Shutter - What's Next?

I am often in the quandary when deciding which design or decorating project to take on next, there are so many I want to tackle but so little time. So after taking a long break from making any changes to our home, an almost seven year break because I made changes up until the time our twins were born then I ran out of energy for a while, I'm back!

This year I decided I am going to tackle our dining room and living room. I have a checklist a mile long, a wandering eye that points out to me so many changes in other parts of the home that I think should be made and one half year left to accomplish my task. So far, in the dining room, I have been successful in adding some paint to one wall (actually full credit goes to my husband for the paint job), rearranging the furniture (my husband moved the furniture, also), and adding tie-backs to the draperies that have been hanging there limply for, you guessed it, seven years. That's the dining room, it still needs a few more tweaks but since it's attached to the living room I'm oscillating between the two.

In the living room I finally ordered a shutter for a large arched window. About the shutter, I looked but could not find exactly what I wanted for a couple of years. I was looking for an interior raised panel shutter (that's means no slats), do you realize how difficult these are to find, and in a custom arch shape to boot? I thought I was going to have to resort to purchasing an exterior shutter and mounting it interiorly (like my new word?). But, eureka! I found this awesome local company when I was perusing Angie's List one day, they were the highest ranked company in my area and they can order exactly what I want. Wow, what a find! (I'll save a discussion of Angie's List for another day.)

So, the owner of the company came to my home and took measurements. Right now we are in the color matching phase. The company that makes the shutter will custom match any color and it provides a nice array of standard colors, to boot. But I chose to match my existing trim color. As soon as we can get a complete color match, my shutter will be delivered and installed. That will be the first new element in my living room in the past seven years.

Then the design and decor can really begin!