If you're short on art, try transforming a simple household shutter into an eye-catching, unique piece of decorative wall art. All you need is some paint, a stencil and a few other crafting supplies. This DIY yields a graphically bold art piece that also has vintage appeal, due to the distressing technique you use on it.
The piece mixes a bit of retro farmhouse style with a sophisticated pattern and color combination, and the result is something that looks like it came from a home shop that carries only the coolest items. There are several ways to vary the look of this piece, too. You could overlap the stencils uniformly or in just a few places, use several colors for stenciling, and even apply more than one base color — it’s totally up to you. The finished piece would look fabulous as a bold gallery wall component, a mantel embellishment or an appealing accent on a covered porch.
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Materials
-Window shutter
-Roll of paper towels
-Needle-nose pliers
-Roll of painter’s tape
-2 bottles of chalk paint in different colors
-Paintbrush
-Plastic gloves
-Square stencil sheet
-Sanding sponge
-Blow-dryer
-White lint-free cloth
-Bottle of home décor clear wax
-Waxing brush
-Roll of paper towels
-Needle-nose pliers
-Roll of painter’s tape
-2 bottles of chalk paint in different colors
-Paintbrush
-Plastic gloves
-Square stencil sheet
-Sanding sponge
-Blow-dryer
-White lint-free cloth
-Bottle of home décor clear wax
-Waxing brush
DIY Everywhere
Instructions
1. Place the shutter on your work surface with the front side facing up.
2. Use the needle-nose pliers to remove the center tilt bar, the mechanism that moves the louvers.
3. Push all the louvers in the same direction so they're closed.
4. Secure the louvers in this position by placing a piece of tape on either side of the louvers’ outer ends.
5. Flip the shutter over.
6. Slip a couple of paper towel layers under each corner to protect the work surface from the paint.
7. Put on the plastic gloves.
8. Brush one coat of paint onto the shutter.
9. Allow the paint to dry thoroughly, and rinse out your paintbrush.
10. Tape down the stencil sheet in a corner of the shutter.
11. Paint the second color of chalk paint over the stencil.
12. Remove the stencil, and blow-dry the newly painted design.
13. Continue placing the stencil on the untreated parts of the shutter, painting and blow-drying each area, one after the other, until the entire surface is stenciled (the louvers and the outer edges of the shutter). Make sure to place the stencil so the pattern design is neatly aligned and continuous.
14. Remove the gloves.
15. Take a sanding sponge, and lightly sand the shutter's surface and outer edges in random areas to give the piece a distressed look.
16. Wipe the dust created by sanding away with a paper towel or cloth.
17. Put the gloves back on, and gather the bottle of clear wax and the waxing brush.
18. Coat the painted surface of the shutter with the wax. The clear wax protects and seals the piece.
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19. Wipe the surface with the lint-free cloth.
20. Your decorated shutter art piece is ready for display.