Faux Barn Door Shutters

I've had this post ready for a while now, blogging just hasn't been a priority.  I feel the need to share today. :)  This "build along" is by no means the "proper" way to do anything-this is not intended for people who actually have building skills!! :)


I hope this little project is inspiring for all you self proclaimed "non-crafters", because I am not a great "builder."  I have been wanting these for a looong time, and I will be using this as a practice project for our cedar shutters on the exterior of our home.

You don't need fancy supplies for this, but you will need some lumber of choice, a ruler or tape measure, pen or pencil(or crayon in my case), a hand saw,   something a bit sturdy to brace your lumber while you saw(a large table and set of clamps is ideal for this, but you'll soon see what I used,) hammer and nails, wood glue, paint/stain and brushes...

Generally you would want to use aged, beat up wood for this, but I didn't feel like yanking rotty planks off our fence and I think Soup might not have been very appreciative to that idea, so the kiddos and I trucked out to my second favorite store (first being hob lob) and paid somewhere around 4 bucks for the supplies.

After you have gathered your bug infested, splintering, lovely aged wood, you want to measure what size you want your shutters.  I didn't write down what size mine are.

Mark off your measurements on your boards with crayon, and place the first board on your table and secure it with the clamps.  Or if you don't have them, place your wood on a bucket and get to sawing.  :)

I like to take the saw and "gnaw" at the top and bottom of my mark to give the saw a nice guide to keep it from wandering. 

The trick is to let the saw do the work.  Don't use too much force-be gentle and very slow at first.  Start by just repeatedly pulling the saw toward you.  After a bit of a work-out, you'll have your boards cut and a nice pile of dust to clean up.

I cut three boards, laid them out, and marked where I wanted my stabilizing boards to go.  I think I put them about 2 in from the top and bottom.  I did not measure these, I set one board across the tops of the previous 3 and marked the width. 

Do the same with the diagonal board.  Then dry fit them to make sure they piece together like you want.

At this point I did move my project to the dining room table. :) You can put your bucket, saw, measuring tape and broom away now.

Slap some glue on the back of your top three stabilizing boards and secure in place with nails.  Make sure your nails are long enough that they pass through both layers of wood, but not completely through your bottom boards, or you will get a barn door shutter embellished table, and that's probably not very chic. 

If you are using new wood, you will want to stain before painting. I didn't and I don't like the looks of mine for now...

I bought enough supplies to make a set of three, but only one is completed.  I do love it, though!