Plantation shutters in Wake Forest

Plantation shutters, also called California shutters or interior window shutters, made to the measurements you take and shipped to your door in Wake Forest. 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 Wake Forest

Wake Forest is a city of houses: of its 19,428 homes, 69% are detached, 11% are townhouses and other attached houses and 19% are apartments or units in buildings of two or more homes.

Much of Wake Forest is new: 73% of homes were built 2000 or later, and only 8% before 1980. The median home dates from 2009. Owners live in 74% of homes.

Of the 22 North Carolina cities we have census figures for, Wake Forest has some of the newest homes. In Raleigh, 12 miles away, 41% of homes are apartments, more than here. Nationally, Wake Forest's homes are newer than those in 94% 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.

Shallow openings

73% of homes were built in 2000 or later. Newer windows are often set close to the room side of the wall, and handles, cranks and alarm sensors stick out into the space a louver swings through. Measure the depth to the glass and to anything that sticks out; the designer checks it against the louver size you pick.

Choosing a louver size

Rounded drywall corners

92% of homes here were built from 1980 on, and many houses of that era have rounded ("bullnose") drywall corners around the windows instead of square returns. A shutter can't sit flat against a curve: choose an outside mount with a frame that clears the corner, or an inside mount if the flat part of the opening is deep enough for your louvers.

How to measure

Whole-house orders

With 69% of homes detached, most orders here cover a whole house: bedrooms, a patio door, perhaps a bay. Put every window in one list in the designer so the louver size and colour match from the street, and if you have an HOA, send it the drawings before you order.

Bay window shutters

Bought to stay

Owners live in 74% 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

Wake Forest weather and your shutters

At Falls Lake, NC (8 mi away), July averages a high of 87.2°F and January a low of 28.3°F. Average highs reach 85°F in July and average lows sit at or below freezing from December to February.

About 36 days a year reach 90°F, 82 nights fall to freezing and 49.4 inches of precipitation falls, spread fairly evenly through the year.

That's more freezing nights than in 60% of the 881 US cities we have climate normals for.

Daylight runs from 14 h 36 min on the longest day to 9 h 43 min on the shortest, and the midday sun stands 77° above the horizon in June and 31° in December.

Source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, Falls Lake, NC (temperature) and Raleigh 5.9 Ene, NC (precipitation, 7 mi away). Daylight and sun height: calculated from the city’s latitude.

Wake Forest: average monthly low and high temperatures20°F40°F60°F80°FJFMAMJJASOND
Average daily low to high, by month.
Monthly figures
Monthly climate normals
MonthAverage highAverage lowPrecipitation
Jan48.9°F28.3°F3.7 in
Feb52.7°F30.3°F3.4 in
Mar61.5°F35.9°F4 in
Apr71°F45.1°F3.6 in
May76.7°F54.7°F4.3 in
Jun83.9°F63.5°F4.1 in
Jul87.2°F68.1°F5 in
Aug84.5°F66.9°F4.4 in
Sep78.9°F60.6°F6.4 in
Oct68.2°F47.5°F3.2 in
Nov59.2°F36.8°F3.7 in
Dec51.9°F31.5°F3.6 in

Humid summers

Hot days and 49.4 inches of precipitation make for heavy summer air. Wood swells when it's humid, so give kitchens, bathrooms and laundry rooms some air: run the fan after a shower and tilt the louvers open so steam doesn't sit behind them.

Why poplar

Cold winters

With 82 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 Wake Forest

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 Wake Forest

More about shutters in Wake Forest

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

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