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coloured shutters, French houses with shutters, Holidays in France, Shutters, shutters in France
There are certain things which define a country and to me shutters is part of France. If you were magically whisked up into space and then landed somewhere and you had to identify the place you had landed in then I think the presence of shutters and the style of shutter would be quite a strong indication that you were in France a bit like window boxes with red geraniums might lead you to conclude you were in Switzerland.
Of course the shutters come in all shapes, sizes and colours. Generally in France they are on the outside of the house and are normally used on the windows but can also be found on either side of the doors. They are there for two reasons. One is security, as they can be secured from the inside and are thus quite difficult to prise open from the outside, especially if they are of a strong construction. The other reason is as a protection against the weather, being both a method of keeping the house cool from the hot sun and to keep it warm in the cold and windy winter time.
They come in all colours though I have not seen any in yellow and orange. In Poitou-Charentes various shades of blue seem the most popular. I think that if you were trying to sell your property then painting the shutters a nice bright blue would certainly enhance the chances of selling and could increase the price.
Reds and maroon are also quite common but I do not think that they are so attractive.
Greens are normally a rather muted green.
Though I did get one which was quite bright.
Browns, greys and white can also be found but it is quite rare to find one in black. On this white shutter you can see the vertical rod (cremone) which is raised by a central handle to lock the shutter. 
There are also different types of construction - most are solid but some are louvred -
and some are not quite what they seem! Here is a photo of a 3D painting of a window with shutters. 
Finally here is a slide show of all the shutters above plus a few more.
In a village near us there are some hideous and clashing shutters of all colours (notably purple and pink). This surprises me since I thought the Mairie had quite a lot of control over it. Maybe that particular Maire likes bright colours. Our own shutters are grass green. I prefer eau de nil but we inherited them from the previous owner 16 years ago and kept the colour.
Pink shutters sounds awfull but in Norfolk and Suffolk where I also spend some time lots of the old houses are painted pink. Souther Eireland is a great place for bright multicoloured paint work.
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I am a fan of French shutters simply because they make sense…there are some countries out there where shutters are fake…they don’t open or close and are simply ornaments. French shutters are unique in design from one to the other; there are so many different styles all depending on when/where they were made…love it! Sadly modern-day roll up/down metal shutters are just not the same…many communities I’ve seen in European countries use them as they seem to make sense but still, they are not attractive in my mind…love your photo collection! Thanks.
Yes they do make sense both from a temperature control point of view and from a security aspect. But I also like the look of them.