Installation

Tools needed to install Custom Plantation Shutters:

Arrange each pair of shutters on the edge with hinge mortises up and louver-control bars facing toward each other. (This assures that all the bars will face the room when the shutter is hung and allows one shutter in each set to open right while the other opens left.)
Place a hinge in a mortise. Fit your drill/driver with a Vix bit. Position the bit in a hinge screw hole. Drill a pilot into the shutter, repeating for all hinge holes.
With a Phillips-head bit in the drill/driver, screw all hinges to the shutters.

Have a helper hold a shutter in the open position against the wall with its hinges flipped out so they sit inside the jamb. Adjust the entire unit so its hinges protrude from the jamb just enough to allow the shutter to clear the casing when it’s parallel to the wall. Pencil a line on the jamb behind each hinge.
Hold the hanging strip against the lines. With a 1/8-inch drill bit chucked into your drill/driver, bore pilot holes (one each at top and bottom) through the strip and into the jamb.
Now with a square-head bit in your drill/driver, screw the hanging strip to the jamb. Repeat on the other side.

Place both shutters in the window opening and slip shims in at top and at bottom to hold them in place. Adjust the shutters to create even spacing along the window jamb and between the shutters.
Mark the casing at the top of each hinge knuckle. Set shutters aside.
Using a combination square, transfer the mark on the casing to a line on the jamb and then the hanging strip. This mark will show you where to line up the hinges on the window.

Tip: When marking the hinge locations, use the top of the knuckle, not the pin, as a guide. This will correspond to the top of the hinge plate.

Before hanging the shutters, screw magnetic catch plates to their bottom (or top) inside corners.
Open a shutter and position it so that the L-shaped hinges sit snugly in the corner created by the hanging strip and window jamb. Align the top of each hinge plate with its line.
Mark the screw holes and once again set the shutter aside. Use a 1/8-inch drill bit to make pilot holes at the marks.
Loosely screw the hinges to the hanging strip with a Phillips-head screwdriver. Close the shutter and make sure it’s even all around. Adjust it as necessary, and then tighten the screws.

Framed shutters give a more polished look to an installation.
Make sure there's room to swing open or fold back the shutter panels. Shutters can be mounted inside or outside the window frame, though some windows may not allow for an inside mount or may have insufficient clearance for the louvers to open.
If you can, try to choose a stock color for your shutters; custom-painting shutters can be a headache.
With the low sun levels of winter months, shutters may block out more light than you would like; try installing them only on the lower part of a window instead of its entire height.
Maintenance is minimal—just a good dusting is all they need.