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I made my own shutters and saved thousands!!!
November 2020, we had the exterior of our home painted. I had a vision of how I wanted our home to look from the day we purchased it. The original color was a gray that read as more of a blueish shade, and while that isn’t a bad thing, I have always loved the look of a classic white home exterior. We had it painted a clean crisp white. We went with Sherwin Williams Pure White.
When the house was prepped for painting- pressure washing, caulking any areas that needed it, and shutters removed – the shutters did not make it. We had five sets of shutters total and once removed, we noticed they were in horrible condition and weren’t even all the same style.
I knew I wanted to put shutters back up so I began shopping around for new shutters. I wanted something that would last but not break the bank.
There are many styles of shutters- louvered, raised panel, and board & batten just to name a few. I really liked the look of the board and batten style with our southern style exterior. When I priced them- they were as much as $650 a pair!!! That was NOT in the budget. So I started planning on how I could build them myself.
I sketched out some ideas. Looked at available wood options and came up with my design!
You can watch the video on my shutter build here: SEE HOW I MADE THE SHUTTERS.
I ended up choosing to use wood fence boards. They were the perfect thickness and were an affordable wood choice. I based the size of my shutters off the old ones and made any necessary adjustments. You typically want each pair of shutters to match your window dimensions. For example, if your window is 36” wide x 60” tall, each shutters finished dimensions would be approximately 18” wide by 60” tall.
I figured out how many fence boards I would need to make each pair of shutters then went to the home improvement store and bought my supplies.
SUPPLIES:
- wood fence boards (we used pressure treated as the cedar ones were scarce during the pandemic)
- wood glue
- exterior screws (these are my favorites)
- brad nailer and brad nails (optional, but makes it easier to assemble in my opinion)
- saw to cut (this is my favorite one)
DIRECTIONS:
Based on my window dimensions, I ended up making my shutters three boards wide. I cut the boards to length for the vertical boards for each pair of shutters. Then cut two horizontal “battens” for each shutter using fence boards.
To assemble:
I laid the vertical boards on a level, flat surface (in my driveway) then made sure they were level and plumb. I visually placed the battens in their locations – double checked all the measurements, then I added wood glue to the back of the battens secured them to the vertical boards with brad nails to temporarily hold them in place, then I went back and attached with exterior screws – I used two screws per vertical board- so each batten piece had 6 screws in it … feel free to add extras if you want.
Once all the shutters are assembled and the wood glue is dry they are ready for stain or paint- whichever you prefer. Be sure to sand for a nice smooth finish.
My painters painted mine Sherwin Williams Dorian Gray and then they installed them on the exterior of my home exterior using 3 inch exterior screws.
I was able to save so much money making the shutters myself and I was able to build them in one morning!
Is this a project you think you would attempt?
I hope you’ll come back soon for more DIY’s, home decor, recipes and all the real life in between.
