[triceratops]

> People like the look [of shutters] but they’re just planks of wood in the vast majority of cases now.

I'm confused, what are real window shutters then?

Or do you mean the kind that are attached to the wall and don't actually close?

[wincy]

Most shutters are non functional vestigial architecture. People like the look, even though it has no non aesthetic purpose at this point. At least in the USA the vast majority of “shutters” are this way.

If you go to say, the Florida keys, you’ll obviously see real shutters, since they get hurricanes. Probably doesn’t need to be reiterated, but those shutters are fold out during the nice season (which is the “look” you see on a modern colonial style home) but if a storm is coming you you fold them in and latch them shut to protect your glass windows. I’d imagine part of it is also modern windows are more shatter resistant than older windows, so a much larger storm is required to blow out your windows without the shutters.

Canopy beds are similar (although canopy beds aren’t in style anymore). They served as a way to allow a king privacy in a large hall where courtiers and the court all slept in the same room (a bedroom being prohibitively expensive in medieval times) and to keep heat in before modern heating. Most canopy beds are just kind of nice looking but don’t serve to hold heat in to your sleeping area. We have walls and central heating so they’re largely anachronistic.