Decorative Ideas for Using Shutters
Shutters are more than interior treatments highlighting your windows or architectural additions to the exterior of your house. Vintage shutters lurking in your garage or basement or sitting at the curb for garbage pickup can find new life providing a focal point for any room in your home. Using them as decor statements is also a great way to recycle. Does this Spark an idea?
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Wall Art
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Don’t overlook those weathered, peeling shutters at your local flea market or garage sale. Instead, consider bringing them home, cleaning them up and hanging them on your wall in place of more traditional and possibly mundane art. Install two or three shutters vertically on your living room wall. Leave them as is or use them to display family photographs by sliding each picture into the shutter’s slats. Shutters can find a place dressing a blank wall in a bedroom or family room when you give them a fresh coat of paint and draw or stencil a design that goes with your decor style. For example, consider a star or pineapple pattern for a country themed room or cute animals like ducks or bunnies for a nursery.
Headboard
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If it is time for a new headboard but you have a limited budget, consider using shutters. Line them up vertically behind your bed. It isn’t necessary to attach them to the wall, but for a more permanent installation, you may want to consider it. L brackets work well for this. Paint them to coordinate or contrast with the other colors in the room. Leave them plain or decorate them with stenciled or painted pictures or designs or insert photos or small prints between the slats and switch them out when the mood strikes. Install a shelf above the shutters to use as a book shelf or display space.
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Standing Screens
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Hinging tall shutters together to form a folding screen used to block off a corner in your bedroom adds a private dressing area. Visually define spaces in homes with open floor plans by arranging portable room dividers made of shutters to block off areas like kitchens from family rooms. Remove them when you want the spaces to flow into each other.
Fireplace Screen
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A decorative fireplace screen fashioned from shutters makes your fireplace a focal point in your room even if the season doesn’t call for the coziness of a fire. Simply hinge together shutters that have been cut to fit the fireplace opening. Finish them as you please. If they feature peeling paint and rusted hardware, consider leaving them as is for a shabby chic look -- or paint them high gloss black or white for a more contemporary flair. Add a shelf to the back near the top to display collections, house plants or flower arrangements that rise over the top of the shutters to be seen.
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References
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