Create Stunning Window Shutters With TikTok's Money-Saving DIY

If you want to give your house a bit of a refresh, new shutters can bring the outside of your home to life. Shutters can be a pricy endeavor, but if you want them for a fraction of the usual price, there's a popular TikTok DIY solution that's relatively simple. All it takes to make your own shutters is this: form panels out of a few wood planks, paint or stain them in the color of your choosing, and secure them on the sides of all your windows.

The wood shouldn't be too expensive – Home Depot sells a 2-inch x 4-inch x 10-foot board for around $6, so if you're making shutters that are 3 feet tall and one foot wide, you'll only be spending $6 on each shutter (or, if you want horizontal support planks as well, around $7). You'll also need screws — 2½-inch screws should work — and wood glue. If you're making shutters for all your windows, consider the 18-ounce Gorilla Ultimate Waterproof Wood Glue — it's high-quality, high-volume, and available for less than $12 on Amazon. Finally, you'll need wood stain or paint. For wood stain, you can get a quart of Varathane Premium Fast Dry Wood Stain on Amazon for around $14, and it has a wide selection of shades. If you want to paint your shutters, you can use any exterior paint you like — just be sure to check whether a primer is recommended. 

Before buying wood, measure the dimensions of your windows and decide how big you want your shutters to be. Typically, shutters are the same height as the window and around half the width. Obviously, you can take some creative license here and make the shutters any size you like, but generally speaking, these proportions look best. Get wood planks based on your desired shutter dimensions — most home improvement stores will cut wood to size for you. For each shutter, you'll need several planks of the same height, and when they line up they should create the intended width of the shutter. For extra stability, make two shorter wood planks go horizontally across the shutter.

Using wood glue, attach your vertical planks to form the shutter, and then attach the horizontal planks near the top and bottom. Next, stain or paint your shutters. If you like the natural quality of the wood, opt for a wood stain that allows those features to shine through. Or, for a clean, traditional look, paint the shutters in a color that coordinates with your house exterior. For the best colors to paint your shutters, do a monochromatic look (such as dark blue shutters on a light blue house) or do something that contrasts (like red shutters on a white house).

When the paint or wood stain is dried, use an electric screwdriver to screw in the shutters beside the windows, and presto: you now have beautiful custom shutters.