show me some shutter!

i mentioned in my christmas re-cap that a few of my gifts were handmade this year. i never thought that would be me....being the person that gives homemade gifts. BUT, a lot has changed since last christmas and i decided to try my hand at 'handmade':)

i will say this: giving a gift that you put a lot of time, thought and love into, is much more gratifying than just picking up something at target and tossing it in a gift bag. don't get me wrong, i have given my fair share of store bought gifts and feel no regrets. but spending a little more time and energy definitely means something to your gift receiver.

without further adieu, here is how i spent my days leading up to christmas...working on these babies!
{sorry about the bad photo quality and lighting...i had either no light or too much...gotta work on my photo skills it seems}

these shutters have a unique story.

brandon's step dad, kevin, and i share a love for old things. it takes a special person to be able to see past the dust, rust and grime and appreciate the true beauty of something worn. you should see some of the old cars he has restored....one wouldn't believe the state they were in before kevin got his hands on them!

anywho...kevin offered to give me some old shutters that had been sitting in his garage for years. these shutters were put together by his dad years ago and used inside their home. which is now the home of kevin's sweet sister, linda. no one in the family had a use for these shutters anymore, but because of the memories and the amount of hard work that were put into building them, throwing them out just didn't seem right.

so into my trunk they went! i made sure over and over that they were mine to take and happily piled them in my car. the whole trip home from ventura that day, i contemplated how i could re-invent these shutters. immediately, i knew that i wanted to paint and distress them. and then brandon and i thought it would be fun to give them as gifts to kevin and linda for christmas, since they hold a memorable place in their hearts.

this is a picture of what they looked like right out of the trunk. pretty dirty and dusty and in some need of some sprucing up.

so they got two coats of primer, two coats of paint, a little distressing, and finally, a coat of water based sealer.

linda's house is always decorated so beautifully. she has a lot of fabulous white decor, so painting the shutters ivory was a no brainer. i also added a grapevine wreath with some simple ivory felt flowers.

i loved the look so much, that i made a similar one for my mom for christmas. she also got a set of ivory shutters and a grapevine wreath with deep red felt flowers to match her accent wall in her family room. i will have to take a picture of her mantle where her new gift resides:)

the last set of shutters were given to kevin. since wreaths are a little more feminine, i opted to do something more sentimental and less girly. i framed three different pictures of some of kevin's old cars and had my dad help me screw them into the shutter. like myself (and my fellow blogger), kevin loves that minty green, vintage aqua color, and i love how it turned out!

a close up of the distressing

hard to get the true color on camera....but this is close!

everyone loved their shutter presents and it was especially fun to gift them to kevin and linda because of the memories that they hold. i am excited of all the possibilities for the rest of the pile sitting in my garage!

i do love me some shutters!!

xoxo,
maggie