Shutters in 2027: where the market is going and what buyers are choosing

Updated October 22, 2026

The short version: homeowners in both countries are expected to stay put and spend about what they did last year, mostly on the home they already have. The 2027 colours are soft greens, kitchens are going to white oak and neutrals, and cord rules keep tightening. All of that favours a cordless covering in a lasting colour, bought once. Our aluminum interior shutters arrive in 2027 for the rooms where wood struggles.

Spending: steady, not booming

In the US, Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies expects growth in home improvement and repair spending to slow to 0.5% a year by the first quarter of 2027, from 1.8% in the second quarter of 2026, with annual spending of about $523 billion. In its words, “homeowners are expected to maintain spending at roughly last year’s levels”^[1].

In Canada, CMHC’s July 2026 outlook expects home sales to rise only gradually and prices to decline through 2026 before growing modestly. It also expects housing starts to keep falling, from about 241,400 in 2026 to about 223,400 in 2027^[2].

Where that money goes is clearer from Houzz’s 2026 survey of homeowners. Kitchens “remained the most popular room to renovate at 26% of respondents”, and the median kitchen renovation spend in 2025 rose 9.1% to $24,000^[9]. People are putting real money into rooms they plan to live with for a long time.

Colour: 2027 is a green year

Both big US paint brands picked a green for 2027. Benjamin Moore’s Color of the Year is Webster Green HC-130, announced on October 14, 2026, which it calls “a confident hue with undeniable personality”^[6]. Sherwin-Williams chose Celery SW 6421, a lighter, yellower green^[7]. Designers are less adventurous in kitchens: in the NKBA’s 2027 kitchen report, 96% name neutrals as the top colour choice^[8].

For shutters, the question is how long you’ll keep the colour. Paint on a wall is a weekend’s work to change; a shutter is meant to last for years. Here’s how we’d think about it:

Every shutter we make comes white as standard or colour-matched to any paint or stain, so any of these is an option in the designer. The painting guide covers repainting later.

Kitchens: white oak, zones and better light

The NKBA’s 2027 kitchen report, as reported by PHCP Pros, finds 49% of designers naming white oak as their wood of choice, and 34% expecting unfinished, natural-material cabinets to be popular. Eighty-one percent say intentional zoning, a kitchen split into areas for cooking, prep, coffee and so on, is “here to stay”. Designers also talk about designing for wellness through “better light, air and water quality”^[8].

Kitchen windows are where shutters earn their keep or don’t. Over a sink, a café or tier-on-tier layout keeps the lower half private and the top open to the sky. Near the cooktop, louvers tilt to cut glare without shutting out the light. And around a sink, wood needs wiping down, which is part of why we’re launching an aluminum line.

What buyers are choosing

Global Market Insights, a market research firm, estimates the North American blinds and shutters market at $29.5 billion in 2026 and forecasts 8.2% a year growth to 2035. It reports that “Automated and motorized window treatments, once considered luxury items, have now become mainstream”, and that “Homeowners are increasingly investing in hardwood shutters, natural woven materials, high-grade aluminum finishes”^[3]. It also finds that stores and showrooms still sell most window coverings, with online sales growing^[3]. These are one firm’s estimates; treat the figures as a direction rather than a count.

Motorized coverings: where shutters don’t compete

If motorized coverings are going mainstream, it’s fair to ask where that leaves a shutter. Straight answer: our shutters aren’t motorized. You open the panels by hand and tilt the louvers with a rod or a hidden mechanism. If you want every window in the house to open on a schedule or from your phone, a motorized shade or blind is the right product, and you should buy one.

Where shutters hold their own is the window you touch every day: a bedroom you close at night, a patio door you walk through, a kitchen window you open for air. Panels swing clear of the glass, so there’s nothing between you and the window when you want it open. There’s no motor, battery or hub to replace in ten years, and a louver tilts in a second without reaching for anything. Plenty of houses will end up with both: motorized shades on the tall or hard-to-reach windows, and shutters where people live.

Cords: the rules keep tightening

Canada has regulated corded window coverings since May 1, 2021^[5]. In the US, the Consumer Product Safety Commission proposed new requirements in September 2026, mostly for custom window coverings: free-hanging operating cords, exposed continuous loops and long retractable cords, among others. Written comments are due November 23, 2026^[4]. Shutters tilt with the louvers or a hidden mechanism and have no cords to regulate. The cord rules in full

New for 2027: aluminum interior shutters

Our aluminum interior shutters are coming in 2027. They’re made for the inside of the house, for the rooms where wood has the hardest time, with a wood finish so they sit alongside the wood shutters in the rest of the house.

• Where they go: Made for bathrooms, laundry rooms and other rooms where wood has a hard time with moisture.
• The look: a wood finish, movable louvers, and the same three moulding levels as our wood shutters, from flat to fully moulded.
• The build: An aluminum frame and louvers in place of solid wood. Aluminum doesn’t rust the way steel does. A thin oxide film forms on its surface and reseals itself if it’s scratched.
• The finish: A finish chosen to stand up to sun and humidity, on a shutter designed for the inside.

There’s no price yet, and we won’t publish one until launch. The waitlist hears first. About the aluminum line, and the waitlist

Which trend fits which room

Our read on where buyers are going

This section is our opinion, drawn from the figures above.

• Improving the home they have. With fewer moves and fewer new homes being started, more money goes into homes people already own. Window coverings are one of the few upgrades you can do room by room without a contractor.
• Real materials, matched to the room. White oak in the kitchen, wood in the living rooms, and something that copes with water in the bathroom. One material doesn’t have to do every room.
• Seeing the price first. Buyers are used to pricing things online. A covering you can price window by window, before anyone visits, fits how people shop now.
• Cordless by default. With rules tightening in both countries, cordless is becoming the standard rather than an upgrade.
• Colour on the walls, not the windows. A colour of the year changes every year. We expect most people to keep shutters white or in their trim colour and put the year’s colour around them.

Why consider Shutter Boys

• One material, chosen on purpose: every shutter is solid American poplar, painted white as standard or colour-matched to any paint or stain. Why poplar
• Made to the measurements you take, to the nearest ⅛ in, in the US and Canada. How to measure
• Prices you see first: a 36 × 48 in window is $320 – $400 in the US ($460 – $570 CAD in Canada), before tax and shipping, and the designer prices every window as you add it.
• Fitted by you, with a step-by-step guide, so the installation bill stays with you. How to install
• No cords, in any room.