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deannatoby

What a difference!

We just put up some shutters, and, Wow! is it different! Our house was fairly plain on the outside.

A local handyman who is very good at his work created these custom shutters for us that actually work (and are a great way to block out that hot sun on days like today as our front faces south). He did a great job! The color is so bold compared to that old that it's going to take some getting used to, I think, but it certainly does brighten up the place!

I think he did a great job. If anybody needs shutters near Rochester, NH, I'd highly recommend him!

It really is a bold color...really!

Comments (24)

  • spedigrees z4VT
    12 years ago

    I think it's a beautiful bright cheerful color! Your builder did a great job!

    I miss my shutters. After we built the addition we never replaced our old shutters. Ours were on hinges too but they didn't meet in the middle when closed so weren't actually usable.

    Your lupine looks amazingly healthy and beautiful, and all your gardens reflect all the care you must give them. Very pretty!

  • NHBabs z4b-5a NH
    12 years ago

    I agree! They really dress up the house and play well with the garden colors. I like the way you have so much of the yard as garden rather than lawn.

  • deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks for helping me feel better. They really are...bright. I knew they would brighten up the house, but they're really bright!

    My husband is the picky one about colors, so he picked it out. He says at first it was bolder than he imagined, but now he likes it. I'm still a little shell-shocked!

    Thanks for the complements! The garden still has many holes to be filled with perennials that are still babies, but we're getting there! Next year will have more garden space. YEA! My youngest girl insists she get a patch of her own, and I'm very happy to give her her own little corner in the garden.

  • diggerdee zone 6 CT
    12 years ago

    I love the shutters! It's amazing what a difference they make. We had our house sided (against my better judgment but let DH win this one, lol) and didn't pay to get shutters in the back. The company kept saying that most people only put them on the front and why bother with the back? Well, we enter through the back 90% of the time, and we spend a lot of time out there, so I called them back and had them put shutters on - and I have been glad ever since.

    Mine aren't quite as bold as yours are, lol, but then I'm kind of wimpy when it comes to color (my house is beige - need I say more?). I love the fact that they actually WORK - I didn't think anyone had working shutters these days. Very cool.

    Enjoy - and enjoy that lovely garden of yours too!

    Dee

  • spedigrees z4VT
    12 years ago

    Our shutters, circa 1973, were bright yellow too. :-)

    Unfortunately today's paints (especially those hues with red or orange) fade the first year, so you might find your shutters a paler yellow after a year of sun exposure. I have a heck of a time repainting the red doors on our southern side as they fade to pink each year.

  • defrost49
    12 years ago

    At first, I thought 'yikes' but yellow is a good color and I think a great statement. The front of your house is beautiful, esp the pathway and since your front yard is not ordinary, I think an un-ordinary color for shutters is a good idea after all.

  • PRO
    Nancy Vargas Registered Architect
    12 years ago

    Some people confuse brightness with contrast. Generally a good choice of contrast will give you the definition you want. Historically,shutters were not meant to be decorative. Shutters are used to control solar infiltration and breezes. Front side,back side - it is irrelevant,shutters belong on the side of the house where solar control is needed.

    I would have gone with the same color as your window boxes, but if you like them, that is all that matters.

  • spedigrees z4VT
    12 years ago

    Historically most things were originally designed for pragmatic purposes, but isn't it nice to have a feature that is at once both practical and decorative?

    I disagree that these shutters contrast with the house color. Rather the shutters bring out the warmth within the green siding, which does have a fair amount of yellow to it.

  • PRO
    Nancy Vargas Registered Architect
    12 years ago

    I think you are confusing "contrast" with "clash." Contrast just means the two colors have a differet level of darkness. Ultimate contrast is white and black. The point I was trying to make is that, if you want an element to pop, contrast is more important than brightness. They could have just as easily gone with a color notably darker or notably lighter than the house and gotten a good effect. They didn't need to go with such a bright color like the gold they picked. It's a tough color for the outside of a house. But if they like it, it is perfect.

  • spedigrees z4VT
    12 years ago

    No I'm not confusing 'contrast' with 'clash,' although I think I did misinterpret what you wrote. I guess you were advocating a contrasting color, while I tend to like blending colors. To me the yellow is more of a blend with the yellowish green siding (in terms of color, not brightness) than purple (color of the windowboxes.)

    Contrast simply means differing, and it can apply to dark vs light shades of the same or different colors, or to differing unrelated colors of any shade such as yellow and blue.

    Clash is a rather biased term that exists pretty much in the eye of the beholder.

  • corunum z6 CT
    12 years ago

    Deanna, I think anyone living on the border of zone 4 needs to have as much color year-round as possible! Yup, at first glance it was a tad shocking, but the more I look at it, I see life, whimsy, and youth in a house that must hug a good family. Good choice for the dark days of winter too!

    Jane :)

  • blaketaylore
    12 years ago

    Hello Deanna,

    Yes the shudders are bright. Isn't that wonderful! Color is magic to the soul. With a dark colored house, I don't think you could have made a better choice. It made me smile, just as much as your beautiful front garden did.

    Congratulations on getting them up! Do they open and close from the inside or do you have to open the windows to open and close them?

    Blake

  • deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks for all the comments and encouragement! Yes, whitegarden, it is in the eye of the beholder, and I must admit that while my husband's eye is pleased my eyes are certainly still a bit shocked. I can most definitely understanding many people looking at the color and wondering what we were thinking! Thanks for the graciously put opinion and comments.

    Spedigrees, they do look similar to the color of your shutters from 1973. And, speaking of paint fading, I wonder if the house stain, which is 13 years old, were to be refreshed the shutters would be not just bold and cheery, but more harmonious. The fading of the green is more obvious with the new shutters.

    I had not even thought of the color brightening up winter's grey--never entered my mind! I love NH winters, but my husband suffers from the common winter exhuastion right around February through March and he climbs the walls for some sunshine. I think you're right, corunum, in that it will certainly help him get through the winter.

    Blake, they only shut from the outside. We could shut them from the inside but our screens go the whole length of the window and are either in the window or out of the window. I have an extension arm to shut the upper shutters. The issue of shutting them with the flower boxes was a snag, but the current boxes are rotted and are to be replaced this year. I decided that the new boxes will sit just a bit lower so trailing plants will be out of the way, and that any tall flower (like those geraniums) will be planted in a pot in the box. When I need to shut the shutters I'll just remove the pot and the flowers won't get in the way. Sound complicated? Not really. That southern exposure heats up so quickly on our hot days that a simple moving of pots will be a small price to pay for some shelter from the heat! And shutters on the outside will be much better heat blockers than drapes on the inside.

    I am very grateful that our southern exposure coincides with the front of the house. Shutters ain't cheap, and we killed two birds with one stone with both looks and needed functionality.

    Even though the color is bright, I do prefer any potential over-brightness to the older drab look! It's a great house, but drab was the only way to describe it.

    Husband also loves the industrial look, so he designed the hinges using galvanized pipe. By the time he's finished our house won't be federal anymore, it will be eclectic!

  • blaketaylore
    12 years ago

    Hi Deanna,

    We are having a rainy, windy day..... good day to catch up on computer work. It is so cold here; it hard to beleive its late June! Husbands and wives can certainly have different perspectives on many things especially decor! I gave up a long time ago in getting the look I felt comfotable with; and with four cats that like to ruin every new sofa I get, I kind of gave into them too. I have the typical New Engand colonial look. White clapboad with black shutters, high pitch roof, Greek fluted colums at the door way. Yet, my husband wanted to paint blue stars all the way up the chimney! I have a more traditional comfort level decor wise. He has a more whimsical one. I didn't let him paint the stars on the chimney but through the years the whimiscal has established strong roots along with the traditional. Such is the decor in my life, but my relationship, the more important is just spectacular!

    Blake

  • claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
    12 years ago

    Deanna: I love the yellow shutters, it makes the house cheery and unique and probably unlike any others in the neighborhood. To me, that's a good thing.

    Blake: Blue stars all the way up the chimney? Wonderful!

    When I was building my addition I looked at the white columns and mentioned to the builder that I was getting tired of all the understated good taste. I said I was considering painting red stripes on the columns like on a barber pole. He choked and said not while he was on the project. I wouldn't have done it anyway at that time, but I'm outside on the deck looking at a column now, and thinking how good it would look with blue stars all over it......

    Claire

  • spedigrees z4VT
    12 years ago

    BTW Deanna, I love the hinges that your builder fashioned from sections of metal pipe. That's just the sort of innovative, durable, practical look that appeals to me. If I lived closer and had any home projects I needed done I'd ask the contact info of this inventive carpenter. It's hard to find a builder who can think outside the box.

  • diggingthedirt
    12 years ago

    Love the new shutters! Great design and a wonderful color. You're right, what a difference! (And, your front garden is absolutely beautiful, too.)

  • tree_oracle
    12 years ago

    Mustard yellow went out about 50-60 years ago and to my knowledge, it hasn't made a comeback. I can't remember any time in my life that galvanized pipe was ever in style. I think you just decreased your property value by several thousand dollars. If you have neighbors, they are probably livid because you have decreased their property value, too. However, I'm a big believer in doing what you want with your own property. If this is what floats your boat then so be it. I agree with whitegarden wholeheartedly. Shutters that were painted the same plum color as your window boxes would have been far more attractive.

  • defrost49
    12 years ago

    First off, Deanna's yellow is not mustard yellow. It's bright yellow. According to one color trends website, bright yellow is not popular in the US but very popular with Europeans. Perhaps Deanna's shutters are ahead of the next trend which the color marketing association predicts will be Honey Moon. This looks more like the color of butterscotch hard candy to me but the wall color shown in the link it close to what we painted our LR in 2009. Bet the future color trends get brighter as they move away from the current subdued colors.

    The outside of our house is New England farmhouse white. No shutters. The inside was totally renovated and much more colorful although subdued colors. My husband doesn't like change and we're the fifth generation to live in the house.

    When we went on a kitchen tour a few years ago in the Kittery ME area, I was surprised to see so many kitchens that were either industrial or ethnic looking. I don't particularly care for concrete countertops, subway tile and glass tiles but a lot of other people do. Industrial chic is very popular in some places. I think the shutter hinges are ingenious. If we put shutters on our house, that might be the way to go. Useful trumps decorative. Fortunately when we lived here a short time in the early 70s, my husband transplanted a maple to the south side of the house. It now provides perfect shade and we have not had to put blinds or shades on our bank of south facing kitchen windows.

    The room I use as an art studio is a nice sunflower yellow with pale cream woodwork. It's such a happy place to work.

    Loved Deanna's other post showing the combination of bright flowers and feverfew. Good inspiration for me. My circle garden needs thinning and I was in a yellow mood when it was planted. Coronation gold yarrow, thread-leaf coreopsis, yellow lilies and a fourth yellow flower from our swap needs some other color. The lupines (purple and reddish-pink) are almost done, some purple veronica in the front is doing fine and white phlox in the rear aren't in bloom yet. A wine and roses wigelia is hidden in the middle. But I think more yellow in Deanna's garden would be great.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Color Marketing

  • spedigrees z4VT
    12 years ago

    T.O. is a troll and feeding a troll is never a good idea.

    However you make a good point, Defrost, in that Deanna's house does look very European in style. This hadn't occurred to me but your observation is spot on.

    I would venture to guess that Deanna has no interest in pursuing any trend, but rather chooses to select decor that she and her other half like. Adopting a style because it is popular, rather than aesthetically pleasing, is probably one of the poorest life decisions anyone can make IMO.

    (Personally I LOVE concrete as well as stone countertops, but steer clear of them because I'm afraid of the effect of all that weight on my house's beams and timbers! I'm paranoid probably, but structural integrity is everything to me, so I just drool silently at countertops made from concrete and recycled materials and content myself with cheaper and lighter formica.)

  • deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Well, tree_oracle may be right. It is just possible that my family is stuck in the 70's. Pictures at the end of this message!

    (spedigrees and defrost, I think we make a great trio!)

    The European yellow almost identical to ours was given the name "Emperor's Yellow" by my tour guide when I toured Schonbrunn Castle in Vienna, home of the influential Hopsburgs, who shaped European monarchies for generations. Schonbrunn has maintained that color. What a beautiful sight to see! Many many palatial buildings are painted this color with a lighter trim, and it is truly beautiful. I have an Italian friend who painted his house that color, and as soon as I saw it I asked, "Just like the palaces?" That was indeed why he chose that color!

    We do love industrial effects. Just visited with a good German friend yesterday (boy, am I sounding cultured now!) who showed me pictures of his green-energy German home he built, which is an ecological dream. It is industrial and looks absolutely fantastic.

    My husband loves concrete countertops. Me, not so much, but only because I've never seen a concrete floor without a stain, and no matter how much they say they can seal the counter I always believe it will stain. Some stains are patina, concrete stains are just stains. I'm always function over form!

    As for property value, the appraiser yesterday (you can see our in-process garage project in one of the pictures below) was impressed with the working shutters. He said encouraging things. Maybe we didn't take thousands off the value, after all. But, since we're not going to sell anytime soon (knock on wood...Lord, thank you for your many blessings to us this far) it is a moot point.

    As for being stuck in the 70's, I think we're guilty as charged. Just got a 1979 vintage Wanderlodge for vacationing. I and my 69-year-old missionary mother got the enhanced TSA pat down (really a sex up more than a pat down) last fall, and we will never ever put our children in that situation. Thus, this year's airfare vacation is axed, and hello to road traveling. Good-bye garage cash, you were sunk into an RV, but it was worth every penny. Nobody can feel us up in our own RV...for now.

    Then, just after that, my husband was clearly feeling spoiled and found an amazing price on a 1976 Cadillac, the model he's always wanted. So, he has the toy of his dreams, and it's in mint condition. Also a motivator to go ahead and finish the garage. New England is hard without a garage.

    1970's here we come! Yellow, RV's, and Cadillacs--all I need is some bellbottoms!

  • blaketaylore
    12 years ago

    Deanna

    I love your RV and I love the slogan, FREEDOM WON! Caddy looks great. I can sense now all the wonderful times you and your family are going to have this summer!

    Blake

  • deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks, Blake. Isn't it an ironic coincidence? What a slogan.

    The Wanderlodge RV comes from down South, and I even feel a little redneck in it because the sign on the back window comes complete with an authentic misspelling. It says, "Vintage Wonderlodge." Cracks me up.

  • spedigrees z4VT
    12 years ago

    Deanna, you're a riot! Eclectics unite!

    Maybe the misspelled 'Wonderlodge' was a deliberate play on words. (I'd take it that way since I'm sort of stuck in the 1960s.) Seriously that's a nice looking RV and you guys should have a delightful time this summer.

    I don't blame you about the air travel. We also gave up jet travel because the third degree just isn't worth it.

    I hope you and your hubby get miles of enjoyment out of your new vintage vehicles. They both look in mint condition.