DIY Interior Shutter Build for the Powder Room

Friends I’m so excited to share this little project with you today!  I always say necessity is the mother of invention, and that’s especially true here.  I was in desperate need of a unique privacy solution for our first floor bathroom.  And when I couldn’t find anything that I loved, I decided to build something:  DIY Interior Shutters to be exact!

Naturally, I first stocked Pinterest and found a great tutorial from Karen, at The Art of Doing Stuff, which gave me a good sense of how I wanted mine to look.  I knew for certain that I wanted them to match the warm wood tones of my DIY console sink, and that I wanted the style to have nice clean lines.  I’m so glad I was able to accomplish this (even though there were a few hiccups along the way).

You can check out the process here:

 

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A post shared by Carli | Made By Carli (@madebycarli)

Tools Needed:

• Wood Glue
• Nail Gun and 1″ brad nails (optional, these can be made with just wood glue if you have patience, unlike me)
• Miter Saw
• 1/2″ hinges-you will need 4 per Shutter
• Pine Boards or Plywood cut to size (see below)
• 1×2 boards ripped down or lattice for trim
• Shutter Latch
• Sanding Block
• Tape Measure
• Drill with bit

(qty/length of the wood will depend on the size of your shutters, I decided to create shutters for only the bottom half of the window.

 

First, I cut my boards to size.  I used 1×8 pine boards and 1×2 boards ripped down for the trim pieces.  You could also use pre-cut trim from the store in the form of lattice and other craft boards.  I also used an additional piece of trim between the 2 shutters because I miscalculated, but now I consider it a happy accident.  The height of my shutters, were the height from my window sill to the an inch taller than the half section of my window (where the lock is on a double hung window), minus a half inch, to allow room for the shutter to operate and not get stuck on the sill.

 

• With the two larger boards next to each other, attach your vertical trim pieces to the  right side of one board, and the left side of the other board using wood glue, and your nail gun (and 1″ brad nails.)

• Next, attach the narrowest trim piece with wood glue and a couple of nails to the board on the right, for your right shutter (and on the left for your left shutter–only the right shutter is shown for the purpose of this tutorial) so that it covers the seam when the shutters are laying flat (or how they will look when they are closed).
• Flip both boards over and attach the center hinges 3″ from the top, and 3″ from the bottom.
• If you are creating a full length shutters, you should use three hinges for the top middle and bottom of the shutters. My Shutters only cover the bottom half of the window.

• Next,  I cut down  the 1 -3/4″ x 1/2″ piece of trim for the top and bottom rail, and attached them with glue and let them dry.

Once my shutters were dry, I tested them out, and realized that I miscalculated the width of my boards, leaving me with a 1″ gap.

But it was a happy accident.  I added this piece of trim to the underside of the left shutter, to conceal the gap, making my shutters virtually seamless, so no peaks of light shine through the shutters, messing up the aesthetic.

I put them back up and tested them out, and they were perfect (well, for the most part ;))

I sanded them down so that the wood was smooth.  These shutters can be finished in many different ways.

I was totally torn between painting them the color of the bathroom trim or staining them.  I decided on stain so that these DIY interior shutters would compliment the wood on my vanity.

 

I’m in love friends!

I love how it has this totally rustic-refined feel, and how they add character, while also being fully functional!

What do you think friends?