Shutter BoysPlantation shutters in Los Angeles
Homes in Los Angeles
Apartments outnumber houses in Los Angeles: 57% of its 1,554,332 homes are in buildings of two or more units. Detached houses make up 36% and townhouses and other attached houses 6%.
The biggest building period was 1950 to 1979, which accounts for 42% of homes standing today; 14% are from 2000 or later. The median home dates from 1965. Most homes are rented: owners live in only 36%.
In Santa Monica, 5 miles away, 77% of homes are apartments, more than here. Nationally, Los Angeles's homes are older than those in 77% of the 881 US cities we have census figures for.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024. Estimates carry margins of error.
Apartments and condos
57% of homes are in buildings of two or more units. Balcony and patio doors suit bypass or bifold panels rather than hinged ones, which need floor space to swing. Check what your HOA or building allows to show from outside before you order: most rules are about the colour seen through the glass.
Out-of-square openings
With 70% of homes built before 1980, many openings have had decades to settle. Measure each one's width at the top, middle and bottom, and both diagonals. If the diagonals differ by more than about ¼ inch, add a mounting frame in the designer, or choose an outside mount so the shutter covers the uneven edges.
Plaster walls and deep casings
28% of homes date from before 1950, when walls were plaster on lath and windows sat in deep wood casings. Plaster cracks if you drive screws carelessly: drill a pilot hole, use fixings made for plaster, and fix into the casing or the framing behind it. A deep casing is good news for an inside mount; measure its depth before you choose a louver size.
Renting?
64% of homes are rented. Shutters screw into the window frame or casing, so ask your landlord before you install; taking them down later leaves only screw holes to fill.
A whole house in Los Angeles
The most common home in Los Angeles has two bedrooms: 31% of homes. 12% have four bedrooms or more, and 35% have one or none. The median home has 4.1 rooms.
Apartments are the most common kind of home here. Across the US, the middle home among apartments in buildings of five or more units has 3 to 5 windows (EIA, 2020). Shuttering that many windows at a typical bedroom-window size comes to roughly $900 to $2,000. For scale, that's about 0.2% of the median home value here, $921,200 (owners’ estimates, 2020–2024).
Homes here are smaller than in 88% of the 881 US cities we have figures for: many orders are a few rooms, not a whole house.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 (bedrooms B25041, rooms B25018, value B25077); U.S. Energy Information Administration, Residential Energy Consumption Survey 2020, Table HC2.1 (windows). EIA RECS 2020, Table HC2.1
A typical home3–5 windows
All of them shuttered$900 to $2,000
Every window priced as a 36 × 48 in opening in our basic build (flat moulding, paint stage 1, 3½ in louvers), before tax and shipping. Your windows will differ; the designer prices each one.
Price your own windowsOlder homes, high values
Owners here value their homes higher than in 93% of the 881 US cities we have figures for, and 70% of homes were built before 1980. If an older house still has good wood shutters, repair them before you replace them; if not, poplar painted to match the trim suits original casings.
Working from home
20% of workers here worked from home in the 2020–2024 survey years, more than in 73% of the 881 US cities we have figures for. Glare on a screen comes from direct sun and bright sky behind or beside it. Louvers tilted up throw daylight at the ceiling instead, so the room stays bright and the screen stays readable; wider louvers give the clearest view when you open them.
Ages (B01001), working from home (B08301) and value (B25077): U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates, 2020–2024. Rankings compare the US cities we have figures for.
Los Angeles weather and your shutters
At Culver City, CA (1 mi away), August averages a high of 79.1°F and December a low of 47.3°F. No month averages a high above 85°F or a low below freezing.
About 7 days a year reach 90°F, 1 nights fall to freezing and 14.2 inches of precipitation falls, most of it around February and least in July.
Daylight runs from 14 h 25 min on the longest day to 9 h 53 min on the shortest, and the midday sun stands 79° above the horizon in June and 33° in December.
Source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, Culver City, CA (temperature) and Culver City, CA (precipitation, 1 mi away). Daylight and sun height: calculated from the city’s latitude.
Monthly figures
| Month | Average high | Average low | Precipitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 66.6°F | 48°F | 3.3 in |
| Feb | 66.5°F | 48.5°F | 3.5 in |
| Mar | 68.2°F | 50.8°F | 2.2 in |
| Apr | 70.8°F | 53.1°F | 0.6 in |
| May | 72°F | 56.6°F | 0.4 in |
| Jun | 74.7°F | 60.3°F | 0.1 in |
| Jul | 78°F | 63.1°F | 0 in |
| Aug | 79.1°F | 63.6°F | 0 in |
| Sep | 78.4°F | 62.2°F | 0.1 in |
| Oct | 75.8°F | 57.9°F | 0.6 in |
| Nov | 70.6°F | 51.9°F | 0.9 in |
| Dec | 65.9°F | 47.3°F | 2.5 in |
Dry summers, wet winters
Barely any of the year's precipitation falls in June, July and August; most comes in the cool months. Wood takes on moisture in the wet season and gives it back in the dry one, so expect the panels to feel slightly tighter in winter than in summer. Fit them in the season you're in, and leave the hinge screws a quarter turn from tight until they've been through both.
Fitting them in Los Angeles
Shutter Boys shutters are made for you to fit yourself: an inside or outside mount takes a drill, a level and our step-by-step guide. If you'd rather hire someone, a finish carpenter or blinds installer can fit them; ask on your quote and we'll tell you if we know one near you. You arrange and pay the installer directly.
Near Los Angeles
- Santa Monica 5 mi
- Inglewood 6 mi
- Hawthorne 8 mi
- Florence-Graham 10 mi
- Gardena 11 mi
- Huntington Park 11 mi
More about shutters in Los Angeles
Each page takes one question further (fitting your windows, room by room, sizes and colours, louvers, or how shutters compare with other choices), using Los Angeles’s own figures.
For designers, contractors and stores in Los Angeles
Interior designers, contractors, window covering stores, realtors and property managers in Los Angeles can sell or refer Shutter Boys shutters: dealers buy at trade pricing with a protected area; referral partners earn a fee on each client they send. No fee to join.
Price your windows
Pick your look once, add every window, and see each one drawn and priced. Send it to us and we reply with your quote.