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Brass hinges to build a screen from old wood shuttersWith a few hinges and some paint, you can turn your old wood shutters into any number of useful or decorative items. If you have tall shutters, add hinges to connect three or four panels along their long edges and build a privacy screen. Paint the screen to complement your décor. Use shorter shutters (or cut your shutters to size), hinges and paint to create a decorative screen to hide a water heater or a craft corner or to keep kids out of the fireplace in the summer. - Use your old wood shutters to add flair to your garden. They can serve as a trellis for climbing plants. This works especially well if your shutters are missing a few slats; those spaces offer even more room for your plants to climb and grow. Most climbing plants will find a good route, but you can help them out if you think they need it. As an alternative, use old shutters as a rustic backdrop to frame a wheelbarrow full of colorful bedding flowers. Or mount an herb garden on an old wood shutter: purchase hanging planter hooks or flower pot rings, attach them to your shutter and plant basil, lavender and rosemary in small pots that fit the rings. You can lean it against the side of a building, a wall or a fence. This looks especially nice if the shutter has a rustic look to it. Just sand it gently before hanging your hardware.
- All those slats on small shutters provide a perfect place to display a special collection; for instance, purchase S-hooks, slip one end through a slat and suspend a teacup from the other. Hang and store your necklaces, bracelets and earrings on the slats. Or paint a pair of shutters in seasonal colors, connect them with hinges so they'll stand, and make a display board for postcards and holiday cards; just slip a card between two slats and secure it with a clothespin on the back.
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Board-and-batten shuttersUse your shutters to make furniture pieces. Add legs to create an outdoor bench or table from narrow board-and-batten shutters. Or, use metal brackets to join three shutters in a U-shape; attach hinges to a fourth shutter and hang it as a door. Cut two pieces of wood for the ends, nail or glue in place and voila--you have a small storage chest.
