Cafe Plantation Shutters

I had a dream of beautiful bright plantation shutters in our kitchen dining area.  I quickly  realized that dream was a little far fetched one I started looking into the pricing.  Hot-dang!  Those suckers are expensive!   Challenge Accepted!

Anyone who knows me, is fairly aware I am pretty  dang stubborn.  Once I had my heart set on plantation shutters,  I WOULD figure out how to do it, within my budget.  So, I hit up our local ReStore,  I was able to find this set of plantation doors.  They weren’t the right size, but for $20  I could make them work!

 I started dismantling them by removing the tilt bar.  I  just used snips to cut the staple.

After I removed the tilt bar, I proceeded to remove the Louvers.  I was surprised at how easily  they  popped out.   I also removed the “shutter pins”.  I saved these, and would use them later.  Next I needed to create new frames for my plantation shutters.  I cut “stiles” for the frame.

 I then drilled holes that would receive the shutter pins.

 I then placed all the shutter pins.

 I then cut down the louvers to fit my new frames.  I intentionally cut down from both sides so that I could keep the original center staple in place. 

Once the louvers were cut to size I needed to drill the center hole that would receive the other side of the shutter pin.

Next it was time to assemble. I partially assembled the frame using a  Kreg Jig pocket holes.

I then proceeded to slide all the louvers in place. Once all the louvers were in place I finished securing the rails to the stiles.

 I then gave it a final paint job.

I then needed to replace the original tilt rod. I  first cut it down to size.

I had no clue  how I was going to get these attached, but my husband is a genius and  suggested  simply  buying the same size staples , and simply  push them back in!

…and that is just what I did. I placed a small amount of glue in the original holes, and then placed a staple through the center staple on the louver and then pushed through into the  tilt bar.

Last thing necessary was adding hinges.  My plantation shutters required two sets of hinges.  One set to connect the two doors to each other and the other st to hang the shutter on the wall.  As you can see in the above image,  I mounted the shutters to frame work around the window. ( I have seen them inset, but this is just how I chose to do it.)

… and that my friends is how I made custom cafe plantation shutters for less than $45 ! Whoot Whoot!  

 Thanks for stopping by and take luck!

Corey