Arts &Crafts, How-To's, Upcycling & Repurposing

We took plain, old worn out blue shutters and turned them into a pretty patriotic decor for outside. The hardest part…. Was lining up the tape to get straight lines.

Supplies needed:

Old shutters – cleaned, sanded and ready to go

Paint – red, white and blue (we used spray paint)

Paint brush – if your not using spray paint

Disposable gloves – if you don’t like getting your hands dirty

Painters tape

Measuring tape

Cardboard – used to block off sections

Step 1:

After you had cleaned and sanded the shutters, you’re going to start by priming them.

It has been hot out, so the paint is drying pretty quick. Just to be safe, we waited 24 hrs for it to dry.

Step 2:

After the primer is dry, start by measuring and putting down the painters tape to make the red & white stripes, along with a section for the blue. (This was the frustrating part)

Step 3:

Once the shutter is taped and you triple checked the measurements, you are going to want to take cardboard or something similar to block off the sections you will not be spraying/painting yet, we started with the blue, then red. Since the primer we used is a paint and primer we didn’t need to use another white over that.

We did end up taping off another section on the left of the shutter to add another red stripe.

Now if you want to do stars, you have several options to choose from:

• Stickers or use your Cricut /Silhouette if you have one.
• Leave it blue
• Use a star stencil
• Glitter

** Wait a full 24 hrs to allow the paint to dry. **

Step 4:

Add any decorations you’d like to your flag.

We kept these basic by using ribbon (used the nail/staple gun to the ribbon on the back of shutters) and attaching bows to that in the front.

TIPS:

** Allow dry time. If the paint is sticky, allow more time to dry.

** We got these shutters from neighbors who are redoing their home. They put a ad up on marketplace on Facebook.

** The dollar store has tons of decor and crafts right now for the 4th of July. Take advantage if you see what you want, the stuff sells quickly !

** The only thing we had to buy was new spray paint. We did not have enough. We bought the spray paint at Menards right now they offer a 11% rebate. Rust oleum, it’s normally $5.86 per can. It’s on sale for $5.22 per can.

** We painted 2 coats each color. Bought- 1 can of red, 1 can of blue, 1 can of white, 1 can of clear varnish

STILL had leftover paint.