It was customary back in the day when fitting louvered shutters to mark them in some way so that the homeowner knew which shutters went on which windows. A common way of doing this was through the use of roman numerals. On my house, much to my delight, I discovered while stripping the almost 1/8" of accumlated paint, the carpenter had numbered the window sills as well as the shutters themselves. I have no idea if this was customary too, but I wasnt expecting it. I carefully recut the numerals after stripping, and am diligently adding the correct numerals to my replacement shutters.
- A restored example
- 2014-09-07 10.08.38 copy.jpg (461.96 KiB) Viewed 518 times
I have a theory, from some old pictures, that these louvres were removed in the winter up here in VT. It would certainly protect them from our harsh seasons. Anybody know if I am right? I have pictures of my house in winter time in the 1890s where it appears the shutters are missing, though they could be all closed.
