DIY – Painting Your Home’s Shutters

When we bought our house we had white shutters that looked dirty. White siding and white shutters look good initially, but take a lot of maintenance to keep clean and bright. We own a Center Hall Colonial, which has a lot of windows in the front; therefore, a lot of shutters. Our house has 5 windows on the second floor, 2 large bay windows, and our attached garage has 2 windows. That adds up to 9 windows and 18 shutters. Painting all those shutters would drastically change the look of the house.

Before

Even with lawn decorations the white shutters are bland.

My wife and I live on a cul-de-sac and we didn’t want to copy the standard colors our neighbors used, so we went bold. Real Bold. We chose Rust-Oleum Universal Deep Turquoise from Home Depot. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum-Universal-11-oz-All-Surface-Gloss-Deep-Turquoise-Spray-Paint-and-Primer-in-One-6-Pack-346578/307246394

This product is a Primer + Paint, which was I wanted so it would reduce the amount of painting time. The paint came in a 12 pack for $39.99/case. I used 9 cans for the 9 sets of shutters (2 shutters per can). I did 2 coats per shuttle so the paint will last a long time.

After

Procedure

Step 1 – Get an extension ladder tall enough to reach above the top shutters.

Step 2 – Unscrew each shutter and lay on the ground

Step 3 – Paint, let dry thoroughly, touch-up / paint second coat

Step 4 – Re-install each shutter

Step 5 – Enjoy!

Stats

Time: 15-25 minutes per shuttle to remove, paint, and re-install (this does not include dry time).

Cost: $6 per window (1 can of spray paint per window).

WEEKEND WARRIOR TIP: Paint the shutters in nice weather so they will drill faster. Coat the shutters lightly, 2 coats are better than 1 thick one.