Here's a strange question for this group but I don't know where else to ask it.

The wife and I are looking at installing about $5000 worth of plantation
shutters, mainly because we have a lot of windows (and an 18ft ceiling in the
family room) on the east side of the house. There are problems, therefore,
with too much bright light, heat, and damaging rays on the furniture and
artwork/photos. Since we are getting them on sale, the wife wants to also do
the dining room and living room on the west side.

I always thought wood shutters added to the value of the house, but I spoke to
my mother today who told me that some of the decorating shows she watches are
tending toward removing shutters.

I don't watch these shows, but it put just a big enough bug in my head to make
me second guess spending this kind of money.

So are plantation (real wood) shutters on their way "out of style", or did she
misinterpret what she saw? I know that on shows like Trading Spaces they always
want to remove ceiling fans, but removing hundreds/thousands of dollars worth of
wood shutters is a different animal altogether!

And another question -

The wife likes the 3.5 inch slats on the shutters, which I am ok with, but on
our second floor I have installed 2inch wood blinds on the windows. Is it
considered "bad taste", or would it look odd, to have 3.5 inch shutters on the
windows on the bottom floor and 2inch wood blinds on the top floor (with respect
to the view from the street?) Should we do all the shutters 3.5" or is it ok to
mix?