If you don't want to loose ceiling height, you will need to remove the celing covering to gain access to the floor joist cavities.
A product we've had great sucess with is Roxul (http://www.roxul.com ... read more
The shutters on my own home are painted, although not well.
I think the consideration becomes is when the cost of painting them approaches about 70% the cost of new. Shutters aren't terrible expens ... read more