Easy Farmhouse-Style Shutters

Since I painted our door bright yellow, I decided the dull blue shutters needed an update. At first I was just going to paint them a brighter blue, but when I took them off the house I realized how gross and dirty and just plain FLIMSY they were. They're those builder's grade, every house has them type of plastic (vinyl?) shutters. I hated them. I knew I wouldn't be happy just painting them and putting them back up. I needed wood shutters. I searched on pinterest and found a lot of inspiration photos but not really any tutorials on how to do it, so I finally just settled on a look I liked and decided to wing it.

And I love my new shutters so much I could cry.

I loved them so much, I also made a little address sign to match. Now I want to address the posts on the front porch, but that's another issue for another day...

I don't have a full photo tutorial, but I do have a how to. It's actually so easy to make these, it's crazy. And they look way professional! So, here we go.

FIRST You’ll need to measure the space around your windows and decide how large you want your shutters. My original shutters were about 14 inches wide, and I decided to go with 6 inch wide boards, so that puts my new shutters a bit larger, but my window is big and the wall was large enough so I went with it. You’ll need to cut your boards to the height of your window, so measure that to.

My measurements were around 15 inches wide and 59 inches tall. The 6 inch wide boards aren’t actually 6 inches, they’re a bit shorter, and with sanding and everything my boards ended up at 5.5 inches each - and three across put me at 16.5 inches wide which was perfect. 59 inches is just under 5 ft, so I went with 10 ft. boards since I could get two planks from each that way. My cross-planks were 16.5 inches long. Also, I used your standard pine board, because it’s cheap. You can go premium or get some other kind of wood if you want to spend more.

The size of the bolts is important too. Mainly the length, because you can use whatever diameter you prefer, but you want the length to be just the depth of two boards plus a tiny bit extra (to fit a nut on) and no longer because you don’t want it to stick into your siding. Also, I used galvanized steel and then painted them, but you could spend more on bolts that are your choice of color online.

You may need to adjust the boards and the bolts you buy to your sizing, instead of mine.

Materials:

(4) 1x6x10 boards of your wood choice

(12) 3/8” x 2” galvanized carriage bolts

(24) 5/16” x 1-1/4” fender washers

(12) 3/8” galvanized hex nuts

(12) 2-1/2” flathead screws - you can get black ones, but I painted mine

stain in your choice - I used 3 coats of Minwax Early American oil based stain

sealer of your choice - I’ve read that polyurethane yellows badly over time, so I went with something different - Minwax water based polycrylic protective finish in matte. (I did NOT want glossy shutters)

Tools:

Tape Measure

Saw - I used a miter saw but a table saw would work

Belt Sander

Palm Sander (optional/personal preference)

clamps - at least four, preferably 6

Drill

Socket Wrench

Electric Screwdriver

Cut List:

(6) boards at 59” (depending on the height of your window, this will change. Cut to height of window)

(4) boards at 16.5”

1. Measure and cut all your boards - cut the long boards to the height of your window (or 59” for me) and the shorter cross planks at the width of your shutters (or 16.5” for me).

2. Sand with the belt sander to get rid rough knots, knock down the ends, and take off the sharpness on the edges. Use the palm sander to really shape and smooth.

3. Clean off all the sawdust.

Stain front, edges and ends (not back). I use rags to stain. I know lots of people just brush on stain and then wipe with a rag, but I find the process goes more smoothly and quickly if I just rub it on with the rag. I let it dry for at least 30 min-1 hour between coats, though to be safe you should probably do more. I did 3 coats.

4. Seal. Same deal as stain. I did two coats.

5. Lay your boards out (sawhorses are handy for this) three long boards across. Measure up from the bottom of the boards to where you want your cross planks to be - mine were about 5” up.

6. Lay your cross plank down where you want it. Double check that it’s straight across with a t-square or ruler. Clamp it to the long planks, one clamp per board if you have 6 clamps, or one clamp on each end of the cross plank if you only have 4 clamps.

7. Do the same to the top, measure down 5”, lay your cross plank and make sure it’s straight then clamp.

8. Measure the center of the cross plank and make a mark above each long plank. Measure approximate center of each long plank on top of the cross plank, then cross these two measurements and make a mark so you know where to drill. Do this on each cross plank.

9. Drill each of the 6 dots you’ve measured and marked.

10. Paint your bolts and 12 of your washers. I did copper spray paint, then black spray paint. Let it dry for about 20 minutes, then lightly sanded with fine grit around the edges and over the top to take off the glass and make the copper show throw a little.

11. Place a washer over a hole, slide your bolt in. Place a washer on the back of the bolt, then screw a hex nut on. The washers on the front are totally ornamental, the ones on the back are necessary. I only painted the ones that went on the front, and you could omit those if you want to.

12. Use a socket wrench to tighten the hex nut completely.

13.Repeat this with all of the holes.

14. Wipe off any saw dust and apply one more coat of sealant carefully - especially around the bolts, you don’t want it to goop up and pool around the metal.

15. Repeat all of this for the second shutter.

16. Mark your screw holes (where the shutters will actually be screwed into the wall) - two top, two middle, two bottom. Make sure to measure so they’re straight across from each other. Use the drill to make a tiny pilot hole for your screws. It’s best to use a countersink drill bit for this so the screws sit just below the surface of the shutters, or exactly flush, and not on top. My kids lost my countersink drill bit so I couldn’t and I was unhappy.

17. Line the shutters up where you want them and screw the long screws into and through your siding.

If you’ve countersunk your screws, you can cover them with wood filler and stain over the spots. But I couldn’t. So I carefully painted my screws black to make them blend with the look. You could also use black screws, I just didn't have any at the time.

I love them so much!

I hung some pipes on the porch posts (you, know, that industrial look) and put some lanterns up that match the door. I am so excited for how the front of the house looks now!

Check out this before and after: