Montgomery County Town and Country Living - Spring 2002 Issue

Finishing Touch
Custom Made, Historically Accurate Wood Shutters Add Panache To Home Exteriors
By: Glenn Curry

All over Montgomery County, enthusiastic homeowners undertake the process of restoring distinguished historic homes in a wide range of styles. The country is scene of so many wonderful dwellings from the whole period beginning before 1700 and lasting to the present.

Preserving and restoring this rich architectural heritage calls for an amazing range of skills and interests. Weekend preservationists are likely to become experts in unraveling multiple generations' worth of electrical wiring or reconstructing painting techniques of the 18th century.

With so much care and attention to their homes' features, it's natural that many homeowners are eager to ensure that the exterior of the homes are also faithfully and attractively restored.

And that's where high quality reproduction wood shutters come in. In many ways, shutters represent the "finishing touch" for a home exterior. Although nowadays they're seldom called on to fulfill their original purposes of protecting homes from wind, sun or intruders, they have turned into the single most important decorative item on most home exteriors.

It's surprising, then, that it can be so difficult to find really high quality new or replacement shutters. Too often, the result is a home where every detail has been lovingly addressed – finished with plastic shutters.

It was the ubiquity of those plastic shutters which in 1996 inspired Rick Skidmore to found Timberlane, Inc., the North Wales company specializing in building hardwood shutters to order. Skidmore must have been onto something, for last year "Inc. Magazine" ranked his company 184th of the nation's fastest growing companies.

Timberlane shutters are made of solid kiln-dried Western Red Cedar. Red Cedar contains natural tannins that help preserve it's character. By kiln-drying it, Timberlane ensures that it is even more durable and that it will accept finishes evenly and well. Timberlane also offers an impressive selection of shutter hardware. The collection includes hand forged shutter tie-backs, slide bolts, pull-rings and hinges.