board & batten shutters: finished

Last week I was braved the heat to finish the last pair of shutters and get them ready for Caleb to attach to the house when he got home from work. It took us two afternoons to get them up on the house. We had minor problems like yellow jackets and a power drill that quit working for no apparent reason. We plugged it in to four different outlets before realizing the safety switch on the drill had been flicked on. duh.

Before he left for work one morning Caleb handed me this set of bits. “They cost $3.00” he said. “I don’t care if you break them.” He bought me disposable drill bits. Isn’t that sweet?

I wanted our shutters to have hinges. Shutters are traditionally supposed to close and cover the window, so if we were going to fake shutters I at least wanted to fake them well.

This was the awkward moment halfway through when I realized we didn’t take a “before” picture. This happens to me a lot.

We attached the shutters with concrete screws, countersunk in the wood so I could fill and paint over the holes.

The shutters for the larger window have a Z brace. They are larger shutters and the Z helped support the additional weight. I like that they look different. It helps add to the illusion they might actually fold over that big window. 

Now that it’s finished, we’ll be taking a break from all outdoor projects until the Alabama heat wave (also known as “Summer”) passes.