Push rods (the central shutter slat tilt bar) give a more traditional look to your shutters while our concealed open sky system enables you to tilt the slats with the touch of just one slat.

The California Shutter Company and our sister company www.shutterlyfabulous.com were the first company in the UK to offer UK shutter customers the option of a concealed push rod system. Additionally, you can choose to order the option of a concealed push rod (which we call ‘Open Sky’) for no additional charge while most other UK shutter companies charge a premium for this shutter option.

The push rod is the central bar on the front of your wooden shutters which links all the slats together. This is the more traditional look of the plantation shutter and is what many customers associate as embodying the ‘look’ of a shutter. To adjust the slats when you have this system, you hold onto the push rod (which is sometimes know as a tilt rod) and push this up or down the slats will then open and close in unison.

The Open Sky concealed rod system has an aluminium rod at the rear of the shutter panel, offset at the side of the slats. This rod links all slats together and means that you can hold any one of the shutter slats without opening the panel and moving this one slat all slats will open or close together. This photo shows the concealed pushrod at the back of the shutter panel.

Choosing which design is right for you depends on the look you want for your room. Generally speaking, if you have small, narrow panels the open sky concealed push rod system works well. This means that if you have the plantation shutters closed over, but have the slats tilted open at 90 degrees then you avoid having the central push rod / tilt bar running down through your sight line. The open sky shutter system also works well where you have leaded windows or windows with particularly heavy framing. Getting rid of additional vertical lines in the form of the shutter push rod, can help create a more open and less fussy look to the completed installation.

If choosing smaller slats for your plantation shutters and you prefer a more traditional look then the push rod does work well. However, just be careful in case the combination of smaller slats and the central push rod in your sight line makes the window look overly fussy.

If you are stuck and would like advice for your specific window, then email us a photo of your window and we’ll tell you which design we would recommend for your shutters.

Proceed to the Shutter Parts Explained advice page.