In modern home design, huge windows are seen as a very important feature, and solid wood shutters help to ensure both privacy and greater control of how much light is allowed into a particular room.

However, when glass windows were starting to become widespread in the 17th century, there were some cases where the window would be covered with a rather more substantial form of shutter: brick.

The reason for this was a protest against one of the most controversial taxes the UK has enforced up until that point and would be commonly claimed to be the source of the term ‘daylight robbery’ to mean a cost that is seen as egregious.

The window tax was introduced during a period when the idea of income tax (a tax charged relative to a person’s earnings) was still particularly controversial and King William III had recently undertaken a vast recoinage scheme to try and stop the clipping of their edges.

To make up the £2.7m (over £200m adjusted for inflation) that had been spent re-minting all of Britain’s coins, King William wanted to bring in an income tax, but fierce opposition led to him enforcing a similarly banded tax based on the number of windows in a house.

It was made up of a flat-rate house tax that everyone paid (two shillings, or £14.19 adjusted for inflation), and a variable tax based on how many windows were in the home above ten,

Properties with between 11 and 20 windows paid an extra four shillings (nearly £30 in modern money) and houses with more than 20 windows paid eight shillings per window (£56.75).

In one sense, it was a relatively intrusive and easy to calculate tax because you could simply count the windows from the outside, but people strongly disagreed with it to the point that many windows were simply bricked up and it was called a “tax on light and air”.

Eventually, pressure from doctors and a growing agitation from people who connected a lack of light to ill health led to the tax being repealed in 1851.

Solid wood shutters are the best of both worlds in that they provide a distinctive look to your home whilst also effectively improving privacy and allowing you to control the amount of light in your home.

However, there are a few common misconceptions about these versatile solid window coverings that can cause people to get the wrong idea about what shutters can bring to your home.

Here are some common myths about shutters and the truth behind them.

 

Shutters Are Not The Same As Blinds

Perhaps because we talk about louvres for both Venetian blinds and plantation shutters, some have managed to conflate the two types of window covering.

However, they both produce a very different effect in your home even when using the same materials and colour schemes.

Venetian blinds, the closest analogue to shutters, use a series of louvres made of either thin metal or wood that are closed using a roller, whilst shutters are solid panels typically opened and closed using a latch or lever mechanism.

Whilst blinds are a common choice for windows, they can be difficult to operate, too thin and gather dust very easily depending on the design.

 

You Do Not Need A Traditional Looking Home To Have Them

Whilst plantation shutters have been historically associated with certain house styles, they are highly adaptable as a design concept and look great on nearly every home, with colours, louvre sizes, shapes and shutter systems to suit every need.

 

Shutters Do Not Darken A Room

Because shutters are solid and often have a border, there is a misplaced concern amongst some homeowners that they can sap some of the light away from a room.

Whilst they are very good at darkening a room at night when they are closed, rotating the slats provides a lot of light, and the shutter itself can be swung open to get the most natural light possible from a window.