportions are right so even if your shutters are just stuck on they look like they could actually cover the windows. If you have a bunch of traditionally-sized windows that look good with shutters and then one huge picture window, just leave the shutters off the big one rather than sticking teeny ones beside it. You can accent that window some other way, such as by installing a window box or planter below it.
The little S-shaped pieces of hardware that go below the shutters and keep them from shutting (or pretend to keep them from shutting) are called “shutter dogs!” Love that name.
Lisa says
Oh, and the picture that somehow got associated with my profile is not me! I don’t know who is in this picture…
pam kueber says
Lisa, it’s been my experience that the photo associated here is most likely connected to your email account. Go into your email account settings — I bet you can fix it there!
Meredith R. says
Thanks, Lisa! I am already with you on making the shutters look operable, although they won’t be. I’m not into stuck-on, although it dominates my neighborhood. I’m torn re: the picture window, though. It has one big center section and a narrower section on each side, so I was thinking to get shutters the width of the narrow sections. Any thoughts? I like the window box idea too, but I’ve got to look into how to keep it looking nice in fall/winter/early spring. I’m lucky to have a good, wood shutter company near me in CT — http://shuttercraft.com/. I’ve already emailed with them and plan to hit the showroom soon.
pam kueber says
Let us know how it goes!!
Zoe says
Yes! Shutters the width of the narrow section will look perfect, then add a window box either the length of the entire 3-piece window, or the length of the middle section. Tada! Instant character.
Our 1940s cottage with its 1960s addition looks fab with shutters on un-mullioned windows. It looked pretty plane Jane before we added the shutters.
Ada says
Nice! I’ll have to show this to my mom…she and my dad salvaged ALL the vintage shutters (all the downstairs windows, doors, and even the opening from the kitchen to the bar!) from my grandparents’ house before it was demolished. My dad said they were ordered from Sears and installed when he was a freshman in HS, so around 1961/62. Mom hasn’t begun installing them in her house yet, but I know that some of the original hardware was in rough shape to begin with and some of it was ruined while trying to take them out, so this link will come in handy, I’m sure! BTW, your patchwork room is to die for! 🙂
lynda says
Great info. Thanks! We have have been installing shutters in houses since 1972. We have had to make due now and then to fix a shutter. I have driven by some our old houses and they shutters are still at the windows! And…I have stained more than my share of unfinished shutters–not a fun job.