Fashion for everyone

Perhaps it is the worn patina, maybe it is the idea of 'behind closed shades' or it could be that I am enamoured with that grey-blue and no-colour greige that the French do so beautifully but the truth is I love a french shutter. I find the older ones (top right) prettier simply because the combinations of paneling are more varied than their modern counterparts and because the paint colours are bleached back by the Provencal sun.

I am in the process of trying to find that perfect shade to re-paint our shutters. The harsh climate has meant that they have split and become porous...a no, no apparently. I am trying to blend a colour that looks not only original but naturally worn. I want to change from the greyish blue they are now to a stoney, creamish colour with just a touch of grey.... Not as easy as it sounds......xv

p.s...the trees pictured above are plane trees...without their exuberant foliage which would normally hide much of the architectural beauty in the village...