So I have been toying with the idea of shutters for the front of the house for a few months now. I knew they would be cedar, but I wasn’t sure of the style. Originally when we were house hunting, we looked at Arts & Crafts bungalows and Tudors from the 30’s. That is practically all you will find in our pre-war neighborhood. My personal style is more “Bungalow”. I dreamed of mattress ticking wallpaper over beadboard wainscoting, stained glass windows above original glass-front bookcases on either side of the fireplace, and a cast-iron claw-foot bathtub and pedestal sink with little black and white hexagon tiles. You get the idea? Vintage charm and character. …so how we ended up with a plain box 70’s ranch is beyond me. Wait a minute… Ohhh yeah…. Now I remember, it was the attached 2 car garage with alley entrance, 2 full bathrooms, ample closet space ( for a normal persons wardrobe anyway), the already open kitchen/living room, huge back yard…yadda, yadda, yadda. Very few of our neighbors have any of these things in their tiny 1930’s Tudors.
Back to the shutters. A few years ago, while trick-or-treating with my nieces in my brothers mid-1960’s neighborhood, I took a picture of these beauties…….
Star Shutters
Pretty Awesome, Right? I absolutely love, love, love the star cut-outs. Very Austin Texas. But they just don’t seem to fit “This” house. Perfect for my ideal 1930’s craftsman bungalow. But our house needs to stay more true to its 70’s ranch roots……Everything we change/add has to” fit the style of the house”. That has been our mantra from the get-go, I’m even thinking of putting it on a t-shirt. So I looked to our new horizontal fence for inspiration, ……and also the pile of leftover cedar ceiling pieces in the garage.
All those little cut-off bits seemed to be just the right size. Add a few 1X2 trim pieces and a quick stapling together,………….(drumroll please)………. I ended up with a 6 of these…..
Perfect. They almost look like they would have been on the house when she was built in 1972, and at the same time they are modern. The pale one is still the natural color of the cedar and the others I stained with our “Russet” stain diluted down with only 25% of the colorant…..We like the diluted version much better than the dark almost paint-like stain we put on the front of the fence. Eventually, all the cedar details outside will be stained this warm light brown.
Now, if I can just figure out how to attach them to the brick………..probably next weekend..I’ll keep you posted.
Well, did younger attach? Concrete nails I to the mortor will work.
“did you ever attach” (auto correct got me)
Steven, I am sooo embarrassed to admit it , but they are still stacked in the garage… We are going to stain the front porch posts and hang the shutters in the next month..promise…Concrete nails will be my very first option
I absolutely love the attention to detail in everything you do as well as the way you document each project. You are great at carrying out the lifestyles across all rooms and even to the exterior. My wife Tameka (RL West Village) says hello! And now we must copycat your wood wall behind the bed. Thanks, Steven
Thanks Steven, our projects are all pretty simple and we try to take as many pictures as we can. Our house just fits “us”, the kitchen is a little more modern than I would have chosen, but it goes with the house…..a “country” kitchen would have been weird. So glad that you’re doing the wood wall, start the planks at the top and use as few nails as possible……it’s pretty easy.
Tell Tameka I said ” Howdy” right back!
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I know this is an old post but I just found these through google. U guys rock! These shutters r awesome! Great idea!
Hi Karen , we always love hearing from readers! Those shutters make a huge difference to the look of our house…….
James – these are awesome – did you glue them up first and then staple?
Hi Josh, I screwed them into the grout between the bricks
Hi James – thanks for the quick response! I was actually more curious about the construction of the shutters – did you glue the pieces together first and then staple them? Sorry if my question wasn’t clear!
Sorry Josh, I should have glued them, but only stapled. It’s been a few years and they still look great.
Thank you for the inspiration! I was looking for something modern yet keeping with the style of our 1960s Farmers Branch ranch house. I had these custom made. I love them!!
Attaching to our brick was tricky and the handyman made many adjustments that you cannot tell. Worth it!!
I’m so glad that we could inspire you.. Ours feel fitting with our horizontal fence. And yeah, I had some trouble attaching them to the brick as well. Everyone said “just drill into the brick!” What they meant was “just drill into the MORTAR” Ha!