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The Frugal Homemaker

Your guide to turning your house into a home... one DIY project and yard sale find at a time

Rustic Fall Mantel with DIY Wood Pumpkins & DIY Barn Wood Shutters

September 16, 2015

Rustic Fall Mantel with DIY Wood Pumpkins and DIY Barn Wood Shutters

My fall mantel is usually my favorite mantel of the entire year and this one is NO exception!  I LOVE how it turned out and I had some much fun adding some DIY wood building projects to it this year to give it lots of character.

Rustic Fall Mantel with DIY Barn Wood Shutters

I built the rustic wood pumpkins too (tutorial here) and don’t forget you can attend a free workshop at your local Home Depot store TOMORROW, Thursday September 17 at 6:30 to get hands-on instruction on how to make your own wood pumpkins – register and get more information here.

Rustic Fall Mantel with DIY Barn Wood Shutters

I LOVE the colors of fall.  But I also decorate with a lot of white which mixed with the rich browns and oranges of fall just makes them pop even more.

Rustic Fall Mantel with DIY Barn Wood Shutters

I went a bit simpler with my mantel this year – the top is really just 4 items but I love how it fills up the whole space.  I will give sources for everything at the end of the post.

Rustic Fall Mantel with DIY Barn Wood Shutters

Rustic Fall Mantel with DIY Barn Wood Shutters

The pumpkins and mums just make me smile!  They are so cute!    I want to use them on my front porch this year but I hate to move them from my mantel – I may just have to make another one! Smile

Rustic Fall Mantel with DIY Barn Wood Shutters

Ok, so let me show you real quick how I made the barn wood shutters. 

How to make EASY DIY Barn Wood Shutters for less than $10

I totally did this on a whim the day I was finalizing my mantel.  I picked up the larger white window at the Habitat Restore for $10 a few weeks ago and couldn’t wait to use it on my mantel.  BUT the 2 old white shutters I had and tried up there were just way too white.  So I searched for some ideas on Pinterest and realized that I could probably make some DIY shutters and stain them dark which would bring in the color that I needed.  I literally pulled out some scrap wood in the garage and 3 hours later had wood shutters up on my mantel! Smile

Here is what I used but there is really no wrong or right way to do this.  You can do your shutters in any width or height that you wish.  Adjust them to fit the space that you intend to use them or work with whatever board you have on hand. My shutters are 3 foot high and 14 inches wide.

I used 1 inch by 5 inch boards that I got at Home Depot.  I can’t find them online and I got them a while ago for a project that I never ended up doing, but I think they were with the project boards.  These 1 x 4 x8 foot boards would work just fine too and they are only $1.99 each for an 8 foot piece!  You would need 3 of them.

1x4 board at Home Depot

You could also use these 1 in x 3 in. x 8 foot boards and do 4 boards across instead of the 3 I used.   If you did 4 boards across you would need 4 of these boards.

1x3 board at Home Depot

Or for the least amount of cuts or waste in lumber you could buy 3 of these boards 1 in x 4 in x 6 ft boards and use every inch.  They are only 6 feet long so cut in half they would be exactly 3 foot and you would need 3 total boards cut into 6 pieces to make 3 board wide shutters.

1x4 by 6 foot board at Home Depot

My boards were already cut into 4 foot pieces so I cut 1 foot off each board with my miter saw.  That left me with 6 total boards at 3 foot long.

How to make DIY Barn Wood shutters for less than $10

The cross pieces are 1 in. x 2 in. x 8 foot pine boards which are super cheap and you will need 2 of these (If you do my exact measurements you will only use about 2  foot of the 2nd board.  But this is a very versatile board I use to secure all kinds of things – it is used on the back of the wood pumpkins too.)

1x2 board at Home Depot

 

So since I had paint/stain on hand already this project only cost $8-10 for 2 shutters!

My shutters were 14 inches wide so I cut 4-14 inch pieces of the 1×2 board.  I didn’t make mine go all the way to the edges but most barn shutters do.  Make sure to account for leaving a bit of space in between each one of the longer boards.  Then for the angled piece – I decided to make my horizontal pieces be 6 inches from the top and bottom so the angled piece is 2 foot long exactly. I cut the ends at a 22.5 inch angle to fit.

How to make DIY Barn Wood shutters for less than $10

Then nail or screw it all into place!  If you choose to use screws, I would drill pilot holes first so you don’t split your boards.

To stain them I used a mixture of Varathane Weathered Gray wood stain and Varathan Early American wood stain.  I LOVE using Rustoleum (sold at Home Depot under the Varathane label) stain.  It covers in ONE coat and dried in under an hour.

Varathane wood stain

I first applied the Early American stain – this is one coat!

How to make DIY Barn Wood shutters for less than $10

Then rubbed on a bit of the weathered gray stain to give it a bit of an aged look.

How to make DIY Barn Wood shutters for less than $10

Once they were dry, I sanded them with my orbital sander.  I also think sanding them helps to give them an aged look as well.

How to make DIY Barn Wood shutters for less than $10

How to make DIY Barn Wood shutters for less than $10

And here they are on my mantel!  I just LOVE them!  I think I am going to add the same 1×2 strips on the back and paint the back of the shutters white so they are reversible! Smile  Gotta love getting 2 looks in 1.  You might just see the white ones pop up on a mantel soon.  Again you could finish yours in however they fit in your décor – white, black, stained, turquoise, red…

How to make DIY Barn Wood shutters for less than $10

They were the perfect finishing touch for my mantel.  It’s so fun having two of my wood building projects featured right in my living room for me to see everyday.  I have to admit I am LOVING working with wood and doing some basic building.  It is slightly addictive in a good way! Winking smile 

How to make DIY Barn Wood shutters for less than $10

We have had the most wonderful temperatures this week – 70 during the day and down to 50’s at night.  I am so happy that it is finally feeling like fall!

Have you ever done any wood building projects?   I would LOVE to see them – share them with me over on my facebook page or send me an email.  If not – why not try some wood shutters or some wood pumpkins – these are a great starter project to make for you home with some basic tools.

How to make DIY Barn Wood shutters for less than $10

Sources: DIY shutters, old window-Habitat Restore, wreath – yard sale find, wood pumpkins – DIY tutorial here, mums – Home Depot, red lantern – Pier 1 (details here), large basket – yard sale, plaid throw – Value Village find, brown pillow – Kirkland’s a few years ago, orange pillow – thrift store find, real pumpkins – Wal-mart.

Fall mantels in past years – click on picture for full post and more info:

DSC_0946  DSC_1015 

DSC_0042   2014 fall mantel

11 Comments LABELS ~ DIY projects, Seasonal Decorating

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Comments

  1. Lanita says

    September 16, 2015 at 4:54 PM

    Love your fall mantel, Christina!! Thanks for sharing….you always have such great ideas!
    Blessings,
    Lanita

    Reply
  2. Mary says

    September 16, 2015 at 9:44 PM

    You gave me a lot of ideals. Beautiful job and appreciate detailed how to’s.

    Reply
  3. Carolyn @ Our Gilded Abode says

    September 18, 2015 at 8:11 PM

    Absolutely beautiful, Christina! Love the way you arranged everything using all the beautiful Fall colors! Your shutters are super nice, too. I tried making a pair not long ago and have really enjoyed displaying them on our mantel. Thanks for the tip to paint one side and stain the other. Have a great weekend!

    Reply
  4. Sherri S. says

    September 24, 2015 at 10:37 AM

    I love all your mantles, this year is no exception 🙂 Thank you for the great tutorial on your shutters as well!

    Happy Fall…
    Sherri

    Reply
  5. Melissa says

    December 30, 2015 at 12:54 PM

    Did you screw/nail boards in place from the back side or from the front then fill with wood filler?

    Reply
  6. Nancy says

    March 7, 2016 at 11:34 AM

    Rustic shutters over that gorgeous classic style fireplace mantle and surround? Okay, I will wear this classic woman’s suit; skirt, white blouse, blazer, string of pearls and add a brown baseball cap . If you want fall theme, great! Choose decor that is in keeping with that lovely fireplace, and I assume, the rest of your living room. That is to say cohesion! I know; you’re angry now. But, there is a comment box here.

    Reply
  7. Meghan says

    April 18, 2016 at 5:25 PM

    Loving the shutters! I recently picked up a perfectly chippy old window and have been looking for something to go with it and add some width to fill the space above my buffet. These will be perfect! Thanks for sharing this wonderful tutorial! 🙂

    Reply
  8. Courtney says

    July 23, 2016 at 8:44 AM

    These are so cute! I have a question: you said they were 14″ wide, but you used three 1×4’s….that should have made them about 10.5″, I think….what am I missing? ? I would like the wider width. Thanks for the help!

    Reply
  9. Melinda says

    July 14, 2018 at 12:38 AM

    Beautiful Mantel, I love the shutters too, Thanks for the tutorial. Can you tell me what the wall paint color is?

    Reply

Trackbacks

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    August 29, 2017 at 6:47 AM

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    September 1, 2017 at 6:06 AM

    […] Rustic Fall Mantle From The Frugal Homemaker […]

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Hi!  My name is Christina . . .

I love doing simple, frugal things to make our house feel like HOME! Come learn along with me how to have a beautiful home on a budget.

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