Decorating, Exterior, Flooring, Home Improvement

How Wood Shutters Helped Transform Our Lake House

Shutter Detail AntiquityThere’s a lake house that’s been in my wife’s family for a long time. Everyone in the family takes turns using it, and it’s a great place to get away for a few days. But it’s also a little outdated, and generally nobody wants to remodel it, because everybody only spends a couple of weekends a year there. Recently, my wife and her brother wanted to do something extra special for her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary, so I suggested we should all get together and fix up the lake house a little bit. Her parents just retired, so they’ve been spending more time out there, and it seemed like something that the whole family would enjoy, and benefit from.

I felt like an easy and logical fix would be to update to wood shutters.

We each took different parts of the remodel, and my job was to replace the window fixtures. For all that the fixtures in the house were mostly outdated, the rest of the place is all gorgeous wood. Wood floors, wood paneling, the whole bit. So I decided to replace the gaudy old curtains and venetian blinds with some wood shutters. Wood shutters would class up the house, and also really top off that lake house feel. Plus, I could get them to match the floors and paneling, and they would work well with whatever decorating choices that the rest of the family decided on for their parts of the project. Plus, with proper care, wood shutters can last a lot longer than many other window treatments, which meant that I was putting in an investment that the whole family could enjoy for years to come.

Now I needed to figure out what shutters were right for me, what frame style I needed, and my louver width.

Once I’d decided on wood shutters, the next challenge was finding the right ones for our lake house. Luckily, on that front I had plenty of help. I went to the professionals online. They could suggest which shutters were right for my project, answer all my questions, and even help me with some things I hadn’t thought of, like frame styles and louver widths. (Louvers are the slats on a wooden shutter.) They had a huge selection to choose from, were able to fit shutters to all our window measurements, and were even able to stain the shutters to match the wood that was already in the house.

We all worked together and gave my in-laws a present they really could enjoy.

When the big day rolled around, we had my in-laws out to the lake house for an anniversary party, and showed her parents the newly-remodeled building. They were overjoyed, and said it was the best present they’d ever gotten, and maybe the best part was that we’d all worked together, and knew that it was something that everyone could enjoy.

Our remodeling really helped transform the lake home into that cozy cabin we all pictured it could be.

The shutters look great, and work beautifully. They really complement the pre-existing architecture of the house, and sitting in the main room looking out over the lake, it really feels like you’re relaxing in a personal haven.

Jerry worked with creativeblinds.com, and he enjoys sharing his home improvement and remodeling ideas.