Gary K. Smith / Venetian window box with succulents and cyclamen Venice, Italy, April.

Gary K. Smith / Window box with Nasturtiums, Curry Plant and Succulents in Venice, Italy. April.

Staffan Widstrand / House in Musteika Village, Lithuania, May 2015.

Loic Poidevin / Windows and shutters, Santorini / Thira Island, Greece, May 2009.

Loic Poidevin / Windows and blue shutters, Santorini / Thira Island, Greece, May 2009.

RHONDA KLEVANSKY / Man walking along row of colourful houses with wooden shutters, Baracoa, Guantanamo province, Eastern Cuba, November 2011.

Franco Banfi / Window with shutters, village of Komiza, Vis Island, Croatia, Adriatic Sea, Mediterranean

Gavin Hellier / The restored Souq Waqif with mud rendered shops and exposed timber beams, Doha, Qatar, Arabian Peninsula 2007

Gavin Hellier / Traditional Gabled houses, Amsterdam, Holland, Netherlands, 2007

Eric Baccega / Traditional house on Ouessant Island, with painted gate, door and shutters. Ile bretonne, Bretagne, France, June 2005

Jouan & Rius / Traditional timber-frame house with shutters and window box, Kaysersberg village, Upper Rhine, Alsace, France, May 2009

Philippe Clement / Geraniums decorating traditional wooden granary / raccard in the Alpine village Grimentz, Valais, Switzerland, July 2009