My oh my, It seems like forever since we spoke on here! Christmas & New Year were hectic, but absolutely lovely, and the January diets have begun! (okay, who we kiddin' we're not really on diets?). We hope you all had a lovely festive season, too! It's going to take at least a year to recover, don't you agree?

Right, so, New Year, new start? Yeah, it's something we've been promising ourselves since god knows when. But, we do often find that after christmas is the perfect time for that clear out, and re-decoration! Don't worry, it's really not as scary as you think. Be ruthless. Are you really going to use it? Do you really NEED it? Maybe you could sell it & give yourself some money after the Christmas crunch? Have a clean, get rid of all the left over glitter. Then, take a step back, relax, and think about how, for once, your home could have a new start! We bet the lounge is looking bare after taking all the decs down, right? And the dining room, suddenly so empty and turkey-less. Well, have you ever thought about how shutters or blinds could instantly bring back the character and cosiness to your room? We didn't think so.

So, to inspire those christmas missing rooms, we've picked our favourite inspiration to give you ideas for that new start your house would really, really like. 

All images via Pinterest

See just how much they can 'make a room'? For more inspiration check our Pinterest page here! And any info, check our site here! 

Have a great evening,

Jade

READ MORE

Okay, so now you've seen how we do a free survey (check here if you haven't) the next step, once you've decided what you want (check our mood board here for inspiration) is the fitting. Just like the survey, there is absolutely no extra cost for you regarding this. All you need to do, is be there to let us in, and put the kettle on if you're feeling extra nice. 

Below are some pictures of a recent project we were working on at a beautiful house in Northumberland...

When we do a survey, it is important that we understand the area we are working with. Most buildings, new or old don't have perfectly straight windows. So we take many measurements to make sure your shutters or blinds are built perfectly for your home.

Once your shutters or blinds have been manufactured, we will organise the best installation date with you. Depending on how many shutters we are putting up depends on the time we will need. But, Kevin is pretty darn quick! Once the installation is done, we will make sure you are entirely happy, and leave you, and your gorgeous new shutters in peace.

For any more information, don't hesitate to get in touch here!

P.S Check out our £10,000 giveaway here!

Jade

Social media Marketing manager

READ MORE

Okay, just incase you hadn't noticed, Christmas day is next week! (exciting, we know!). Despite being a pretty darn happy time of year, our bank accounts get wiped out, life becomes hectic, and the only luxuries we can afford to spend seem to be the new xbox's, Play-stations and iPads for the kids. 

At Cumbria Shutters, we understand it can be a little disheartening seeing your money go elsewhere, rather than on improving your home! So, as we're feeling extra lovely and festive, we've got a fabulous, and free (yeah, honestly) christmas present for you!! 

We have 100 of our gorgeous £100 vouchers to give away to spend on our blinds and shutters! Thing is, it's only first comes first serve! So...HURRY! They make the perfect present for yourself, friend or relative! 

To enter, all you need to do is head over to our Facebook page and 'like' it here, and give us a cheeky follow on Twitter here! One last thing, so we can send it to you in the post! : Enter your details (name, address, telephone number so we can let you know you're a lucky one, & email address) here! 

Fingercrossed you get there in time! You have until the 24th December to enter!!! All vouchers will be sent out in January.

Jade

Social Media Marketing Manager

READ MORE

Okay, so unless you've been living under a rock for a while, you'll know that here at Cumbria shutters, we design ... yep you guessed it.. shutters. So you got that bit. But how we get this so spot on every time, might have you wondering? Lets start from the beginning...

So, you've sent a message to our MD Kevin with some ideas, or requesting some more information about potential shutters or blinds in your home. No doubt, he's got back to you pretty darn quick and squared some things up you might have been curious about. What we will then do, should you wish, is arrange a free survey at your convenience. Don't worry whether it's 6 in the morning (we're early birds here) or 10 at night (we're night birds too) we will always cater around you. 

Now, despite our cosy HQ being located in Cumbria, we're more than happy to travel as far North, or South as you like as well. The best part? This is at absolutely no cost to you.

We're all about giving you the best customer service possible here at Cumbria Plantation Shutters. We could rely on your own measurements, but we'd hate for your fit not to be perfect. It's also important we understand the space we're working with. What if your windows were slightly 'wonky', but we hadn't come to see whether they were? Yep, your shutters might not fit properly. Just imagine how annoying that would be seeing them every day? What if the surface adjoining the shutters was un-level stone? Or, as we often find in old, and new buildings is that things haven't been built square. But what if we hadn't come to see this? Yep, your shutters might not fit properly. So what we always advise, is that you take advantage of our expertise and surveying service, the last thing we want is you to be unsatisfied (never mind the fact wonky shutters frustrate us, too). Therefore the best way for your measurements to be spot on, your colour choice picked in the correct light of your home, and for you to meet our lovely team, is to come to you.

Firstly, we like to sit down with all our clients, listen to what they have to say and then discuss various ideas with them as to what they have in mind, and how we can design the shutter systems for their home. We will then access the space, show samples to help you choose the correct wood, and colour. (If you want us to leave these with you, that is no problem at all) and most importantly, we measure the space you would like the shutters or blinds, to get the best fit possible. Kevin will address any issues at the time (should there be any), take away his measurements, and email you (or call if you like) over the quotes and options that may best suit you. On occasions, Kevin will even pop down (or up) to you 2-3 times before anything is confirmed. Like we said, we want you to be as satisfied as all our other customers! 

If you would like any more information, or even book a free survey yourself, don't be afraid to get in touch here! And if you'd like to hear what our previous customers think of us, have a sneaky little peak here!

P.S Kevin takes tea with milk and half a sugar.

Have a brilliant day, and enjoy your weekend!

Jade

Social media marketing manager

READ MORE

We all love our shutters and whether they're for decorative or functional purposes, it's important we keep them clean. But how many of us love cleaning as much as our shutters? probably not many. If any at all. So what i've done, to make the cleaning process as easy, and least tedious as possible is put together a little 'shutter cleaning guide' for you all. Whether your shutters are wood or painted, below is all the information you need to keep them sparkling for christmas! 

And there you have it. Simple as that! If you need, print out that image to remind yourselves! Next week we'll show you how to clean exterior shutters! (They're a little more complicated than interior ones). Oh, and if you have to use a ladder for cleaning, be careful not to fall! We don't want shutter cleaning put on the dangerous sport list!

If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to get in touch here! 

Have a fab day!

Jade

Social Media Marketing Manager

READ MORE

Here at Cumbria Plantation Shutters we're all about creativity, ideas and designing something specifically for, you. Every design we create is unique, so unlike larger corporations who offer the same thing to everyone, we alter our shutters to every individuals' tastes. Whether you like bright green (we never judge) or something more natural, we guarantee to come up with something rather fabulous. 

Okay, so when it comes to your imagination, the best way to explore it is to put all your ideas on one page and work out what-you-actually-like. Some of you may be lucky and know exactly what you want. But often we find that as soon as another suggestion comes into play, we get confused and lose track of where we are. The best way to combat this is throw it all onto a 'moodboard'. I'm sure a lot of you have made one of some sort before, particularly those of you with creative minds. But you may be a little lost when it comes to creating one for shutters. To some, it may seem a little pointless. But think about it, windows and shutters are the main attraction to either the inside, or outside of your home. 

To prove this, what i want you to do now is, shut your eyes and:

1. Imagine your house without curtains

2. Now take away any shutters (if you have some currently)

3. Then get rid of the windows all together (so it's just a wall)

Right, be honest here. It looked funny didn't it? Thought so. Just goes to show that your home wouldn't be the same without that space. Unfortunately though, we tend to over complicate things when we come to designing shutters for our windows, making it tedious and unenjoyable. Here at Cumbria Shutters however, we want to make it fun. We want to make it exciting. But most importantly, we want you to enjoy designing shutters for the centre pieces of your homes - yep, your windows.

Our rather talented MD, Kevin will always design something to your tastes. But what are those tastes? Well, what i'm going to do now is show you the easiest, quickest way to create a moodboard online, so you've got something prepared for a designer when they come to your home. Ya ready? LET'S GO.

When we put ideas together for things like shutters, we need to make sure it is all related. Basically, if we're talking about shutters, there's probably not a lot of point throwing in some pictures of cats? I mean, if you really want to, feel free. But it might not help.

From our end, things we would include in a moodboard for shutters are:

• Colours
• Materials 
• Other shutter designs
• Other home interiors
• Textures 
• Items to represent the atmosphere you want to achieve (i.e light to represent fresh, fire to represent warmth)

To make one, we suggest using Roomstyler. It's easy, free and has material, furniture and paint samples ready on the moodboard maker.

For ours, we wanted to create something 'shabby chic' style. Yet, also something fresh and exhilarating hence 'sea side' images and florals. As well as using images from RoomStyler, we also used images off our Pinterest. 

What do you think of this moodboard? Granted, it's very girly, but it sure would help a designer understand your interior 'style'. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or contact us through Twitter and Facebook!

Have a great evening, and enjoy getting creative!

Jade

Social media marketing manager

READ MORE

Hello everyone! 

So, we were going to dive straight in with some great content for you. But then we thought you'd all like to know what the bloomin' heck Cumbria Plantation shutters are doing blogging!? Yes, we have a website. Yes, we have Facebook. Yes, we have Twitter. But wait a sec, where's our blog? Where's our place to share ideas? Where's our place to share inspiration? And most importantly, where's our place to share information you REALLY want to read? Well, this little blog is your answer. The answer to all your shutter related questions, no matter how silly you think they may be.

So what should you expect from us? Well, thankfully due to being pretty good in the plantation shutter industry (not that we like to brag or anything) we can provide TOP SECRET information for you (unfortunately we're not talking MI5 secret stuff though), tips, tricks, trends, special deals and pretty much everything shutter related. Sounds pretty good, huh? Over the next coming days and weeks we've got posts planned on how to decorate your shutters for christmas, how to easily clean them (we all  know how tedious that can be) and current trends circling the Interior design world which might help with those tricky decisions. 

Now you know what we aim to do here, sit back, grab a cuppa, stop panicking about what colours/styles/materials you want in those windows and seriously, we mean SERIOUSLY watch this space.

Have a wonderful day! We suggest you keep those shutters shut with the current weather! 

Jade

Social media marketing manager

READ MORE