Spray Painting Shutters for a Thrifty Exterior Transformation

Updating old shutters by spray painting them is a great, inexpensive way to bring a fresh look to the exterior of your home.

I mentioned Friday that we had a very busy week last week. One of the projects I did was painting our front door black. But….I also spray painted ALL of our shutters black too!

It’s something I have been wanting to do for a very, very long time. But I had to enlist hubby’s help in dragging our humongous ladder and removing the shutters first.  Since we were getting our roof replaced last week too, I knew I could convince him now would be a fabulous time to help me.  I’m the lover of projects in this house. Hubs just goes along, thankfully, when I need help.

So, here is the lovely before picture.  We bought our house in 2005.  The previous owners had painted a LOT of everything a beige / tan.   The roof is (was) brown too. The deck was painted a beige color.  I didn’t mind it but always had a bigger plan.

I had looked into replacing the shutters first.  But new vinyl shutters were going to run between $35 – $42 per window!  For our house, it would have cost $343.00, which was not in my budget.

I hightailed it to Home Depot and bought 9 cans of this awesome spray paint for just $3.87 per can.  Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch 2X in semi-gloss.  It has primer + paint!  Bonus!  I ended up only using 6 cans for a total of $23.22!

That right!!   Just $23.00 for this HUGE transformation!

After removing the shutters, I wiped them all down with a wet rag to remove any dirt, bugs, and spider webs.

Disclaimer:  Our shutters are old metal shutters and this spray paint worked wonderful.  It says on the can that it works on plastic as well though.

• I laid all of the shutters, all 18 of them, on a big tarp in the front yard, I put on my lovely ventilation mask and started spraying.   I highly recommend buying the spray can gun attachment.  It saved my finger tip tremendously.   Also, be sure to wear latex gloves to keep your hands spotless. (almost)  I also  completely forgot to take pictures during my spraying.

• I started spraying along the edges first, holding the can about 6-8 inches away from the shutter. Then I sprayed all the way down the sides and across the top and bottom next.

• Then, I sprayed the louvers starting and the top of the shutter and working my way down.

• Next, I  walked around the shutter and lightly went over any spots I saw where the louver meets the sides.

• I took me about 5-10 minutes per shutter.

• I let them dry for 2 hours and we started hanging them back up.

I am so excited at how they look!  So clean and fresh.  They just “pop” on the tan house.   Two of my favorite color schemes are a Tan house  with Black Shutters or White house with Black Shutters.  I had the latter on our house in NC.  Now I have the other fav here in NH.

Our roof was finished on Friday so I wanted to wait and take the finished transformation picture after that.  I chose a black roof too.

I just love it!!