How to Build Your Own Plantation Shutter

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Things You'll Need

  • Wood closet doors with horizontal slats

  • Wood putty

  • Circular saw

  • Wood glue

  • Paint or stain

  • Roll up shades

  • Metal hinges

Make your own plantation shutter out of closet doors.

Plantation shutters offer a different look than blinds, but can cost quite a bit more per window. You can leave the bottom half of plantation shutters closed and open the top half, giving you more privacy while still letting light into a room. Even if you are not very handy, you can still save money by making your own plantation shutters out of bi-fold closet doors. Make sure to buy the type of doors made out of wood, that also have horizontal wood slats.

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Step 1

Remove the hinges on the closet doors with a screwdriver. Fill in the holes from the screws with wood putty.

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Step 2

Cut off the top frame piece from the closet doors. Pull out the top half of the slats in the door, or more depending on the size of your window. You may need to break the slats to remove them.

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Step 3

Cut off enough of the tops of the side frame pieces so that the doors are the same height as the window. Glue the top frame pieces back onto the top of the doors and allow the glue to dry.

Step 4

Paint the doors any color you desire, or stain them. Trim roll-up shades to fit the area on the doors that do not have slats.

Step 5

Staple the shades to the top of the door frames. Attach the door frames to the window frames with basic metal hinges.

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