If you are covering a large window with plantation shutters, you can follow the same simple measuring and installation guides as for any-sized window. Don’t let the large size intimidate you! There are a few simple, smart choices you can make when designing your indoor shutters for large windows to get hassle-free and long-lasting shutters.
Best Shutter Style for Large Windows
While it may seem that covering only a lower portion of your window or splitting the shutter into tiers would help reduce the weight of the panels, it is actually best to opt for a Full Height shutter on a large window.
Café style shutters do not have a top frame since they cover only the lower portion of a window. The top frame piece provides additional support as well as additional magnets on the top of each panel to keep the panels properly closed and aligned.
Tier on tier style shutters are split, so gravity works against the top tier, and each tier has only 3 sides of the frame to connect to, rather than a full 4-sided frame around each panel.
Full Height shutters come with a 4-sided frame for the best support, alignment, and longevity of your shutters. You can add a mid-rail for additional support and to allow separate control of the upper and lower sections of slats. You can even add 2 mid-rails on very tall windows for added stability and splitting up the slats into 3 separately operable sections.
Shutters for large arched windows
We also offer plantation shutters for large arched windows, in 4 different styles. For larger windows, we suggest choosing Arch 1 or Arch 3 as these utilize a horizontal t-post to separate the sunburst from the rectangular portion, again splitting up the weight of the shutter for longevity.
Arch 1 Style shutter for a large arch window
Best Material for Large Window Shutters
When selecting your material, we suggest choosing wooden shutters for large windows. All of our shutters are made of 100% solid materials. Poplar wood is the lightest weight of our wooden materials. Elm is a heavier weight more dense wood, and our polyvinyl is solid with an aluminum core which makes it slightly heavier than a wooden shutter.
The ranges we offer in poplar wood include Classic Poplar Hardwood, Designer Collection, and American Hardwood. These will give you the lightest weight shutter panels, making them easier to swing open and closed on a large window.
For bathroom shutters, especially those exposed to moisture or humidity, we recommend using polyvinyl in these cases, since polyvinyl is waterproof. You can opt for the Affordable Fauxwood or American Polyvinyl if you need your shutters to be waterproof. Since this is a heavier material, t-posts are recommended to split up the weight of the panels.
This customer chose a 4-sided frame on their café style bathroom shutters, so they could add t-posts to divide the shutter into 3 separate sections.
Other shutter design recommendations for large windows
When choosing your number of panels, keep in mind an ideal shutter panel width is anywhere from about 10” to 30”. Having too many panels can result in narrow panels that are difficult to keep aligned, but having too few panels can give you large and heavy panels that may start to sag over time. Sticking within the approximate 10” to 30” range for each shutter panel will ensure your panels are not too big or too small.
Be sure to select a configuration where the panel weight is evenly distributed. For example, on a shutter with 4 panels, it is recommended to have 2 bi-fold to the left and 2 bi-fold to the right. Have 3 or 4 panels all hinged to one side would place too much weight on the hinges on that side.
If you have enough recess depth for any of our 4 available slat sizes, you may not know which slat size to choose. Smaller slats like 2 ½" and 3” can tend to look busy on a large window, whereas a 3 ½" or 4 ½" slat will look nice in proportion to your window size.
Large window shutters with 3 ½" slats
If you have any questions along the way in designing your custom shutters for large windows, contact our shutter experts for help! We are available by phone, chat or email. Sending us a picture of your window opening is always a great place to start, and we can gladly make our recommendations to ensure you an easy and successful installation.