Volets

[wmw]

Can anyone tell me about the origin of French volets and why designs seem to differ according to areas?

[odile]

interesting question - and I was hoping somebody would reply-

I imagine volets started before glass was used in most households- perhaps design differences are due to prevailing winds in the area. would love to know more.

[Callie]

Interestingly, a lot of old Breton houses do not have them (some have inside ones) yet the coast can be extremely windy !

In the summer they make a huge contribution to keeping a house cool, while protecting the house against the cold winds in winter.

[Chancer]

Security?

From the verb Voler, to steal.

[Anton Redman]

I would have said more likely to be either voleter = flutter about or volee flight / wing.

Mostly protection of expensive thin glass wher in the UK bottle glass more common ?

[Chancer]

Regarding different styles I would like to know what types are fitted in other regions.

I disregard the volet roulants in this respect as being a modern thing without a historic precedence but I may be wrong, in my region we have traditional solid unventilated wooden volets as in the Brico_depot catalogue which are usually cut to fit the opening including arch form where applicable.

We also have many old "volets persiennes" which are a louvred pressed steel fabrication and bi-folding, a bit like louvred cupboard doors, they look very neat when opened as they tuck into the window reveal and are custom made to fit the opening as the wooden ones.

All the ones I see are very old and dilapidated, one or two sets have been saved and reconditioned before they became too rotten but I dont know of anyone still making them, I bet they cost a fortune now.

sorry that I dont have a photo.

[cassis]

This company makes metal volets persiennes.  And every other kind.

http://www.miquel-perie.fr/

[img]http://www.miquel-perie.fr/pf/img/persienne-fer.jpg[/img]

Also Castorama show them but don't seeem to sell them (odd).

http://www.castorama.fr/

[img]http://www.castorama.fr/images-je-realise/fen-portes-ext-choisir-type-volets_03.jpg[/img]

And Stores Pouget.

http://www.stores-pouget.fr/

Bloody noisy in the wind.

[Loiseau]

When you drive from the Vendee (solid wooden shutters, letting no light through) along the N137 into Charente-Maritime, you notice a huge difference immediately. The burghers of Marans - a town on the Sevre Niortaise river - have much taller houses with totally louvred wooden shutters, redolent of the south of France. 

Angela

[Suze01]

We have wooden volets.  The upstairs are louvred and downstairs are solid - I presume for security.

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Lisleoise"]We have wooden volets.  The upstairs are louvred and downstairs are solid - I presume for security.
[/quote]I think it's more likely to be that the solid ones are virtually impossible to pin back if upstairs thus persiennes are the only sensible option.  Lapeyre sell metal and wooden persiennes also, btw.

[Dick Smith]

To get back to the OP, there is a note on the etymology of volet here:

http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/volet

Where the earliest reference is to a sail-like part of a Breton hat...

Could it be sail as in windmill sail? Probably not.

[cassis]

That was also the origin of the term for a tasty morsel which was kept warm under the hat and eaten by Breton sailors before they hoisted sail, known as the "vol-au-vent".

[Northender]

I have a very interesting book called "The French Farmhouse" by Elsie Burch Donald which details different styles of rural buildings in France.

In the section that looks at shutters she suggests that originally they opened inwards , but as better mortars and  paints became available they were transfered to the exterior.

My interest originated when we had ours replaced and couldn't make our minds up whether to stain them or paint them blue.

Apparently the colour blue ( popular in the South of France ) originates from one of the early pigments available for paint taken from the plant Woad.

We finished up staining them.

OH wins again!

[Cendrillon]

Re painting volets: In many parts of France there are restrictions and you are only allowed to paint the volets in colours which are allowed in the local area.

[Suze01]

[quote user="cooperlola"][quote user="Lisleoise"]We have wooden volets.  The upstairs are louvred and downstairs are solid - I presume for security.

[/quote]I think it's more likely to be that the solid ones are virtually impossible to pin back if upstairs thus persiennes are the only sensible option.  Lapeyre sell metal and wooden persiennes also, btw.[/quote]

The upstairs ones are not persiennes - they're just louvred wooden solid ones.

[chessfou]

Interesting question and I haven't found much by way of answer. Here's a little bit:

Les volets extérieurs

dits contrevents ou persiennes (on les trouve à partir de 1750 chez

Mesdames à Versailles et à Compiègne en 1755), sont toujours peints en

blanc. Ils sont nécessaires (surtout dans le Midi où l'on emploie aussi

les jalousies faites de lattes de bois mobiles coulissant

verticalement) et se rabattant contre le mur extérieur nuisent quelque

peu à l'architecture des façades, à moins qu'on ne les aient prévus à

l'origine comme au château de Guiry-en-Vexin (Val d'Oise). Pour

remédier à cet inconvénient, à la fin du siècle on les fait quelquefois

coulisser dans le mur, comme à l'hôtel de la Préfecture à Besançon

(Doubs).

[http://www.boiserie.fr/c.pingeon_maitre_ebeniste/Historique_des_portes.htm]

I can't say I recall seeing all that many painted white, though. Round here (at least in the country) they are usually of plain wood.

Some fascinating snippets in English here:

http://www.allaboutshutters.com/shutter-history.htm

[maude]

Not when you have to open a window to shut the stupid things! Should be internal! Maude

[Patf]

Our shutters are wooden, painted white.

Another purpose is to protect against damage to windows during a hailstorm. Happens quite often here .

[pachapapa]

[quote user="chessfou"]Interesting question and I haven't found much by way of answer. Here's a little bit:

Les volets extérieurs dits contrevents ou persiennes (on les trouve à partir de 1750 chez Mesdames à Versailles et à Compiègne en 1755), sont toujours peints en blanc. Ils sont nécessaires (surtout dans le Midi où l'on emploie aussi les jalousies faites de lattes de bois mobiles coulissant verticalement) et se rabattant contre le mur extérieur nuisent quelque peu à l'architecture des façades, à moins qu'on ne les aient prévus à l'origine comme au château de Guiry-en-Vexin (Val d'Oise). Pour remédier à cet inconvénient, à la fin du siècle on les fait quelquefois coulisser dans le mur, comme à l'hôtel de la Préfecture à Besançon (Doubs).
[http://www.boiserie.fr/c.pingeon_maitre_ebeniste/Historique_des_portes.htm]

I can't say I recall seeing all that many painted white, though. Round here (at least in the country) they are usually of plain wood.

Some fascinating snippets in English here:
http://www.allaboutshutters.com/shutter-history.htm

[/quote]

The Architecte de Batiments de France de Deux-Sèvres à Niort has got a thing about white and lasured wood volets within 500 metres of a national monument. Personally I have an open mind about colours for volets, although I do admit a penchant for that house in the Marais Poitevin with the nice blue ones. White or blue , that is the question.

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

Only ever use ours when we go away. Hate being inside the house with them shut as it makes me feel like a prisoner. Curtains are much better and allow light in in the morning to wake me up!

[Cendrillon]

Lynda and Richard

Volets IMO are brilliant, they help keep the house warm in Winter / keep the bad weather out and save the house from getting unbearably hot in Summer. If you want a little light in the morning then leave the shutters in "almost closed" position.[8-|]

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

I guess, with us being from Australia, we are still used to being open and free. The volets just seem so oppressive. Perhaps as we become more aclimatised in the future years we will use them more.