Can you get blackout shutters? On their own, louvred plantation shutters greatly reduce the light entering your rooms, but they can't achieve a complete blackout effect. This significant light reduction is all most people need to create the perfect conditions for a peaceful night's sleep. What are Blackout Blinds and Blackout Curtains? Blackout curtains are essentially just a curtain that is made with multiple layers of material, to prevent light from leaking through. Blackout blinds are also thick and dark enough to stop any light from entering the room. They're most-commonly used in bedrooms, but are also found in living rooms, home theatre rooms, and any room where somebody might want to achieve total darkness. The Problem with Blackout Curtains and Blinds The main issue with blackout blinds and curtains on their own is that they're kind of dull looking. They emphasise function over style, and their one function is to achieve darkness. With blackout curtains or blinds that are installed without shutters, it's all or nothing. You either have them opened up, letting in all of the natural light, or you have them closed and blocking out the light, with no control in-between. What About Blackout Blinds with Shutters? The perfect solution to the problems with blackout blinds and curtains is to pair them with a set of plantation shutters. This way, you can have the shutters wide open when you want a lot of light in your room, and you can have the blackout curtains closed when you want total darkness. You can open the curtains or blinds and adjust the shutters when you'd like anything in-between. A big benefit to this paring is that you get the classic and appealing aesthetics of the shutters to counteract the boring and plain blackout fixtures. The shutter equivalent to blackout blinds or curtains would be solid shutters. Full Solid Shutters are Based on traditional Victorian window coverings and are designed to cover your entire window. They achieve near-blackout light reduction, with the additional bonus of a sophisticated sense of style. Made out of solid hardwood, they not only block out a lot of the light but they also insulate your room and block our external noise too! Installing Blackout Shutters It's easy to install blackout blinds and shutters on the same window. The blackout blinds can be installed inside of the window frame, where they're affixed to the top of the frame and then your shutters can be installed around this. Let our shutter experts know if your considering pairing blackout blinds or blackout curtains with shutters, and they can advise you of a frame to choose to allow for the space of your blackout treatment. Right now, let's talk about the three different shutter materials that we offer. Each one of these materials has its own advantages and unique applications. After comparing all three shutter materials, if you're still unsure which is the best fit for your home, please don't hesitate to contact us because we're always happy to talk shutters and to guide you through the entire process. From start to finish, we're here to help you be shutter savvy! The three materials that we offer for our shutters are Essential Hybrawood, natural hardwood, and waterproof PVC. Here's what you need to know about each of them: Essential Hybrawood Shutters Our Essential Hybrawood shutters are a great choice if finding something budget-friendly, while still being durable and gorgeous, is high up on your list of priorities. These shutters are a hybrid that are made with our strong basswood frames, while taking advantage of PVC louvres. Due to their hardwood construction, they aren't as waterproof as our full PVC shutters which we'll be showcasing in just a moment, but they combine the best of both worlds from the two other materials we're about to look at. These Essential Hybrawood shutters are our best-selling option. They are available in 13 different smooth painted finishes, which offers you a little more versatility in appearance than our fully waterproof PVC shutters. These hybrid shutters give you the versatility of choosing from many different finishes to match any style and room in your home, the durability of a hardwood frame, and the protection from splashes and moisture - along with the cost-savings - of PVC louvres. For kitchens and Bathrooms, our waterproof PVC shutters are great at handling anything you can throw at them, from warm steamy showers on a chilly day, to the moisture that fills the air after cooking up a delicious pasta dinner for the whole family. For every other room, you can't go wrong with our Hybrawood material if you're looking for something a little bit more affordable than our natural hardwood shutters. Natural Hardwood Shutters Our beautiful Natural Hardwood shutters are available in the greatest variety of styles, with the most options for colours and finishes. You can choose between 13 different smooth painted finishes, and 11 different tones of stained finishes. There's truly something for everyone, whether you're looking for an accent piece that stands out and instantly grabs the attention of anyone entering your room, or something more minimalist and subdued to complement another focal point, we can help you make that happen with our Natural Hardwood. Our Natural Hardwood shutter materials are strong, durable, and made to last. This option is slightly costlier than our other styles, due to the hardwood material. But our natural hardwood remains a very worthwhile investment and you'll have no problem installing them yourself, ensuring that this is still a very affordable option, even though it's our highest-end material. Hardwood is the classic choice for plantation shutters, especially since our hardwood comes with the most style options. Waterproof PVC Shutters Our Waterproof PVC shutter material uses the same louvres as our Hybrawood material, the key difference is that the frame is also made from PVC in this case. These are also very easy to install, but still very sturdy, and completely immune to damage from water. If direct water contact or moisture are a concern, this is the perfect choice. This material is most popular for kitchen shutters and bathroom shutters. They look great behind your sink, where there is always potential for a splash, or in a wet room where they will get direct contact with water. Not only that, but they are also our most affordable shutters material and they come in a number of different styles.