Colorful window shutters of Mediterranean homes

Add some casual color to your life. Mediterranean coasts are some of the longest inhabited parts of our world and that collected wisdom taught them how to live a casual, easy-going, colorful life. Painting a whole house a wild color may be too much, but colorful shutters, window frames, and/or doors seem to be just the right amount of lively color.

^ These top two pics are from Alacati, Turkey.

Sources: images 1 & 2, image 3, image 4, image 5

Timeless materials

It makes sense on many levels to use materials that will not only last but will also age well and look good with wear and tear (less time, money, and resources spent on maintenance and replacements.) Such materials also create less stuck-up and more relaxed, cozy spaces.

Image sources: top image, 2nd image, 3rd image, bottom image

Easy-going & natural

Look at how beautiful but how low maintenance that pool and its surroundings is. That's the idea. The bottom image of the colorful window shutters makes a good argument against putting a fresh coat of paint on everything.

Top image from Paul McClure's flickr stream, bottom image from lesapea.tumblr.com