People often confuse the terms ‘window blinds” and “window shutters”. Both types of window coverings use rotating horizontal slats or louvers, but that is where the similarities end.

Window blinds use a horizontal head rail that installs to the top of a window opening. A system of strings drop from the head rail that support equally spaced horizontal slats that are constructed out of wood, metal, or vinyl. A bar hidden within the top rail revolves when the user twists a vertical wand or pulls one of two strings. When the bar rotates, the louvers tilt up or down. Strings, often opposite of the wand, can be pulled to fully retract the louvers to the top of the window opening.

Window shutters are a solid window treatment. Each shutter panel consists of a top rail, bottom rail, left rail, and right rail. Horizontal louvers are equally spaced between the stiles. The louvers connect using a tilt bar and allows the louvers to rotate up or down. While a single shutter panel can be used to span the full window width, often multiple panels are hinged together into a shutter unit. The customary configuration allows the shutters to swing on hinges against the wall directly outside of the window opening.

These definitions are not universal. We have simply provided the most common features of each window treatment.

Occasionally, someone will combine the two terms to create “shutter blinds“. If looking for shutters, we suggest searching for “interior shutters”