My craft room is in a garage, but luckily I have a window for air flow. One thing it needed however, is a window covering.
I really wanted a low cost and light weight wooden shutter, that allowed easy access to open and close the window whilst also providing a clean backdrop, as it sits behind my crafting worktable.
I had my heart set on some barn style sliding shutters, but I couldn’t justify paying a hefty price tag just to be used in my craft room!
In order to achieve a substantial look to the shutters without wanting to attach something super heavy to plasterboard, I decided to make the body of the shutters from lightweight interior tongue and groove cladding.
I sketched out a rough plan with the measurements for reference during the build.
The sizing meant that I had to use 7 strips of cladding with the end panel trimmed down to size slightly.
I stabilised the cladding panels using two strips of planed timber, attached a third down from the top and a third of the way up from the bottom of each shutter (see pencil marking) attaching the cladding to these horizontal strips with copious amounts of panel nails, from the reverse side. In order to prevent movement whilst nailing, the horizontal strips were clamped into place at either end.
Once the shutter bodies were built, I constructed the rollers using a mixture of fixings from my local DIY store.
Each roller was made from two straight metal brackets, connected at the top with a bolt, two nuts and a nylon pulley wheel, along with two washers. This allowed a little movement for the shutters without them being loose enough to roll of their own accord and was a cost-effective solution for me. I used bolts longer than I needed as that is what I had to hand, and used a hack saw to cut off the excess thread.
Each shutter had two rollers attached vertically to their top edge, a third of the way in from either end, making sure to allow space for the metal rod to pass through between the bottom of the roller and the top of the shutter.
The pulley wheels sat snugly on top of a metal net curtain rod measuring 16mm in diameter, and attached to the ceiling using curtain pole brackets.
The curtain pole totalled 2m in length, in order to allow the shutters to open onto the walls either side of the window. The curtain pole brackets used are centre support brackets with a closed circle, enabling the brackets to be attached to the ceiling, rather than the wall. This worked better, as it enabled the shutters to be fitted closer against the wall than if the brackets had been fitted onto the wall.
One issue with using a thin pole (diameter was limited by the pulley groove) was that despite the low weight of the shutters, due to the long span of the curtain rod, there was a bow in the middle of the rod once the shutters were installed. Fortunately, this was easily solved by installing a third bracket in the centre for support. This was another advantage to attaching to the ceiling instead of the wall, as the window top is level with the ceiling.
Once the shutters were fitted into place, I painted them using a small tin of wood paint from a local DIY store to protect the wood and give it a more finished look.
I do still need to fit a wooden trim behind the curtain rod at the top of the window, to complete it, however that will have to wait until I can get some timber that fits!
However, overall, I was really pleased with how my shutters turned out, and super happy with the cost!
Materials List (Costing based on England prices for 2 x shutters 65.5cm wide x 100cm tall)
For the Shutter bodies:
Tongue and Groove cladding 95mm x 7.5mm – 14 x 1 metre lengths. £16
44mm x 18mm planed timber – 4 x 65cm lengths (£5)
Panel pins 15mm (£1)
For the Rollers:
100mm rectangular straight metal fixing plates x 8 (£1 each) £2
Bolts 4mm diameter (must easily fit through pulley wheel centre) x 4 £2
Nuts 4mm diameter (to fit bolts) x 8 £2
Washers 4mm diameter hole x 8 £2
Clothes airer 30mm pulley wheels x 4 (£4 each) £16
For shutter rail:
Curtain rod (1.6mm x 2m) £6
3 x curtain rod brackets to fit curtain rod (£2 each) £6
Wood stain: £ 2
TOTAL: £60.00 Estimated build time: 2.5 hours
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