Got a question.
I want to paint my window shutters - currently they are red (I did this 6 years ago and they are now faded).
I used to have a house in Scotland which I did in a black and white style (is it mock Tudor or Victorian? not sure), but I thought it looked nice.

My neighbour has told me that there are only a certain range of colours which are allowed on the windows. Apparently the Gemeinde can make me change the colours if they do not meet the requirements.
My question is - is this true?

White and black would suit my mood this year.

Unfortunately, yes - I can't point out the rule (law?), but if your house does not "fit in" with the existing colour-schemes, you may have a hard time with the local authorities..

You could start here,

http://www.ag.ch/index.php?controlle...b8898a0ed6e167

Thanks - I was just being lazy and was hoping that someone who was bilingual and lived here could give me a simple answer (See above).
Bloody complicated environment over here.
Will go for some dodgy red variation just to keep the peace.

I suppose the rules are just as convoluted in all countries.

Be careful, they might HAVE to be in black or red or green... it would be best to ask.

It would, of course, be wise to ask. As it is dark and cold, here is a funny story about shutters. Here where I live, like in many small towns, you have to have shutters. There is a house around the corner that was bought and renovated a few years ago and it has NO shutters. My OH, being the friendly talkative Swiss type, chatted up the owner a few weeks ago, asking him how he had gotten around the shutter obligation. We both like the simple and sleek look of his house, which has to do with the color combo and the lack of shutters. (Actually, my OH first pretended to complain about the lack of shutters. Apparently the guy who owns the house gets this a lot.) Anyway, he said the Gemeinde came to him and told him he had to have shutters and he said, "Fine. If the Gemeinde pays for it, I will put up shutters but after buying and renovated the house, I am in debt and have no money to buy shutters." He was told that he has to buy shutters as soon as he is no longer in debt. Most Swiss never pay off their mortgage, so it is likely he will always be in debt. The house has been for 3-4 years without shutters. It is amazing what is possible in Switzerland.

This is a nice story. I must admit that I have never shut my shutters. Got a warm wife and a good duvet.

What is the point apart from that it looks Swiss?
Aesthetic only?

TOMORROW I will paint with RAL 2000 red and just have a quiet life. Lawyers are too expensive here.

Shutters are great for keeping out the heat and stopping the cold getting in.

You may be able to paint what you want. In some areas there are rules, it depends on the "Bauzone", then you must look up the "Bauordnung" and then, finally, there may be an additional document, a "gestaltungsplan".

I can't recall ever seeing black shutters.

I just like the Rolling Stones song - Paint it Black. I am an old stone henge rebel (with no hair now) .-
May try it for a couple of days as undercoat just to test the water.
We have a Xmas Fenster competition in our Gemeinde this month. Maybe i can be alternative like the Fringe Festival.
Thanks for the feedback - was just being provocative.

You should just go ask. There are black shutters in some places in CH. Or see if you can get a dark dark dark green. If they complain it's "black" show them the can that says "dark dark dark green".

Certainly not. In the UK at least you can paint your house any damned colour you want. Not so in France, however - some friends of ours had a house built and wanted it white(ish) but were told by the commune that this would not be allowed, as there were already too many white houses in the village (ours included). Seems bizarre to me, but they do seem to like strong colours in Alsace for some reason.

Yes! Seen that it seems to be "the tradition" Germans have it a bit harder the house must blend in with the rest of the place even to getting dictated to what color and style the roof tiles are.

I can't imagine you'd have a problem with black - it seems sometimes (especially with regard to winter fashion!) that the colour spectrum in this country, or at least the Germanic part of it, consists of white (adventurous and daring), silver (safe), grey (conservative) and black (normal)... but then again sometimes rules exist to contravene common sense. Sometimes I look out the window at an endless procession of silver and grey Audis and despair before kicking myself back to life with a look at the news and with the thought that that is a pretty wonderful problem to have these days.

Buying a puce or apple coloured car is fab and quirky until you find the resale value went through the floor. If you want to max your resale - stick with standard colours.

Basically as others have said, you have to go to your Commune and ask, and then perhaps go through a formal procedure. Your house, as is, was approved with the current colors, structure, etc... If you want to change anything to the exterior, ie. paint colour, add a balcony, change windows, etc. it generally must be formally approved be the commune.

It then depends on your issue and your communes rules as to how formal the procedure has to be. But generally if it is other than something very minor, it has to be announced (published) and neighbors have the right to refuse. In addition there may be more strict convents for your particular area in the village, that may only allow say brown houses with white shutters.

For example, one of our distant neighbors built a garden hut, sent in the plans to the commune, with the basic catalog hut, got it approved no problem. But then he proceeded to paint it a unbelievable pastel blue, it has caused quite the outrage in the neiborhood of otherwise typical swiss houses, and is being debated at a legal level in the commune now.

In general terms, anything that affects the area of a house wich is visible from the public area has to be accepted by the city Construction Comitee.

Each city is different, and each city has different areas, with different rules.

Something such as the façade colour, or the colour of the shutters, is easily controlled and can get you into trouble if you do not get the license to change it. Repainting with the same colour, though, is usually booked under "repair" and therefore shouldn't need a license.

Reason for it is simple: there are rules to keep a neighbourhood controlled. It might sound horribly 1984 for you, but if you don't control the colour scheme, you risk having a city transforming into a "Barbie-colour-me-beautiful-rainbow". Though the house is yours, it is also part of a public society. And it might look anecdotally fun to have a purple-fluorescent green - orange neighbourhood, but this kind of situations might go to the extreme of decreasing the property values (because no one wants to live in an eternal acid trip).


The contrast light facade-dark shutters is beloved in Switzerland and you shouldn't have any problem painting it black (license wise). I must warn you, though, that black paint might turn greyish, giving an unkept look to your façade, which might anger neighbours. Also do be aware that you might be black moody, but an extreme colour change red - black might make the house look "heavier" and "stumpy".

a couple of years ago our then new neighbour wanted to paint his garage a very bright brick red, he had to take that before the town council and was shot down in flames

in apparent retaliation he painted the doors to his pool house this same awful colour -- but in a classic move -- he's not had arborvitae put up around his yard so only he can see the pool house now.

Love how this is controlled to allow the pastel colours to prevail. Different tastes and all that, but the yellow, blue, mint-green and best of all, pink that are prevalent in the surrounding Zürich area could definitely induce an Easter egg-themed acid trip.

All the colours you mentioned are used in its pastel form, which is to say, it's white with two drops of another colour. All myriad pastel colours can coexist without creating a visual aberration, and can adapt wonderfully in both extremes in Switzerland (snow-greenery). Bright red, strong green or sun yellow, on the other hand, can’t.

You want an unique, gorgeous individual house? Paint your living room purple. But let the rest of the place in peaceful bland pastel.

I come from a city with a traditional strong ochre background. It fits the scenery and the harmonious collective of the edifices. But also in there you have very strict rules on which colours are allowed or not. In some areas, even white is forbidden.

Maybe the “individualism is king” has some time accepting, but we coexist with other people. And colour has a role in society too.