The Right and Wrong of Shutters...Who Knew?!

Hello.

 

Let's talk shutters...

 

So, one of the long, ongoing projects we've had going on around here is our DIY Board and Batten shutters for the exterior of the Farmhouse.  We decided to make our own shutters, as opposed to premade, for three reasons:
                   

  1. We could customize the size and color to exactly what we wanted

  2.  Bragging rights (high on my list of favorite things)

  3.  Premade shutters cost the equivalent of a semester at Harvard.

So, yeah, we chose to stay with the theme of this whole Farmhouse project, and decided on the DIY, less expensive (yet just as well made) option of making our own.  During the process of researching how to make shutters, shutter hardware, good color choices, and the proper way to attach them to the house, I learned a few things, the most important being...

ALWAYS, I repeat ALWAYS, make sure that shutters look as if they are fully functioning, even if they are as useless as your appendix, male nipples, and the entire Kardashian family.

Got that???

It's a big deal people.

This point was stressed in every single article I read about shutters...and yes, I read a lot of articles about shutters....mainly articles published in This Old House journals and historical architecture websites created by guys named Stuart or Arthur or Eugene who never bothered to give dating a chance. So, in order to ensure that their decades of lonely Saturday nights weren't all for naught, I shall pass on to you a few tidbits that I learned from their words of wisdom...wisdom about shutters...


 Shutters should never be taller, or wider than the area they would intend to cover if they were indeed, functioning shutters. The area they are to cover is the glass portion of the window, inside the casing. For example, if you have a window that is 50 inches high and 40 inches wide, each of your shutters should be 50 inches tall and 20 inches wide, so that if they were to close shut, they would meet in the center of the window and could be latched.  You should resist the urge to screw them directly to the side of your house, and instead, shell out a few bucks for some pretty hardware and mount them the proper way. Doing this will not only add interest to your windows with the hardware accents, but a properly hung shutter should mount on top of the casing and then open back towards the façade, thus creating shadow lines.

photo from www.larsonshutter.com

See how pretty ?

...and this one ...

photo from www.arcat.com

..and one last pretty one...

Just like trying to justify that pair of sassy heels that are 2 sizes too small, or squeezing into that pair of jeans from high school, you must not attempt to fudge the measurements just to make them work....  Trust me, your shutters will look so much better if your measurements are accurate.

...and your old high school jeans aren't going to fit, so stop contemplating buying Spanx, and go buy yoga pants instead.


Bad Shutters

Shutters that way too big for the size of the window...

And some that are way too small...

Photo from  www.oldhouseguy.com

Wrong shape... if they closed these, the arches would be the wrong way...

photo from www.oldhouseguy.com

And what the hell?!?!

photo courtesy of Bob Borson Life of an Architect

 

I was tempted to provide some pictures of my own, but I live in a small town and in case someone recognized their house, well, I didn't want to offend.

 

Nobody's perfect.

 

But please...don't put shutters on either side of a storm door, a bay window, or your garage doors...

 

...please, for the sake of all things good, just don't.

 

Anyways, after absorbing all this exciting information, I set out on a journey to Lowes.  First, I took down all my measurements for all 14 pairs of shutters we will need on this house.

 

Yes, 14.

 

And then we were on our way.  I packed up the girls, a boatload of diapers for Olive, about 12 Ziploc baggies full of snacks and we headed to the land of lumber.  I walked in like I owned the place, found a nice employee who, although he looked at the ground when he spoke, did seem to know a thing or two about lumber, so I handed him my list and we hit the wood aisle.  After watching Brad (I can't remember his name but Brad seems fitting) tell the floor about which types of wood were best and why, we decided on Cedar.  We spent about 20 minutes picking out the best boards from their supply of 1x4x12's and then I smiled and said "Brad, do you mind cutting all these for me?" 

 

 I had secretly hoped to get a look of anguish from him....

 

...because I'm just a little bit evil...

 

...but instead he looked off into the distance and said "no problem!  let's walk over to the cutting area."

 

So, away we went...

 

 

 

Brad loaded the wood into a pile and began making cuts... then more cuts... then Olive pooped so we went to the restroom...then more cuts....then we went and looked at lighting....then more cuts... then we left again to go look at countertops....more cuts....then Poop #2 ...then more cuts...

 

...you get the idea...

 

 

Once all the cuts were made, we went and checked out. Our total came to about $217.00. Not too shabby for 14 sets of shutters.  Considering premade pairs are about $50 each and up from there for custom sizes, I'll take the $217 total any day.  We headed home and unloaded our bounty....

 

 

We wanted Board and Batten style with very tiny spaces in between the boards just to give them a little more interest.  My husband being the handy guy he is, found a scrap piece of wire and cut it into small pieces to act as spacers in between the boards...

 

 

No, those are not Red Vines...

 

 

I will post a "How-To" follow up, later on after all the shutters are put together, primed and painted...

 

(they will be Sherwin Williams Thunder Gray by the way)

 

 

 

(It's a pretty, smoky grayish brownish color.  Should look snazzy)

 

...but this is what we've got so far...

 

 

Now 27 more to go and we'll be ready to paint!

 

I wish I liked wood tone more...

 

 

 

:) Ashley