Made-to-measure window shutters from Shutterly Fabulous

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I’ve been really pleased with the way our living room has looked and felt since we finished our makeover project last year, but until recently one final touch was missing: the right window dressings.

Like many Victorian houses, our living room has a bay window that’s very tricky to deal with. Curtains never looked quite right, as you can see in the photo below – they hung awkwardly and seemed to cut the bay off from the rest of the room. What’s more, finding a stylish curtain pole to fit the angles proved impossible. I’ve always loved the pared-back look of leaving windows bare (very common in Scandinavia), but that wasn’t an option either as the window faces the street and anyone walking past can look straight in.

After giving it a lot of thought, I decided that wooden window shutters would be the best solution for balancing light, privacy and aesthetics, and so I turned to the experts at Shutterly Fabulous for help. This wonderfully named company has been installing top-quality, well-priced shutters across the UK since 2002. It was also one of the first shutter providers to be recognised by the Guild of Master Craftsmen, so the team really do know their stuff.

The process began with a free home visit from Shutterly Fabulous’ local design consultant Tim, who talked me through the various options and brought along samples for me to look at. I hadn’t realised there were so many different types of shutter on offer: full-height shutters, tier-on-tier shutters with separate top and bottom sections, café-style shutters that cover the lower half of the window only… You can also choose between hardwood or more affordable but no less pretty ‘basswood’, select the slat width, and decide whether to have visible push rods or hidden mechanisms to open and close the louvres. There’s even a waterproof polyvinyl option for bathrooms!

After chatting through the possibilities, I decided to go for full-height shutters in crisp white to match the window frames, with concealed push mechanisms for a cleaner, more minimalist look. I also opted for a mid-rail that lines up with the mid frame of each window pane, allowing the upper and lower slats to be opened and closed independently of each other. I briefly toyed with the idea of tier-on-tier shutters, but the shape of our bay means there would be no way to open the top sections and have them sit flat against the wall, so we’d only end up banging our heads on them when we stood up from the sofa!

Tim then took exact measurements, and it was reassuring to know that the shutters would be custom-made to fit our windows perfectly. He also assured me that our house’s wonky proportions and crooked walls (a feature of so many older properties) wouldn’t cause any issues whatsoever, as the Shutterly Fabulous team are carefully trained to deal with them.

A few weeks later the shutters were ready, and Tim returned to install them. The process was surprisingly quick and hassle-free, and within a couple of hours I was admiring the finished results.

The shutters have been in place for just over two months now and they’ve had a massive impact on the overall look and feel of the living room. We no longer have to choose between light and privacy, and we can easily adjust the slats as needed. We often open them fully during the day, but if the sun gets too strong we can tilt them to prevent glare, meaning we always have wonderfully soft, even light across the whole space. In the evenings we tend to close them fully to create a cosy feel, and on weekend mornings, when we like to laze around in our pyjamas, we can close the lower slats but leave the upper ones open. What’s more, without curtains framing the bay and drawing the eye to the end of the room, it seems so much larger and airier.

I think the shutters are going to prove very useful in different seasons, too. At the moment they help to insulate the bay and keep in warmth, whereas in spring and summer we’ll be able to open the windows behind and let fresh air filter in through the slats. And there’s no longer any risk of our cat jumping through the open window onto the road – a constant worry in our pre-shutter days!

To book a free appointment with one of Shutterly Fabulous’ design consultants, click here. Our shutters were kindly gifted for the purposes of this post, but prices start from £299 per sqm.  

All photography by Abi Dare