Home Smart Design

Where do I even begin my review?! Home Smart Design has been there for me every inch of the way. I started my plantation shutter search as soon as I purchased my very first home. I knew exactly what I wanted from pictures on Pinterest but never knew that these gorgeous plantation shutters were that pricey. I went to Home Depot, Lowes, Costco and online searches and had a few representatives from various shutter companies come by for complimentary consulting and pricing. With each representative leaving my home and promising for a good price, I end up receiving an email and or phone call the day after with disappointing prices. HunterDouglas for example, quoted me roughly $ 7,500 for my entire house which consisted of about 11 windows. Damier Shutters quoted me about $ 6800 (which the representative said included tax and a first time buyer of 20% discount… REALLY???) I was on a budget and thought that I was down to my last straw and probably would have to resort to the old school blinds or curtains for a few years until I save up again. Thankfully, I found Home Smart Design that was referred to me by another friend of mine. Words cannot express my gratitude for this company.
I met the owner or manager, Eling who came by my house to take the measurements and assured me that it was going to be a good deal. She came by with the demos and gave me advice on what would look best on my windows with her many years of experience. I truly cannot thank her enough. The shutters had to be customized to fit each window accordingly, so it took about 1.5 months or so for delivery which I was fine with considering that I was also remodeling my home at that time and not move in ready. When the plantation shutters arrived, her staff of 2 men came by to show us the products first to make sure we were satisfied. They helped us take off the old broken shutters and took their time to install the new ones meticulously. They were super professional, ensuring that they do not dirty my brand new carpets by placing protective covers over their shoes and my carpets. They came back the following day to do minor touch ups and asked if there is anything else they can do (i.e. adjustments, crown moldings for shutters, etc). What a fantastic team, Home Smart! I love my brand new shutters!
UPDATE: I just had a house warming 2 weeks ago and everyone have been asking about my shutters! Gave my friends referrals which I hope they decide on. Hands down to a local company that can provide great services and products! The pictures that I posted speaks for itself.

Due to the exorbitant, totally unreasonable cost of custom plantation shutters from the obvious outlets like Home Depot (almost $ 1000/​window in our modest case), we took a chance on Home Smart Design. We are glad we did! For 60% of the cost of Home Depot, the final installed Bass Wood product appears to be absolutely indistinguishable from the more expensive Home Depot offering. Beautiful! We are delighted.
There are some minor drawbacks that lead to the 4 star rating rather than 5. Communication is an issue, as English is nobody’s first language. But with the lady in charge, it was not bad. All communication with the installation workers was by hand signal and a few words of English. One shutter did not fit exactly (a tricky dual window at right angles) so they ended up shimming it slightly – looks fine to me, so I had no complaints. Finally, the wait time from measurement to installation was about 2+ months, a bit longer than had been promised (all vendors have a long lead time).
We would (and do plan to) use Home Smart again in the future. I might be a bit more hesitant if buying synthetic shutters, as the material used in construction is all-​important, but with wood you can clearly see exactly what you are getting. Great product, great price!
Update August 2015: We had some more plantation shutters installed, as before, perfect.

I’m still amazed at these folks work, and what I paid for it! I won’t give you exact numbers, but know this… I saved THOUSANDS on getting all 8 Windows custom fitted with BASS WOOD plantation shutters! We found this place on Unilocal,and thought «hey, this is right by our house!» It is kinda hidden behind Costco in San Leandro, but what a find! The installation came out flawlessly, and the shutters work great.
Before discovering this place we were getting ready to go with Hunter-​Douglas Vinyl covered shutters, and found other low priced options, but none of the lower priced folks offered the Dual Stick openers that mount on the outside of the shutters so that you don’t see a stick in the middle of the inside of the shutters (see my pics). They do take time to order and ship to the Bay Area, but worth all the time to get a HUGE BANG for your buck! I promise you’ll be happy with their work as I am, and you’ll celebrate by splurging at Gary Danko with all the money you saved!
They also do GREAT job with flooring, Base Boards, crown moulding, and casing! Check out my pics!

Very good price for wooden shutters but you have to bargain. Also, the guy was late each time he came to install!

We were blown away by the plantation shutters we just purchased from Home Smart. Beforehand, we got multiple estimates – including one for name brand Hunter Douglas shutters – and in the end, nobody could compete with Homes Smart.
The shutters look beautiful. They are 100 percent bass wood. The mechanism for rotating the blades works great – very quiet. The frame around each shutter looks quite handsome as well. Additionally, the slider door shutters glide perfectly.
Beforehand, Elling came out and measured each window. When her crew performed the installation two weeks later, everything fit like a glove. I can’t say enough about her crew! They arrived on time and worked very, very hard. What’s more, they moved whatever furniture needed moving on their own, and returned everything to its original place when they finished. Also, they cleaned up all of their mess, too. Great job, guys.
If you’re on the fence about plantation shutters, and the cost thereof, Home Smart offers your best value. When we looked into Hunter Douglas shutters from a local shade company, their estimate was a good $ 3K above Home Smart. And, their product was composed of liquified wood covered in vinyl. Additionally, they could not cover one of our slider doors and a critical kitchen window because their shutters’ frame needed a wide clearance (and you cannot cut a frame made of liquified wood, apparently). No problem for Elling and her crew from Home Smart. They cut their frames to size and never charged for the added labor!
By all means, if you’re considering plantation shutters, get multiple estimates … Just make sure one of them is from Home Smart. In the end, your decision will be obvious.

We had plantation shutters installed by home smart design few weeks ago. I believe they are made of basswood. So far very happy with the result. Their prices are the best! Some DIY websites were selling their basswood plantation shutter for the same price. I had another quote from someone that my friend used and suppose to be very reasonable. They quoted me the same price as home smart design, but it would be with poly material plantation shutters. The installers did a great job too. We have an older house so the windows are no longer square shaped so he had to be creative in getting the shutter to fit. They don’t charge extra for that even though it requires more work. The price they quote you includes the installation. They cost about $ 20/​sq ft.

We are so pleased with our plantation shutters. We had them installed throughout our home a year ago and have not had any problems at all. The quality remains very high. The shutters help to block out heat in the summer and block out cold in the winter. I can’t imagine you would find lower prices for the high quality anywhere else. The service was excellent as well, with installation completed in a day. If you are considering plantation shutters, Home Smart is the «smart» way to go! :)

I bought shutters from Home Smart, and the were great. Very low prices, excellent quality, and perfect service. I think they have connections in China so they can get raw materials and products very inexpensively, and don’t use a middle man, so they pass the saviungs on to the customer. That was my experience. Angle did a greta job helping me.