Altrincham Solid Shutters and a DIY Shutter Tip

Stephen from Altrincham, Cheshire ordered solid shutters finished in our now recently renamed “Biscuit” a, somewhat, "traditional" white colour, which is actually very contemporary and fits in with modern décor for a upmarket look and finish. These solid shutters look great and darken the room when they need to.

Stephen decided to mimic the shutter panel look and finish off the inside “cheeks of his walls with a faux panel, so from the outside looking in they appear to be shutters which fold back into the recess" He explains below how they were made:

The false sections inside the window reveal are constructed from sheets of MDF cut to relevant size, (the exact size to fit is not critical, because the framing will cover any discrepancies, in fact a little free-board all around allows for better adjustment), and of an appropriate thickness to suit the framing, so this would vary with application. These are held in place by ‘no nails’ adhesive, or could be screwed. The adhesive method makes leveling much easier, because as you glue them in place, rather like settling a tile in, you can press areas home using a spirit level to ensure a good level finish.

The framing is then planted on top with same adhesive. It is made from softwood moulding strips which are standard size available from DIY 32x9mm. The centre bars and the top and bottom rail is also 7mm thick and was cut-down from hardwood moulding 75mm wide. All these require the outward facing or leading edges to be trimmed gently with a plane and sanded lightly; so as to take the sharpness and newness of the edge and give them a more aesthetically pleasing finish (no need to trim the inner edges to the MDF).

Measurement for length and width of the framing needs to be done once the MDF sheet is placed into the location desired, this allows you to account for any variation of size around the opening that can occur, (as we all know builders never leave anything exactly straight or level). Don’t make the frame fit too tight to the size of the opening either, by doing this, you give the effect of a shutter/door capable of being opened, rather than a false panel.

Thanks once again for all your help, I hope the info I have given you is useful to other customers. I can’t reiterate more strongly what a superb service you offer and I would use you again for my future Altrincham shutters project, I have already recommended you to friends in the Cheshire area, and I have been impressed with both quality and ease of ordering and fitting the wooden DIY shutters. It took about a hour to fit each set in total, in the past, I have had more trouble putting up curtains then any issues at all with these solid shutters.

These Cheshire plantation shutters are a real breeze, although slight word of caution, is that one needs to take more care with the 3-sided shutter frame option I used as opposed to the usual 4 sided frame shutter kit.