DIY: Shutter makeover

DIY projects are my jam for a few reasons:

A. It saves money (only if you do it the right way so do your research)

B. It makes you feel soooo good accomplishing something for your own home

C. I am kind of a remodelaholic

When I was pinteresting (of course), I found a photo of a house that they had redone the shutters on and it looked like a brand new home when they were done. Our home is a 60's brick house, green roof, green lantern lights and the shutters were of course pea-puke green after all the fading over the years. 

So I got this bright idea to change out (buy new) all of the shutters on the house. 

Little did I know that for brand spankin' new ones they'd be around $30-$35 a pair. 

So let's say we spend $35 a pair and we have 11 pair. 

You do the math, DIY is my forté, not math but you get the point... expensive! Yikes.

Back to pinteresting...

I found some amazing blogs and by I found some amazing blogs, I mean I read about 30 blogs on how to DIY shutters! Whew, talk about one exhausted but informed remodelaholic. I was debating between hand painting with a special paint made for outdoor and vinyl, or spray paint which this particular blogger used and it has held up fabulous! So I went with spray paint because it's cheaper and quicker! 

I convinced Dan that this was a fabulous idea and off we went to Home Depot. We bought spray paint, a drop cloth, spray grips, a mask and latex gloves. I would have bought TSP but I already had some on hand.

 Tools needed: drill and/or a screwdriver

Project total: $36.21 - yes, seriously! 

6 Cans - Semi-Gloss Black Spray Paint = $23.22

2 (in reality we could have gotten away with 1 because I did all the spraying) - Spray Grips  = $5.54

Drop Cloth - for the floor of the garage = $1.98

Masks - so you can breathe = $5.47

Step 1

Make your husband take all the shutters down.

Wait.... scratch that.

Take BEFORE photos! I didn't and I had to go to Zillow to find a good before photo of my house... that's why the old door and old house numbers, etc. are in the old photo. Oops.

Step 2

Make your husband take all of the shutters down. 
Well... ask nicely or just give him a beer, he will do it. 

Step 3

Wash all of them realllllly good. You need to get all of the dirt, grime, gross-ness off. TSP and some elbow grease are great, then spray down with the hose and let dry overnight. Then, clean one more time with a dry cloth before painting.

* If you don't have TSP or don't want to use chemicals that's fine - I actually gave up on the chemical route since my shutters didn't have any mold or mildew on them and weren't that bad (and my kids were outside) so instead I used a bucket of LOC/water (Amway brand favorite!) 

Step 4

Put on your mask and gloves and PAINT! I did all the edges and sides of the shutter first, then I did the louvers. Spray evenly, in a solid streak to avoid clumping, streaking  or puddles. 

(I did not use sawhorses although it would have saved my back from hurting it's not a necessity. PS - wanna know the best part? YOU ONLY NEED ONE COAT!!!! 

Tip - Grab something to stick the screws into, you're going to want to quickly spray the heads of the screws so that they match the newly painted shutters! 

Step 5

Dry overnight! This is crucial. Sticky fingers leave marks on them!! 

Step 6 

Make hubby hang them all back up again & sit back and enjoy the view! 

Oh, and take after pictures to share with all your friends and family - and your blog! 

This photo is green shutters on the left and the new black painted ones on the right...
Sorry, the lighting sucks but I couldn't wait til' morning sunshine to take the photo! I was way too geeked. 

Look at my NEW old house, y'all!

Next on the list:
New lanterns for the outside of the house and some fancy black planters.

Stay tuned... 

XO, K.