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Shutters vs Curtains: A Discussion Well Worth

When hot summer days take over and the burning sun rays hit my tiny apartment on the upper floors of a Melbourne centre building, I’m the happiest. And I’ll tell you why: because I can walk around the apartment in my underwear. Hold your imagination, naughty: I wear my boyfriend’s large t-shirt as a dress and I have to say that this is my version of fresh breeze in the middle of a hot summer. And while I love the feeling of walking around almost naked, I can’t say I also love the atmosphere in the rooms; it’s too hot and suffocating!

So, I was standing one bright, hot day (un)dressed in his T-shirt in front of my large windows and looking outside, thinking about what could I do to provide my apartment with some shade without completely blocking the sunlight. Then all of a sudden I saw that someone was watching me from the building across! Oh my God, the embarrassment! I can’t tell you just how stressed I was at that moment; embarrassed because I was half-naked, feeling stupid because I didn’t think of this before, and angry that I waited for so long to take care of the window treatment. Honestly, a fury of emotions.

The next day, I sat down and started searching for window treatments. There was no way I was spending another day in the middle of a hot summer while being on display to some creep. Plus, I did need some kind of a shade, as the sun was shining directly into my living room for the bigger part of the day, making it impossible to stay there. So the choice came down to two options: the shutters plantation type or curtains? Take a look at what I found out from my research.

Plantation Shutters

These are my personal favourite, and judging by the facial expression my boyfriend made after I told him about the little ‘voyeur’ accident, they became his too. The shutters plantation type is made of a number of sturdy, large louvers whose biggest advantage is quality insulation. Opposite of traditional shutters, plantation shutters are installed to let the light in, but not the heat, which is exactly what makes them good insulators. They easily fit on any window frame, regardless of the size and the shape. Additionally, they’re very stylish. The fact that they fit perfectly on the windows makes them perfect for my apartment, which isn’t that spacious. Plus, I get to paint them in my preferred colour.shutters plantation

Curtains

While plantation shutters are very easy to maintain, curtains aren’t. You need to take them off, wash them, iron them, and then place them back on the hanging rack. And most of the types on the market (at least the modern ones) don’t let light in at all if you decide to close them, which is why these weren’t our choice. Plus, they make the room look kind of smaller, as they almost never stay in the frame of the window.