Destin's Frequently Asked Questions About Shutters

For more than 24 years, we’ve been asked every question about shutters imaginable from our customers in Destin. And we’ve collected the top ten of them here. Maybe in these questions and answers you’ll find answers to questions of your own. If not, please don’t hesitate to contact Sunburst Shutters Destin directly. We’re here to help you and happy to do so.

That depends on how you desire the shutters to relate to your home’s décor. Do you want a shutter that contrasts your wall paint color and has clean lines? Polywood® plantation shutters are ideal for you. Or are you looking to replicate the wood in your home as closely as possible? Ovation® wood shutters are a better fit for you.

Plantation shutters are celebrated for being energy efficient. And to get the most energy savings, our Polywood Shutter Insulation System is the only choice.

For the budget-conscious, blinds can be temporary window treatments to cover your windows. Store-bought blinds tend to deteriorate over time, with its strings giving way and the loops that hold the slats in place falling apart. And they’re not easy to clean. Even if you're budget-conscious, Sunburst Shutters blinds have the durability and craftsmanship lacking in off-the-rack, store-bought, or online blinds.

Shades offer a host of colors, materials, and unique patterns, transforming your window into artwork. Just by pulling up the fabric of the shade, your whole window is exposed and you can see out onto your Destin neighborhood.

Draperies also offer a wide spectrum of color, fabric, and patterns. They are a traditional choice for a window treatment. Placing thick panels between the drapes and the window allows for light and temperature block-out capabilities. And unlike other window treatments, you won’t have to clean draperies for five years.

If you are searching for a window treatment that lasts beyond 10 years, saves you money on your energy bills, and looks magnificent on your windows, shutters are the choice for your home. Not only are shutters durable, but they’re also exquisite and energy efficient. Actually, Polywood shutters insulate up to 70% better than a similar wood shutter. That's energy savings you can't get with any other window treatment.

Plantation shutters are unparalleled when it comes to control over privacy and light. And with their large louvers, Polywood plantation shutters give your room a clean modern feel whether they’re closed or open.

An inappropriately installed window treatment can be tough to open and can get damaged easily. We have a skilled installation crew that comes to your home and installs your window treatment exactly, ensuring that each one functions flawlessly – and doesn’t get damaged throughout.

But before we get to installing your shutters, we bring shutter samples to your home so we can custom build your window treatment together. Learn more about our free in-home consultation.

Your plantation shutter slats – or louvers – can be moved without difficulty by adjusting them up or down. Usually, a tilt rod mounted on the front of the shutters gives you control over the louvers. If you want to move the louvers with your hand, we propose buying shutters with hidden tilt-rods or rear-mounted tilt rods. This gives your shutters a clean, contemporary look.

Our Polywood shutters last 50+ years – more than any other shutter around. That’s why these plantation shutters are a permanent fixture that raises your home’s resale value. Learn more about the durability of our shutters.

Plantation shutters are a breeze to clean because they have large louvers and their tilt bars are either hidden or mounted on the rear. Merely tilt them open and dust them like furniture – or wipe smudges with a wet cloth.

Plantation shutters are custom built to fit your windows just right. They become a permanent fixture of your home, increasing its resale value. These shutters cannot be moved from one house to another.

Plantation shutters are an investment that provides you with temperature control, energy efficiency, and privacy. They are custom designed and installed on your windows to become permanent fixtures. Not only are they elegant and energy saving, but plantation shutters also increase the value of your residence. We’ve seen it first hand in Destin!

A half shutter allows you privacy on the bottom and leaves the top open for light and view. It’s called a café style shutter. But is it the right look for a plantation shutter?

Cafe Shutters Cafe Style Shutters With Divider

Ultimately, it’s a style choice – whether you like the look of a half shutter or that of a plantation shutter with a divider rail.

A full length shutter with a divider rail “completes” your window, giving it a fully finished look – and letting you close the bottom louvers for privacy while leaving the top louvers open for light. At night, you have the option of closing the top louvers as well for privacy and security. It’s also convenient during the day when the sun is hindering you from watching TV. And don’t worry about sacrificing any of your view. A 3.5" or 4.5" louver will almost disappear when opened flat and gives you plenty of space to look through.

Simple! Call us at 850-203-0419 or fill out the form below to schedule your free in-home consultation, and we’ll guide you from there. We come out to your home to measure the windows you want to add shutters to and bring samples of all of our shutter products and their available options. Once you’ve selected a shutter that matches your style, we can provide you with the appropriate shutter price for your project. Schedule your in-home consultation today!

Absolutely! There’s seldom a need to take out or alter your old window trim when installing new plantation shutters. Natural Ovation wood shutters and patented Polywood shutters are available in an array of frame styles to fit easily into your current window trim. If your windows don’t have trim, we also have frame styles available to install directly onto the drywall around your window to fix your beautiful new shutters to your window opening.

Your shutter installation crew will measure each of your house’s windows during your complimentary design consultation to make sure that your window trim is perfectly complemented by the frame of your new shutters.

Sunburst Shutters Destin is proud to offer a range of shutters made right here in America. Our popular Polywood plantation shutters are 100% American-made, from the creation of our exclusive Polywood material to the construction of the shutters themselves. Not only does that result in savings passed on to you from cutting unnecessary shipping and handling costs, it also gives you the perk of knowing you’ve chosen an all-American shutter for your Destin home.

And Polywood isn’t the only shutter that’s from the U.S.A. Our stunning Reclaimed Wood shutters are built with lumber repurposed from sources across the country, from rustic Midwest barn doors to beautiful New England fences and more.

The main differentiator between paints and stains for shutters is how the color interacts with the shutter material. Paint lays on top of the shutter, just coating the surface. Stains on the other hand seep into the shutter, becoming a part of the natural wood or faux wood material.

Each method comes with its unique benefits. There tend to be more color options for paints. With stained shutters, the color doesn’t obscure the natural wood grain, so you’re able to see the random knots and ridges of the material without a layer of paint hiding it.

During your in-home window design consultation, we’ll bring samples of our stain and paint options right to your door so you can perfectly color match with your existing interior design.

The entire plantation shutter process, from your in-home consultation to installation, usually takes around four to six weeks. The process takes this long because our goal is to build shutters that are completely customized to your windows. Doing that requires us to take exact measurements, utilize advanced software to design them, assemble your brand-new shutters by hand, and ship them to your home for installation. Real wood shutters typically take longer than faux wood due to the extra steps needed to stain and treat the wood.

It does take a little time, but it’s absolutely worth the wait.

We offer a start to finish shop-at-home experience. So we send a representative to you to take precise measurements of your windows, discuss your options, and give you a quote. The design consultation is 100% free. That’s the best way to start your window treatment project. If you only want a ballpark estimate, you can give us the measurements of your windows through our contact form, or give us a call at 850-203-0419.

The answer will depend on your personal taste. If you want to keep your existing trim, we’re able to build your shutters to complement your current trim. If you like our shutter frames better, then you can take out the existing trim—but it’s not a requirement. If you want to go without trim or replace your trim, we can help you pick the right shutter to fit your perfect vision.

If you’re a seasoned handyman, you might be familiar with what goes into a shutter installation. However, DIY shutters might be a tad complex for most Destin residents. Our suggestion is to leave the installation to our certified and insured professionals, so you won’t be at risk of damaging your shutters, your windows, or injuring yourself.

By far our most popular shutter products are our classic white Polywood® plantation shutters, and Ovation® real wood shutters.

Beyond that, the most popular shutter configuration we sell is a 3 ½” louver, smooth finish, and an interior-mount Z-frame. If those words don’t mean anything to you, that’s ok. We’d be happy to demonstrate what all those things mean in person. Schedule a free in-home consultation and we’ll help you find what would work best in your house.

Shutters with a smooth finish tend to look more fashionable and sophisticated, while textured finish shutters look more natural and historic. But the perks to each style of plantation shutter finish go a little bit farther, and in the end it comes down to your own personal preference.

Benefits of a smooth finish for shutters – A smooth finish to your shutters offer a clean, chic, sophisticated look. A smooth finish might be what you want if your home has few other wood textured accessories or furniture. A smooth finish is easier to see when it needs dusting, compared to a wood grain finish. We usually recommend a smooth finish for faux wood shutters like Polywood.

Benefits of shutters with a wood grain finish – A textured finish on your shutters gives you a more natural, wood-like look to your shutters. That’s perfect if your goal is to bring the beauty of nature indoors, especially if you want to accentuate the look of your hardwood furniture. A textured finish on your shutters may also make dust more difficult to see, which means you won’t need to wipe them down as frequently as you would if they had a smooth finish. A wood-grain finish looks especially great on real wood shutters in Destin.

Usually, the larger the window, the more shutter panels you’ll need. The optimal design is to use a single panel for windows up to 26 inches wide, two panels for windows up to 50 inches wide, and four for windows up to 98 inches wide.

Single wide panels aren’t as room-friendly as multiple panels. Oftentime, wide panel shutters can’t fit flush against the wall due to their size. Two smaller panels solve that problem.

For those windows that you may open or shut regularly, you’re usually better suited with multiple panels, since they’re easier to open and get more support from the frame when you do open and shut them.

With Sunburst Shutters Destin, all of your measurements for shutters will be done by one of our installers for free as part of your in-home consultation. If you happen to have windows in a hard to reach area of your home or you have windows with a unique shape, our shutter pros can get you an exact measurement so that the shutters you get will fit your windows seamlessly.

During your complimentary shutter consultation, your Sunburst Shutters installer can help you pick from our wide array of Destin plantation shutters, such as options for finish, stains, and custom framing options.

So set up your in-home consultation now by calling 850-203-0419 today.

Sunburst can assist you in picking the ideal shutter for your home, regardless of how thin your frame. We will work with an outside mount installation that attaches to the trim or wall outside the window cavity . Your window treatments will still have identical performance and energy efficiency, and will integrate superbly into your design scheme.

If the louver is disconnected and drooping from the frame, you probably have a busted louver pin. To mend this you need to extract the pin from both the louver and the stile with a set of needle-nose pliers or a utility knife. Once the pin is removed, put the replacement pin base into the old hole in the shutter stile, then guide the louver onto the pin. To receive additional louver pins for free, just call us at 850-203-0419.

Pricing on plantation shutters revolves on the chosen product line and window measurements. While we can present you a basic quote over the phone, complete costs are offered after our free in-person consultation. Call 850-203-0419 to make an appointment today.

First, pull out the snapped staple from the louver with some of needle-nose pliers. Then apply some adhesive (like wood glue or epoxy) to cover the legs of a new staple. weave the staple through the loop on the louver and guide its legs into the previous staple holes on the tilt rod. For new shutter staples, call us at 850-203-0419.

Polywood shutters are some of the safest window coverings in Destin. The cord-free, durable craftsmanship is safe for kids and pets. The non-toxic and hypoallergenic paint, polymers, and materials will never chip or peel. And since Polywood is pest and moisture resistant, you won’t have to wonder about termites, mold or wood rot.