Composite Wood Shutters: Must-Knows Before Purchase

faux composite wood shutter honest review

If you are considering purchasing wood faux wood shutters, I am sharing my review after a few years of having them personally installed in our home (in different colors and rooms). Learn about faux wood faux wood shutters and discover if it is the perfect fit for your home and style!

I am sharing with you an overview of our shutters and everything we have considered over the years if we had to do it all over again.

In This Post

All About Affordable Composite Faux Wood Shutters

Aside from being visually beautiful, shutters have had a practical purpose throughout history because of their numerous applications. When there was no light bulb, the optimum amount of sunshine could be let into a home through house shutters. Before air conditioning, they were responsible for circulating the air. Now, they are used to let in and out light as well as add to the desired design of their home.

faux composite wood shutters for interior honest review and considerations

If you want affordable custom window treatments at home, some online stores like this one provide convenience and affordability because of the ability to self-measure and self-buy online.

Material Composition of Faux Wood Shutters

Faux wood shutters, also known as composite shutters, have frames and slats comprised of medium-density fiberboard encased in a vinyl coating. For their weather and humidity resilience, they are an excellent replacement for real wood shutters in the home. Composite shutters give the appearance of wood, but the benefit of affordability and tolerance of moisture.

Compared to real wood shutters, composite shutters are generally waterproof due to the composite materials used in their construction. This means it can stand up in humid climates and environments, spills, and vigorous cleaning methods with wet rags.

Composite shutters are a popular buy, especially at online window treatment stores, due to their affordability and low risk of damage.

Considerations for Buying Faux Wood Shutters

Here are some advantages and disadvantages you should consider before purchasing composite shutters for your home.

Pros

Easy to Clean

Are you frustrated in removing your curtains, washing them, or dusting blinds? While with textile curtains, you would need to remove them, wash, and iron, with faux wood shutters you can just wipe the slats with a rag or duster.

Timeless Design

If you are looking for a classic look or ultra-modern for your home, shutters can be a great addition as it lends itself to being able to be designed and styled match many different rooms and decor choices.

In addition, shutters can change how your house looks on the inside, but they also look great from the outside. Shutters have a stunning appearance, so they are an excellent choice for the exterior of a house if you are concerned about its curb appeal.

Better Light Control and Potential Energy Savings

If you are looking to save money, shutters are a great option because they can be used to control the light in your rooms better than curtains or blinds. The shutter’s ability to trap heat is also a significant influence in lowering energy costs.

Light-Weight and Easy to Install

Faux shutters are lighter than their real wood counterparts, which makes them easier to install. Since the material is lightweight due to it’s composition of a hollow-bodied process, they are easier to lift and mount.

Durability

While we do mention below the potential for them to chip easier, the chemicals and finishes added to the composite material allow the actual material to be more durable because it doesn’t warp as easy, allow them to transcend a few decades of wear.

Cons

Chipped Paint

While it is hard to tell the difference between composite shutters and faux wood shutters when they are painted, over the life of the shutters the paint can get chipped easier on composite ones. Generally, the white or brown fiberboard can be seen, which can be hard to camouflage without repainting the entire frame.

Our faux wood shutters have been customized and painted. Over the years, some parts got chipped, and the wood can be seen.

Loose Tension

Often, some of the slats get loose over time. Using a screwdriver frequently, while annoying, you can tighten up the screws to create a stronger tension. Of course, opening and shutting the shutters will loosen them over time, so you’ll need to frequently tighten those screws.

Here's a summary I did a few years ago outlining things you need to think about for faux wood shutters:

Custom Ordering Composite Faux Wood Shutters Tips and Tricks

Color Matching Time Period

If you decide to do color matching because you have custom trim in your house you want to match, make sure you do not use the old paint can color leftover from when the house was built. Trim color fades over time, so you’ll want to make sure you can get the right color match. Go to a big box store to try to match your paint color, paint a large sample of wood with that paint color include sheen, and color match during different parts of the day. This process can take up to two weeks, but take your time because it is a big purchase, even if it is more affordable than their wood counterparts.

Deciding Whether to Color Match All Rooms

It is a difficult decision on whether to color match all rooms within a house. On one hand, you’ll want to consider the resale value of your home and whether future buyers would be turned away from having various rooms with different color shutters. On the other hand, shutters can be easily replaced (albeit with holes left in the window casing).

We decided to match the décor in each of our rooms. Our entire house has khaki colored trim and we matched the large living spaces with the entire house trim color, but each room has it’s own custom shutter color to match the aesthetic of the room.

Durability

Faux wood shutters generally have pre-drilled holes in the frame and the slats to make it easier to install them into your windows. It makes it really easy to pretty much unpackage and set in the window while you have a drill on hand.

Room Dividers

I have our shutters designed with a divider in our home, so even if the bottom shutters are close, I can still have light coming from the top of our space. The dividers on the bottom allow us to close them when we need privacy, but allow light to come through as needed.

Faux Wood Shutter Options

Here are the various options of faux wood shutters that you can choose form:

Choosing an Online Store

Custom-made shutters for a home have never been easier thanks to online ordering. There are various styles, colors, and materials to choose from at various stores for blinds and shades, and you can get them even without stepping outside of your home!

This online store I purchased from has a SureFit measurement system. This feature ensures that you will be delighted with the results of any product you purchase from the site, as they will replace your blind for free if you mismeasured it (even the return shipment of your old blind is free!). In some cases, a representative from the company will be asked for detailed photos of your windows to ensure a perfect fit.

I've done several videos on this, but here's one on the ordering process that we undertook for our shutters:

Manufacturing and Shipment of Faux Wood Shutters

Faux wood shutters are made from a mixture of wood sourced from forests, they are more durable and cost less than raw wood shutters. Some are manufactured in the United States while others are from overseas. You’ll need to consider this especially if you plan on having a lot of wear and tear on your shutters to think about future replacement options.

What We Ended Up Choosing for Composite Shutters

The ones our family had installed are woodcore faux wood shutters, comprised of a low-maintenance polymer over a solid wood core, creating an energy efficient, fire retardant, easy to clean, strong and durable shutter. Because of their polyresin composition is easy to clean, fire retardant, and guaranteed not to fade, peel, swell, warp, or break. The store that I purchased from frequently offers price and shipping discounts as part of special promotions, which can generally be found here.

We’ve had them for over seven years, and I still absolutely love these shutters. While they do get dusty from time to time, a little dusting every few weeks makes them look new again.

Paint Chipping

The paint chipping does bother me, but it’s balanced knowing that I have littles that push dining room chairs into our floor to ceiling window shutters, so that’s really a problem with the way I designed the room (in not being able to withstand kids that don’t know any better).

Overall Recommendation

If you are looking for a classy look for your home yet do not want to spend the extra money required for real wood shutters, composite shutters are the next best thing due to their affordability, customization options, and ability to withstand wear and tear over time.

Frequently Asked Questions

How comparable are prices between faux wood shutters and real wood shutters?

Faux wood shutters are less expensive than wood shutters due to the affordability of composite material. Faux wood shutters are generally 25% less than wood shutters.

Summary of Faux Composite Wood Shutters

Composite faux shutters are a great alternative to authentic, real plantation wood shutters because it provides an inexpensive option to get the look both inside a home and outside a home exterior. Whether updating the aesthetic to match a room design, controlling light and heat within a room, or updating the curb appeal of your home, faux wood shutters purchased online and with DIY installation can be a great option.

More Window Treatment Inspiration

If you want more ideas for window treatments, below is a round up of some of the posts I have for helping you design your space with window covering options like roman shades, shutters, curtains, and drapes for your living area.

Composite Wood Shutters: Must-Knows Before Purchase

All About Affordable Composite Faux Wood Shutters

Material Composition of Faux Wood Shutters

Considerations for Buying Faux Wood Shutters