How to make easy DIY Board and Batten Shutters

Have you ever looked at the exterior of your home or business and just felt it was missing something? You don’t have a lot of money to spend, but you know you need some curb appeal? This was me last week.

Recently, we had installed new windows at our store to help with the efficiency, however, they couldn’t be as big or centered as I would have liked. My symmetry issues were killing me! I needed to do something about it.

So, I started searching online, but hadn’t been able to find what I wanted or couldn’t afford what I liked. I knew I needed to DIY some easy Board and Batten Shutters!

Materials Needed:

• 1″ thick cedar boards
• wood glue
• 1 1/4″ brad nails
• 1 1/4″ screws
• stain
• spar urethane
• 1″ Clavos from Amazon

Tools Needed:

• Saw
• Tape Measure
• 220 grit sandpaper
• Brad Nailer
• Drill
• Rubber Mallet

Instructions:

I decided to use 1″x 4″ cedar planks from the Home Depot. My store only had the cedar boards in 4ft lengths which was perfect for my 41″ tall windows.

I spent a few minutes dry fitting the boards together to get the best fit since they weren’t all perfectly straight.

I measured and cut the boards down to 41″ long to accommodate my 41″ tall windows. The boards then were sanded smooth with 220 sandpaper.

I used scrap wood/paint sticks to evenly space the boards. Then I measured and cut the cross pieces to length (in my case 14.5″) and attached them using glue and 1 1/4″ brad nails. Two 6″ pieces of scrap wood were used as a guide to make sure the cross pieces were evenly spaced from the top and bottom.

I also flipped the boards over and screwed the cross pieces in from the back for durability using 1 1/4″ screws and my drill.

Now, they were ready for stain.

My goal was to have a nice medium brown color with a hint of gray. Briarsmoke was the perfect choice! I always recommend testing colors out on scrap pieces first…it will save you a ton of hassle and heartache if you don’t love the color.

I stained the shutters and let them dry for 24 hours before sealing them with two coats of spar urethane. Per the instructions, I waited 48 hours to make sure they were dry before handling them.

They shutters looked great, but I still wanted to add some oil rubbed bronze to them. I used a rubber mallet to hammer some clavos on.

I used my nail gun to tack the shutters in place and then used 2.5″ construction screws to hold the corners in place.

The final look is even better than I imagined! The shutters were super simple and cost effective, but they definitely are high impact!

Here’s what the building looked like when we bought it and now:

Thank you for following my journey! Stay tuned for more DIY projects!