The living room is where your shutters get seen — by you every day, and by the street every night. It's also where windows get wide, old openings go out of square, and a sloppy measurement shows. The good news: the stocked REDI line covers spans up to 41.37 square feet (RS-8X5), so wide doesn't mean custom. It just means you measure like you mean it.
Wide windows need the three-spot rule
On a wide window, never trust a single width measurement. Measure at the top, the middle, and the bottom of the opening — and on older homes, expect them to disagree. Openings settle, frames rack, and a window that's 71 inches at the top can be 70-1/2 in the middle. The rule never changes: the smallest measurement wins. The shutter has to fit the tightest spot, and the stocked size ranges are built to absorb exactly this kind of variation.
Do the same vertically — left, middle, right — and write every number down before you match anything. The full technique is in our measuring guide, including the mistakes that sink most DIY orders.
- Width in three spots — top, middle, bottom. Keep the smallest; expect disagreement on old openings
- Height in three spots — left, middle, right. Keep the smallest
- Depth — at least 1-3/4 inches of clear frame depth for the 3-inch flat Z-frame
- Squareness — big disagreements between spots mean an out-of-square opening; smallest still rules
- Obstructions — crank handles, security sensors, deep-sill clutter that eats depth
- One line per window — name it, width, height, depth; don't trust memory on wide spans
Match the span to a stocked size
These are factory-built standard sizes — not custom-manufactured to your opening. Each RS size covers a range of widths and heights, and the big end of the line (up to RS-8X5, 41.37 sq. ft.) exists precisely for living-room spans. Find the size whose width range and height range both contain your smallest measurements on the size chart. Wide is not a problem; unmeasured is.
Install day for big panels
Living-room panels are the ones that want a helper. The largest sizes' panel boxes run 50 to 63 lbs, and holding a wide 3-inch flat Z-frame level while you drive screws is a two-person job done right or a one-person job done twice. Mount the frame plumb and square — on a wide opening, check level across the full span, not just at the ends — then hang the panels on the factory-fitted white hinges and confirm the recessed magnets catch along the whole meeting rail.
Then set up the feature that makes living-room shutters worth it: the 50/50 split control. Open the top half for daylight while the bottom stays closed against the street, all through the cordless hidden gear tilt. Close the 3.5-inch louvers flat at night and the room is private. Fold every living-room window into your order and the single flat $200 delivery covers the whole house — most shutters delivered in as little as 48 hours.
Living room measuring questions, answered
Yes — the stocked REDI line runs up to RS-8X5 at 41.37 square feet, which covers genuinely wide living-room spans with a factory-built frame. Measure the opening and match it on the size chart; wide windows just need the three-spot width technique done carefully.