Sidler is 43. A cranky young guy. He gets that people are often just trying to dress up a plain house, and vinyl shutters are a relatively cheap way to do that.

This means that shutters don't work on double-width or picture windows, says Richard Taylor, an architect and president of RTA Studio in Dublin, Ohio. "To my eye anyway, it looks ridiculous," he says.

And take care about their shape when hanging shutters on arched windows, Cleary adds. “Shutters are perfectly legitimate on arched windows as long as the (closed) shutter covers it,” he says.

The hardware, including shutter dogs and hinges, can cost up to $100 for a pair of shutters. "It looks a lot richer. There's more depth to them when they are not pasted to the (house)," he says.

A store-bought pair of 15-by-63-inch raised-panel vinyl shutters can start at around $70, while a pair of custom-made painted wood shutters for a 36-by-66-inch window can cost $400 to $500.

Esthetics is the No. 1 reason homes have shutters today in California. His 14-year-old company provides shutters for contractors and the Visalia Lumber Company in addition to 84 Lumber in Bakersfield.