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Plantation shutters in Skokie

Plantation shutters, also called California shutters or interior window shutters, made to the measurements you take and shipped to your door in Skokie. Fit them yourself, or ask us for an independent installer near you.
Framed California shutters fitted across a condo window wall, in time-lapse.

Homes in Skokie

Skokie's 25,159 homes are a mix: 54% detached houses, 41% apartments or units in buildings of two or more homes and 5% townhouses and other attached houses.

The biggest building period was 1950 to 1979, which accounts for 70% of homes standing today; 8% are from 2000 or later. The median home dates from 1959. Owners live in 75% of homes.

In Evanston, 2 miles away, 62% of homes are apartments, more than here. Nationally, Skokie's homes are older than those in 95% 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.

Replacement windows

70% of homes went up between 1950 and 1979, and most of them have had their original windows replaced since. A replacement window often sits further into or out of the wall than the old one, so the depth you have for an inside mount may differ from window to window in the same house. Measure every opening rather than copying one.

Choosing a louver size

Out-of-square openings

With 85% 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.

How to measure

Apartments and condos

41% 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.

Patio door shutters

Bought to stay

Owners live in 75% of homes, and shutters are usually bought to stay with the house. Poplar takes paint well, so they can be repainted years from now if you change a room's colours. Keep your order list: it records every size if you add a room later.

Why poplar

A whole house in Skokie

The most common home in Skokie has three bedrooms: 41% of homes. 18% have four bedrooms or more, and 12% have one or none. The median home has 5.6 rooms.

Detached houses are the most common kind of home here. Across the US, the middle home among detached houses has 10 to 15 windows (EIA, 2020). Shuttering that many windows at a typical bedroom-window size comes to roughly $3,200 to $6,000. For scale, that's about 1.2% of the median home value here, $387,200 (owners’ estimates, 2020–2024).

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 home10–15 windows

All of them shuttered$3,200 to $6,000

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 windows

Working from home

20% of workers here worked from home in the 2020–2024 survey years, more than in 75% 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.

Choosing a louver size

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.

Skokie weather and your shutters

At Chicago Botanic Garden, IL (7 mi away), July averages a high of 83.5°F and January a low of 16.3°F. Average lows sit at or below freezing from December to March.

About 17 days a year reach 90°F, 128 nights fall to freezing and 39.7 inches of precipitation falls, spread fairly evenly through the year.

That's more freezing nights than in 83% of the 881 US cities we have climate normals for.

Daylight runs from 15 h 15 min on the longest day to 9 h 6 min on the shortest, and the midday sun stands 71° above the horizon in June and 25° in December.

Source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, Chicago Botanic Garden, IL (temperature) and Lincolnwood 1.8 E, IL (precipitation, 3 mi away). Daylight and sun height: calculated from the city’s latitude.

Skokie: average monthly low and high temperatures10°F30°F50°F70°F90°FJFMAMJJASOND
Average daily low to high, by month.
Monthly figures
Monthly climate normals
MonthAverage highAverage lowPrecipitation
Jan32.3°F16.3°F2.2 in
Feb36°F19.1°F2.1 in
Mar45.8°F28.2°F2.3 in
Apr56.8°F37.6°F3.8 in
May68.2°F47.6°F4.8 in
Jun78.4°F57.3°F4.5 in
Jul83.5°F63.4°F3.8 in
Aug82°F62.3°F4.4 in
Sep75.2°F54.7°F3.4 in
Oct62.8°F42.7°F3.6 in
Nov49°F32.5°F2.5 in
Dec37.5°F22.3°F2.3 in

Cold winters

With 128 freezing nights a year, warm room air meets cold glass for months. Shutters closed tight overnight hold that air against the window, so condensation can collect on the sill: tilt the louvers open in the morning, and wipe the sill on windows that often run wet.

Why poplar

Fitting them in Skokie

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.

How to install · How to measure

Near Skokie

More about shutters in Skokie

Each page takes one question further (fitting your windows, room by room, sizes and colours, louvers, or how shutters compare with other choices), using Skokie’s own figures.

For designers, contractors and stores in Skokie

Interior designers, contractors, window covering stores, realtors and property managers in Skokie 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.

Apply to the dealer program · Dealers in Illinois

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.

Design your shutters