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20 Clever Ways To Upcycle Old Shutters

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Old shutters can be recycled or upcycled into all types of home decor. The used shutters with their aged finish have a lot of character and add uniqueness to your DIY projects.

I use old shutters just as they are in my porch decor. Painted chippy shutters are great staging pieces. I also like to use them as backdrops on my mantel because our brick fireplace is so busy, I need a solid color backdrop. The shutters look fantastic with a stenciled welcome sign board attached to them.

20 Ways to Upcycle Shutters

vintage-shutters-Petticoat-Junktion-Flea-Market-Shopping-Trip.jpg

I bought a few of these old shutters at the Nashville Flea Market, which need to be cleaned up. I’m looking for a new upcycle idea for them. I searched Pinterest for ideas and found a few I liked. I’m sharing them below with some of my earlier shutter projects.

Rustic Star Shutter Welcome

welcome shutter sign

This is one of the first shutter signs I made. I was living in Florida at the time and had just started my junk salvage repurpose journey. I gathered old shutters on my junk trips and added odds and ends to them. At the time, I did not have a blog and was not taking photos for tutorials. So this is it for this sign. 

Christmas Shutter Display

Christmas mantel with blue shutter

This shutter was originally red and Jane from Cottage At The Crossroads painted it light blue then distressed the blue paint so you could see a bit of red peeking through the blue.

Shutter Angel

shutter angel

I like angel decor so this project caught my eye. Pam put a lot of work into making this shutter angel. I love the yellow color.

Patriotic Shutter Sign

Red, white, and blue Patriotic shutter wreath sign
I put the red, white, and blue shutter together using stuff from my junk stash. I bought the yarn wreath at My Favorite Junk Shop then I spray painted a metal bucket and decorated it with red stars from Dollar Tree.

Cottage Style Shutter Headboard

How to make a shutter headboard
How to make a shutter headboard

I didn’t make this large shutter headboard but I took photos of it when we stayed at the little cottage on Tybee Island. The decorator made a headboard using vintage shutters. They were the perfect color for an island cottage.

Hello Shutter Wall Decor

shutter with stenciled sign
I stenciled the Hello Sunshine shutter decor for our granddaughter Sofi’s bedroom at our house. She is my sunshine.

Shutter Shelf

shutter shelf

The small shutter shelf works perfectly for a tiny bathroom. Carlene added the shutter over the top of an existing shelf that was too small.

Welcome Shutter with Flowers

white Welcome shutter sign

The pretty welcome shutter sign with the faux hydrangeas is another one of the signs I made many years ago when I lived in Florida. There is no link to a post on this one. I have to say it’s one of my favorite shutter signs. I purchased the smallish, colorful “Welcome” sign and already had the old shutter. The project developed from there.

Shutters In Bedroom Decor

Hymns and Verses blog shutters used as decor in bedroom
Doreen at Hymns and Verses used white shutters on the nightstands in this serene bedroom to add height on either side of the bed.

Shutter Wreath

how to recycle or upcycle a shutter
how to recycle or upcycle a shutter

This project is mine. The antique shutters really show their age with the alligatored paint. I hung the shutters on our front storm door as a wreath backdrop.

Magazine Rack

Magazine Rack made from an old shutter by My Repurposed Life

I love how Gail from My Repurposed Life used an old shutter. She removed every other slat so she could fit magazines into the spaces. Then she painted the shutter.

Winter Shutter Display

winter shutter sign home decor
Another idea using the shutter as a wreath backdrop……but this sign is definitely seasonal decor….for Wintertime.

Shutter Message Board

memo board

What a great idea. I like the chalkboard portion at the top of the shutter memo/message board.

Holiday Sign

Making welcome signs out of shutters works well if you use the right size shutter. You can’t use the really large ones…..or I haven’t. Sometimes, it’s as simple as adding already-made pieces to the shutter.

Shutter Jewelry Organizer

Shutter Jewelry Organizer

This is a great idea. I have a lot of necklaces and adding the shutter organizer to the inside of the closet like this is genius.

Rustic Welcome Shutter

how to make shutter signs
how to make shutter signs

I like to stencil and I like adding old pieces to my DIY projects so this rustic shutter sign was right up my alley. You can see one of my reclaimed angels on the right side in the magazine rack.

Shutter Side Table

shutter side table

Yep, this is one of my favorites. I want to try making a similar shutter side table. I have to find the right shutters. The color, age, and chippiness of the shutters are just perfect.

DIY Slatted Shutter Headboard

shutter headboard

The second shutter headboard is totally different from the first one in the post. This headboard is made from the typical louvered shutters, whereas the one I shared from the Tybee Island cottage was made from solid panel shutters.

DIY Broken Shutter Wreath

DIY-bird-nest-wreath-spring-inspiration-pinterest-decoration-8

A totally deconstructed shutter can be turned into a unique wreath in no time flat. Add a bit of color and you have a designer-looking wreath. It’s easy to take a louvered shutter apart especially the older ones where the joints have loosened up through the years.

Shutter Bookcase

Shutter Bookcase

This shutter project takes a little work. But if you know even a little about carpentry, you can easily put a shutter bookshelf together. Gail used old shutters for the back and sides and cut shelves to make the bookcase. Then she painted it a beautiful blue.

Variety of Shutter Signs

signs I made from old shutters when we lived in Florida

I was just looking through old photos to share here and found this photo of my booth in Florida, and as you can see I was really into making shutter wall decor. I had forgot about the yellow shutter with the garden sign and the “ride em cowboy” shutter decor.

Shutter Project Roundup

Clever Ways To Reuse Old Shutters
That’s it. I hope you found some inspiration here, Kathy

Kathy Owen founder of Petticoat Junktion

Author: Kathy Owen
Kathy Owen is the founder of the home decor blog Petticoat Junktion where she shares tutorials on painting furniture and upcycling thrifty finds into unique home décor. Her DIY projects have been featured on the Home Depot Blog, Plaid Crafts, Behr Designer Series, and in numerous magazines.

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5 Comments

  1. Great ideas. Now to find a few shutters. I do have one in storage. I would like to paint it to like the the American Flag. I have a photo of one from somewhere.

  2. Linda Hickey says:

    Love all your shutter ideas. A lot of neat creative ideas.

  3. Kathy, what do finish do you recommend to keep the wooden shutters long time in the AR weather?

  4. Sharon, sounds so cute! Do you have a pix to share?

  5. SharonFromMichigan says:

    My church has a Christmas live greens market every year. I had a whole bunch of old shutters laying around and some leftover wooden pickets from sections of picket fencing. I painted some of the shutters black & painted the pickets a perfect earthy brown and then attached a picket to each side of the shutter then rummaged through my bowl of old knobs and attached one to the top of the shutters to hang a ribbon attached to a live wreath for display on either a porch or inside. Boy those things flew out of the sale fast. Something about black as a backdrop really makes the live greens stand out! I could also see a yellow wreath for spring really popping against the black shutters too.