Shutter Wall -- New Dining Room Chairs!

I was thrifting around the other day when I came across a pretty sweet couple of finds.  It was 30% off day and we'll just say I had to take like 6 trips to bring all my goodies home.  I saw this beautiful dining room table from the 1920's and just had to figure out how to use it.

I first discovered it earlier in the week, but once it hit 30% off I knew it just had to be mine.  The table is now my new office desk (post coming soon), and the chairs are perfect in my dining room with my Shutter Wall.

 I'll probably recover their seats with a fun bright color, (maybe turquoise?) and I hope to someday construct a larger dining room table with a concrete top.  Check out the detail in these chairs, aren't they gorgeous?

Are room designs ever complete in your house?  I'm beginning to think that my house is always in a state of evolution!

On a personal note, I hope to share more posts soon from my explosion of creative projects on which I've been working.  My son and I tried homeschooling these past few months.  More power to you homeschool parents!  That is some serious hard work.  All in all it was a wonderful experience however I have decided that sending my son TO school is a better option for me.  I missed my selfish creative projects, I missed having the laundry done, and I missed my sanity.  All I can say right now is....yay for summer camp!

Rutbo Pendant Lights

My dining room is nearing the final stages of design.  The shutter wall has been complete now for a couple months and the new chandeliers are finally in place and functional!  We chose two of Ikea's Rutbo Pendant Lights.  

Shutter Wall - Complete!

Shutter Wall - Attaching the Shutters

For an updated post on the completed project click here.

Ah the shutter project. Sorta my baby....I love it, it's kinda messy, takes up a lot of my time, and has been fun to show off. But you know how when you get a new car, you notice everyone else driving it?....in the same color? Or when you name your kid, or dog something creative and unique, suddenly you hear it all the time? Well, I've had a little of that too. My inspiration for this project came from a display at Anthropologie. The display used shutters but in no way was it close to how I chose to recreate my dining room wall. Since beginning my project I've come across a couple similar ideas. My friend Melody who lives in Davis, CA mentioned that one of her favorite restaurants in Sacramento has walls covered with shutters. I googled sacramento restaurant shutters and look what I found:

The Ella Dining Room and Bar

It seems as though they used shutters of mostly the same size, which I have to add would probably be a lot easier when it comes to fitting them together. I also like their use of an occasional horizontal shutter. They covered their ceiling with the shutters which really intensifies the motif but is sort of like considering a fourth child in my house.....NOT going to happen. On a side note, I like their use of three stacked coffee tables for display purposes. I could imagine that in a corner of a room near a window, used for plants.

Flipping through the new Pottery Barn catalog I came across page 45, with a picture of the Como Headboard. The website didn't show the wall to the extent that the catalog did so I took a picture of it.

Uh, shutters? On the wall? Did they not get my fax about the copyright on that idea? In fact it looks quite similar to my guest room wall.

Which, by the way my husband thinks we should consider taking this down so we don't over use shutters in our home. What do you think? I don't mind it and think it adds enough character to the room and is far enough away from the dining room to not matter. (Ironically the shutters in the dining room are on the other side of this wall.) This collection of white shutters with hinges used to be the actual headboard of the queen bed we had in this room. When we moved our master bedroom (cal king) furniture into the guest room, we left it on the wall behind the iron head board.

...Anyhow the shutter project is coming along. I invited friends over to paint with me....Thank you Robin, Caroline and Rachel! My daughter also painted a few and besides working next to me, she mentioned that she enjoyed the time she spent painting them quietly by herself. This is my four year old I'm talking about here....enjoying the tranquility of a little art therapy. Interestingly my artsy 6 year old son wanted nothing to do with painting the shutters, but quite enjoyed helping his daddy with attaching the wooden support beams.

After priming 5/8 inch OSB plywood, my wonderful supportive husband Dan, ran them through his table saw, cutting four inch wide strips. What is OSB plywood you ask? Check out WiseGEEK on OSB Plywood.

Working with the table saw in the front yard always brings the neighbors asking questions ...."Laura's covering our dining room wall in shutters." "....She's what?"

After priming and trimming two sheets of the OSB plywood, Dan and Riley attached them horizontally about every foot or so on the wall. Additional small pieces of the plywood needed to be attached to insure the shutter was not at an angle on the wall.

Using a stud finder (convenient when I was in college), Dan made sure the support beams were screwed into the studs. He even climbed them to prove their stability. No pictures of this stunt unfortunately...just my stud. I had planned to paint all of the plywood the same color as the wall but after getting about two thirds finished I decided to only paint where the shutters didn't line up perfectly.

Getting these guys lined up just right was like a giant game of Tetris. Micro cuts here and there were made to get them to fit just right. Most cuts were made on the top or bottom, and many of the double opening shutters were cut in half. We plan on going back with small cuts of wood to fill in any spaces left when we're finished attaching all the shutters. We'll either use remnants of shutters that have been trimmed or small pieces of MDF.

One of the giant shutters that was not a double opening shutter was cut in half. This had to be done at just the right spot on the sides to account for the shutter part being left intact. So far the only shutters that have needed a vertical cut have been the bottom two shutters on the far right.

We have some shutters left, but not quite enough to finish the job. I decided to stop with a few left so that I can complete the project evenly once I have all the shutters ready. I had abdominal surgery 2 weeks ago and can not lift anything over ten pounds for 4 more weeks so this project has been put on hold for a bit. I plan to make a trip out to the Habitat for Humanity thrift Shop soon to see what treasures are waiting.

The shutters have started a domino effect of upgrades (good-bye chandelier) and I'm gathering ideas for other evolutions for my dining room like table, chairs and lighting. I'll keep you updated when the wall is complete. :)

Sisal Shade Chandelier inspired by Edison Pottery Barn Chandelier

What do you think.....doable?

Shutter Wall - Painting the Shutters

For a completed picture of my shutter wall click here

Wow what have I started this time? My dining room is a bit on the boring side. We've spent our attention on other rooms and have neglected giving it the character we desire. I've had ideas for lighting (see blog post here), and I've sewed curtains (more on this later). We have a table, an antique baby crib turned love seat (which is pretty cool and I'll blog about later) and a couple plants. It's even missing a rug since my lovely dog destroyed it (you don't want details).

Every time I go to my favorite shop Anthropologie, I take photos of their displays. I find them so creative and inspiring. Last month I visited a friend in the L.A. area and on our way to the airport we stopped by the Pasadena Anthropologie for about twenty minutes. (A teaser of a visit). I snapped this shot of one of their displays:

Notice the use of shutters? This was my inspiration for the wall in my dining room. I'll be taking it to the next level and plan on covering the entire wall, floor to ceiling, in painted shutters of varying shades of blue and green. You may remember my recent thrift store extravaganza? I was in search of shutters. Finding only one small shutter on that trip, I was a bit discouraged in my hopes of finding enough to blanket the entire wall! A friend suggested Habitat for Humanity Restore, where I found a car load of shutters! They had some great price tags:

I also posted an ad on craigslist asking for wooden shutters for an art project. I received an e-mail that night from someone asking a hundred bucks for about ten. I considered not even e-mailing back at that price but responded with my price of thirty. Sold. He was going to throw them out anyway and I nearly doubled my supply and saved them from the trash.

Milton is checking out the new art to be. I have to admit, they kind of stink. I don't want to know why.

Besides taking over my house, the shutters are turning into a fun project. With this many to paint, I'll have several opportunities to experiment with different color combinations, painting techniques and faux type finishes. Overall this project is proving to be very useful experience for future projects, especially because there is very little pressure for each shutter to look perfect in any way, it's like art therapy.

I went through our paint cupboard and pulled out all the blue and green paints. We have tester cans and full size from previous projects. Some I mixed together in a jar to tweak the color a bit, and some I used straight from the paint can.

I found that adding water helped the paint to spread easier and faster, and created a nice uneven finish.

This shutter I painted a bright blue green, then rubbed a dark ebony wood stain over the surface, wiping it off after about 30 seconds.

This shutter was painted with a light blue green. After allowing it to completely dry, I brushed on a dark brown wash (50% dark brown paint and 50% water) and then wiped it off with a rag.

This shutter I painted the bright blue green, then brushed on and wiped off a full strength taupe colored paint (which was created on accident).

Before painting the shutters, I first remove all hardware and hinges. If it is really covered in grime or dust I clean them with a gentle household cleaner and rag. I am not sanding because I want the rough wood to show and help add character.

It's turning into a fun project for the whole family!

See how the project has evolved!

Moroccan Lanterns for my Dinning Room

My dinning room has a giant chandelier that is HUGE. My plans are to someday replace this with seven or nine Moraccan lanterns randomly placed on my ceiling. Most of the lanterns I've seen so far need to be wired for electricity. I have not yet begun to collect the lanterns but I hope that someday this project works it's way to a higher priority on my way too long list.

Photo from the Anthropologie in San Jose at Santa Row.

Photo from the condo of a doula client friend of mine.