Pinterest Project Week: Day Four

Today, I tackled a project that I have been excited about for quite some time. This.

I found this image on Pinterest and immediately knew that something like this needed to be in our house. The hallway to the garage needed a bit of colour and this idea seemed like the perfect solution. Finding a shutter, however, was not as easy as I thought it might be. Originally I just planned on buying a new one from Home Depot or Rona, painting it and calling it a day. Yes, the aged look of an old and worn shutter is nice, however I wasn't all that concerned with bringing in that detail to the project. My main goal was just to have a shutter up on the wall in a fresh and bright colour. Surprisingly enough, at least to me, home improvement stores don't simply sell pre-made shutters, they only sell them on special order. I guess I can understand why, being that almost all windows are different sizes. So my plan was altered and I started to brainstorm other possibilities.

A few months back, a couple of friends and I checked out this place and I blogged about my trip here. Once again, it did not disappoint and offered me a couple of vintage/used shutters to look through. I am disappointed that I forgot to take a before shot, but today, it looks like this...


It is slightly bigger than I originally wanted, and I somewhat second guessed its size all the way home, but when I held it up to its future home on the wall, I loved its proportions and was forever sold. It will hang beside a mirror and key holder in our garage entrance just outside the mudroom after a little more work and some hanging hardware attached. If I had been smart enough to take a before shot, you would have seen that it was originally (at least originally to me) painted white, over top of a cream colour which was obvious due to the enormous amount of white paint that had and was presently chipping off. At first I contemplated stripping the whole piece down and starting fresh, however opted for a good sand and fresh paint job instead. This picture doesn't really show it, but the shutter does have a nice aged look due to the multiple layers of paint, dents and scratches from which I can only assume was some solid years of duty. The colour I chose was non other that Benjamin Moore's Dill Pickle, which is the colour that our spare bedroom is painted. I heart this colour big time in that room and am equally in love with it on this project. I think it will be the perfect addition to a builders beige hallway and can't wait to see it hung and in place tomorrow after it is dried and dressed up to be hung.

I will definitely be smart enough to take some completed shots of everything all together tomorrow and include them in my daily report. Tomorrow is an exciting day around here as the back deck is going in. I have about 20 boards left to stain but considering I have completed about 60 so far, I am feeling pretty good about my progress and know that those 20 can be done pretty quickly during a morning nap. Tomorrow will also bring a few new recipes that I have been itching to try...especially since one is done in a slow cooker and anything in a slow cooker is usually easy and delicious.

Now will someone please mail me some pretty postcards so I can stick them in my shutter?