Monday, September 28, 2015

Our New Exterior Shutters




I told y'all this summer that Bill was building us some exterior shutters. 
Searching Pinterest and driving through neighborhoods gave us the ideas we needed to cultivate a design. 
Bill is a planner. 
He thought through the following issues according to his Facebook post.


"Because I was using wood and I knew that there would be expansion and contraction with the effects of the weather change, I chose to leave a space between each vertical board. 
This made it a little more challenging to keep it all square."
Each of our windows on the front of our house is a different height. Three of the four windows have a brick arch but because of the different widths, the arch is different on each. The shutters had to be adjusted for the varying widths of the eyebrow. 
This meant each set of shutters was going to be a different length.  
That brought in a decision on where to place the cross supports that tie the vertical boards together. As you look at the house we didn't want there to be just a random looking lines for the cross supports." 

We went with a board and batten shutter design. 
We opted not to arch the top of the shutters to mimic the eyebrow windows. 


Once he was done building the shutters, I primed them with the best primer Bill could find. 



We began discussing the color and went back to Pinterest because we could not agree.
We tossed around black, gray, brown and cream. 
I didn't want brown but the front door is brown. 
We figured there was enough black in the mortar that it would would work but in the end we decided to go with charcoal. 


The air conditioning was out at the store when we went to get the paint.
 Their computer was slow and they couldn't find our account. 
They told us a 30% off sale was starting the next day. 
Seems to me that if they are making you sweat while you wait they should give you the discount a day early. 
No.
Instead, we left the store empty handed. 
Once we were home I changed my mind. I wanted white. Not bright white but the same white as the trim. 



We held a primed shutter up to the house and Bill reluctantly agreed. 
I began painting in July but then we got hit with a heat wave. 
The temperature hovered around 105 degrees for three weeks so hanging shutters was out of the question. 
Instead we clean up the garage. 
In the meantime, Bill was pondering some other issues. 

"I think the thing that was most difficult was mounting them. 
I stressed a lot over how to mount the shutters to the brick while on a ladder, how they will weather over time and how not to get mold buildup between them and the brick."

Bill was able to find rubber baffles to put over the screws to keep the shutters off of the brick. 


Bill woke up on Saturday ready to tackle this project. 
I told him I could help with the first story. 
He called our son to help with the second story. 


Things went off without any problems.
Placing the top of one side of the ladder on the shutter helped hold it in place so Bill could screw it in. 
Jonnie helped by handing the drill drivers out to Bill and by making sure the shutter lined up with the brick and was level. 




"We even had to make an installation day adjustment on the length of one set which I wasn't thrilled about." 
Bill wasn't thrilled when I took issue with the placement on the battens on the second set of shutters. We ended up cutting off two inches of wood off of the bottom of the second set. If we hadn't the second set would have been 11/2 taller than the first. 
That would have been noticeable from the street. 


Before


After

 They are so cute!! I'm beyond thrilled with how finished they make the house look. 



I took these pictures with my phone so I'll be back with more photos, thoughts and feedback. 
Happy Monday!
Katie   
Linking with,
Between Naps on the Porch 
The Scoop 
A Stroll Thru Life   
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia   
Savvy Southern Style   
French Country Cottage   
From My Front Porch to Yours 
Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olsen

8 comments :

  1. I love them. I wanted something similar for our home, but Hubby wanted the traditional ones and I gave up to him. Next house I want yours.

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  2. Can you believe this Katie? What are the chances !
    They turned out gorgeous - and you got a lot more done than we did in one weekend !
    Your sister from a different mister LOL
    XOX

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  3. looks fabulous! I've always wanted to add shutters to our home, your inspiring me to make the change!

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  4. These are to my liking and adds the little farmhouse touch that I like!

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  5. Love these Katie. Makes a big difference. Great job.
    Kris

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  6. The shutters look fantastic! Great job, Bill! They really make a big difference.

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  7. Katie, I love shutters on homes and they look fantastic! Love the batten board style. I think the white is perfect with your trim. Thanks for sharing with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

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  8. The shutters look great! Looks like your hubs is using the same ladder my hubby has from his home inspection days. Sure comes in handy...

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