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Our house is a drab brick, flat front, two story tower of unoriginal crushed creativity. I think shutters are hideous in general and ridiculous to boot when they’re nonfunctional like all the ones in the area I now live.

I can’t seem to find any alternatives to fake shutters that would make the front of the house less... blah. Are there any alternatives?

(We have no HOA but the neighborhood is much nicer than most HOA neighborhoods I’ve seen.)

Edit: I don’t have a good pic of the front and it’s presently night but it’s almost exactly the same as this house - except our shutters are faded gray and we’ve a couple trees in front.

House that looks just like ours

isherwood
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Still.Tony
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    Add a photo of the front of your house where the shutters would go. There are some choices but seeing the window area would be helpful. – M.Mat Nov 19 '19 at 02:31
  • I would not recommend it but you could add fake post and beams to go with the "Tudor" style. This style is usually infilled with stucco, but brick is not that far out of character. It will not last long- the wood will rot from the back, unless you use PVC trim and that has its own problems with expansion and contraction. FWIW, the colonial style house you have, to stay true to the style will always have shutters. Hundreds of years ago was when the style originated and the shutters actually worked, was for protection from bad weather and bad people. – Jack Nov 19 '19 at 03:43
  • Doesn't this question fall foul of "primarily opinion based"? – Martin Bonner supports Monica Nov 19 '19 at 14:43
  • @MartinBonnersupportsMonica No, the spirit of that applies to questions asking “what’s the best?” This question asks “what options exist,” with no regard to personal preference. Frankly no one’s opinion but my wife’s matters on this. – Still.Tony Nov 19 '19 at 14:48

4 Answers4

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Suggestions:

Paint the shutters. You say that the shutters you have are faded gray, and that's not going to add much interest to your windows. I think almost any color would be better than that. Black or white would be good if you want something that stands out more, but is still very traditional in appearance. If you want actual color, a muted red, green or blue can work without calling too much attention to itself. (Or go with a non-muted color. There's no HOA to tell you no.)

Add a trellis with a climbing plant. This can provide some visual interest, and most climbing plants are fast growers because they don't need to support themselves. (They can't do much to brick that's in good condition, but if your brick is just a facade, or if the mortar is crumbling a bit, I'd skip this.)

Add window boxes with flowers. These can also be painted to add a splash of color, on top of the flowers during the appropriate part of the year.

Add architectural foam trim to the windows. There's a lot of options here, but I suggest not going overboard; it's easy to end up cheap and tacky.

user3757614
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  • How much maintenance is live foliage - e.g. window box / trellis? – Still.Tony Nov 19 '19 at 14:52
  • Many climbing plants are low maintenance; they're one step away from weeds at the best of times. Window boxes can require more upkeep, but you can also pick low-maintenance options here as well. You will have multiple window boxes to take care of, though, in order to keep things symmetrical. I think the trellis would be the easier option if you don't want to spent time on plant care. – user3757614 Nov 19 '19 at 17:13
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I'm reminded of all the people who think Victorian gingerbread is hideous and cover it with aluminum siding, coz, that's not hideous. The smart thing is to stick with styles that are time-tested.

Maybe hire a stylist to help you with it. There's nothing wrong with a Federal revival style. Maybe previous homeowners have murdered some of its character (like the aluminum siding on the Victorians) and you just have to put it back.

Real shutters

There's certainly nothing that says shutters can't actually work. In fact I agree with your notion that non-functional shutters are pointless especially given the extreme storms of recent years. The reason builders make them fake is it's cheaper. Real shutters are a bit of a specialty, but nothing unattainable.

And next hurricane, when your neighbors are driving back from Home Depot with a load of plywood for boarding up their windows, they'll drive by your house going "Why is his house look different? Huh. I didn't know they could do that."

You can even paint the backside of the shutters to look like OSB so they don't feel too left out.

Harper - Reinstate Monica
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  • We do get the occasional hurricane and “paint the backside like OSB” is the clincher for me. I’ll post pics and credit you if we do it. – Still.Tony Nov 19 '19 at 14:50
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Without a photo, it is difficult to make an make a suggestion, but reading your post reminded me of many, many conversations I have had with people in the past. One of the most popular remedies that was unique but not bizarre was to go to a shortened Bahama style shutter/awning. Color choice on these was key. Here are a few photos. Hope it inspires some ideas.enter image description here

enter image description here

WoodAirGrille
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Trellis/screen/wires spaced out from the house a few inches and climbing/vining plants are a classic approach. Or espaliered fruit trees, depending how you think.

Ecnerwal
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